Robo-Adviser Betterment Achieves Unicorn Status At A Valuation Of $1.3B

Betterment has raised $435M in funding to date. Here are the top-line bullets you need to know.

Betterment, an online financial advisory platform, has raised $160M in a mix of debt and equity. The equity of $60M was raised in a Series F round with participation from Menlo Ventures, Citi Ventures, Treasury, and Francisco Partners, among others. A $100 million credit facility was established with ORIX and Runway Growth Capital.

HOW’S THE COMPANY PERFORMING?

New York-based Betterment, via its platform, offers personalized digital investment advisory services, including portfolio rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, and asset allocation.
The company caters to around 700,000 clients comprising $32B in assets under management.
In March, it acquired another robo-adviser, WealthSimple, which brought in nearly 17,400 new customers comprising $190M in assets under management.
It has 350 employees globally.

Source: Betterment

WHY DOES THE MARKET MATTER?

The global robo advisory market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 31.8% and reach a value of $41.07B by 2027, according to Allied Market Research.
The increasing demand for financial digitization, institution of supportive government policies, and advancement of technologies in the field are driving market growth. Notably, Q1’21 funding to wealth tech companies hit $5.6B, which exceeded 2020’s total year-end wealth tech funding ($5.2B).