Altruist, a modern custodian built for RIAs, announced a $169 million Series E funding round led by ICONIQ Growth with participation from new investor Granite Capital Management and continued support from existing investors Adams Street Partners and Sound Ventures. The new funding round brings the company’s total funding to over $450 million and values the company north of $1.5 billion. In connection with the funding round, Yoonkee Sull, General Partner at ICONIQ Growth, will join the board of directors.
After growing revenue by 550%+ last year and tripling assets under management for two consecutive years, Altruist quickly became the third largest custodian behind Schwab and Fidelity (based on RIAs served).
While custodians share responsibility for safekeeping assets and adhering to rigorous regulatory requirements, business practices vary. And custodians can influence investment options, tax savings, yield on cash, portfolio performance, fees, and the quality of the user experience for clients and advisors alike. Even subtle differences can have significant downstream effects on client outcomes, especially when considering the size and scale of the massive industry.
Along with its self-clearing brokerage capabilities, Altruist offers technology that automates and simplifies administrative work, integrates with adjacent services, and streamlines portfolio management tasks so advisors have more time for client-facing activities. And these time savings are complemented by an equal emphasis on cost savings. Last year, Altruist eliminated all the software fees for advisors using its brokerage accounts. And earlier this month, they released the industry’s most simple, transparent, and competitive fee schedule.
The company also has an exciting roster of new products and services for 2024, including its 5.10% APY Altruist Cash account announced last month, an expanded service offering, and upcoming tax management features.
KEY QUOTES:
“With a fully-featured and vertically integrated platform built for RIAs, Altruist is breaking through in an industry desperate for innovation. It’s rare to see a new company in the custodian space nail the fundamentals while carving out a substantial customer base in a market dominated by legacy financial institutions. Jason Wenk is a serial entrepreneur who has been pushing the category forward for nearly two decades, and with Altruist, he has built one of the most trusted names with RIAs today.”
– Yoonkee Sull, General Partner at ICONIQ Growth
“In the 15 years I spent serving clients as an RIA, we’d run into the same problems over and over–it didn’t matter if we had $10 million under management, $100 million, or billions. Features that were obviously better and available to retail investors weren’t available to people working with advisors. The best way to help more people get more from their money is to provide independent advisors with better software, better service, and the tools to drive better client outcomes.”
“Addressing time-sensitive client requests is a big part of an advisor’s job. Our ability to resolve issues quickly is one of the main reasons RIAs are leaving legacy custodians and coming to Altruist. A responsive support organization helps advisors build and maintain client trust.”
– Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist
“Altruist is able to innovate much faster than legacy incumbents because the company is solely focused on RIAs. This focus produces significant productivity and cost benefits for independent advisors.”
– Robin Murray, Partner at investor Adams Street Partners
