Altruist Raises Another $169M As It Competes to Win RIAs

Altruist, a custodian for registered investment advisers, revealed Monday it secured another $169 million in Series E funding, spearheaded by ICONIQ Growth and including contributions from Granite Capital Management and ongoing support from investors Adams Street Partners and Sound Ventures.

This latest investment brings the company’s accumulated funding to more than $450 million and places its valuation at over $1.5 billion. Alongside this financing, Yoonkee Sull, a general partner at ICONIQ Growth, will be taking a seat on the board of directors.

“With a fully-featured and vertically integrated platform built for RIAs, Altruist is breaking through in an industry desperate for innovation,” Sull, general partner at ICONIQ Growth, said in a statement.

The firm remains the third-largest custodian behind Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments, based on the number of RIA clients. The funding round will continue to fuel new services and capabilities that the firm has been touting to draw RIAs from legacy players.

“In addition to its 5.10% APY Altruist Cash account announced last month, Altruist will be focused on launching a suite of automated tax management features, enhancements to its native model marketplace, and expanded fixed-income trading,” a spokesperson said via email.

As part of its effort to gain clients, Altruist waived all software fees for advisers utilizing its brokerage accounts last year.

“In the 15 years I spent serving clients as an RIA, we’d run into the same problems over and over,” Jason Wenk, founder and CEO of Altruist, said in a statement. “Features that were obviously better and available to retail investors weren’t available to people working with advisers. The best way to help more people get more from their money is to provide independent advisers with better software, better service and the tools to drive better client outcomes.”

Altruist, headquartered in Culver City, California, was established in 2018 and has amassed $280 million in funding from investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. In April 2023, the firm secured a $112 million investment led by private equity firm Insight Partners and investment manager Adams Street Partners. Additionally, in March 2023, the company nearly doubled its roster of advisers to over 3,000 through the acquisition of Shareholder Service Group.