Envestnet buys baby robo-advisor to add 'last mile' to its grown-up platform
Upside will cast its lot with the Chicago outsourcing giant in Sunnyvale, becoming the first robo to get consolidated
Fiduciary Man
$1.5mm in investment and sold for $2mm? That doesn’t appear to be a very successful exit considering the trajectory they appeared to be on. Hopefully there is some kind of earn-out provision.
CE
There was no trajectory, that’s why they were sold. The cost to build that type of software compared to the revenue coming in from advisors requires deep, deep pockets that Envestnet has. They were smart. Despite what RIABiz and other RIA media outlets portray, the vast majority of advisors will never adopt or create their own robo solution. Money is a relationship business and robos have just jolted many RIAs to realize they need to not be so far behind in their tech.
Mike
This will be a great addition to the Envestnet platform IMHO. Tom and Juney built a really nice robo platform. It will be interesting to see (1) If the full suite of UMA options are overlayed on top of Upside at Envestnet or it’s just some simple ETF portfolios, and (2) how Betterment/Fidelity responds to the increased competition. At Hedgeable we have a RIA robo partner platform that is focused on advisors looking for tactical strategies, hedging, and alts – https://www.hedgeable.com/partner
Craig Iskowitz
Another advantage Upside will have as part of Envestnet is access to their manged accounts products and technology. No robo-advisor currently offers UMA’s, SMA’s or other managed solutions. But they will need to soon in order to stay ahead of the innovation curve and have some control over the change occurring in the market.
Stifel Financial just launched a client-directed UMA that could be useful in their fight against robo-advisors: http://wmtoday.com/?p=4593
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