Pontera attracts yet another $45-million VC round for its 'held-away' 401(k) order management system and snags SageView, a $175-billion RIA, as a customer
The 10-year-old New York City firm nixed its FeeX brand and its old business model after RIAs said they wanted 'action' more than information.
Author Lisa Shidler March 24, 2022 at 11:19 PM
Brian Murphy
March 25, 2022 — 11:52 PM
Nice - but still not optimal. It looks like Pontera is now taking on liability for login and portfolio re-balancing for client accounts. Any sort of hacking gets pinned on them I suppose. Given that it's taken them 8-9 years (and $80MM) to get to a good understanding of the 401(k) market, I'd guess their offering should really get going by 2030 or 2040! They've got part of the solution but their business model is woefully inadequate...not for the RIA's of the world, but the end client.
Next question - given that they've now figured out the 401(k) market, are they getting permission from both the employer (trustee) and custodian to use their service for each and every client/plan? If not, they might want to rethink their offering a bit more.
Good luck nontheless - the industry needs doers.
BFG Wealth Management
May 6, 2022 — 3:58 PM
Nice to see a platform for RIAs to finally be able to help clients manage their 401(k)s, 403(b)s, etc. the right way. How many times have I made a recommendation for a change in a client’s account outside our management, only for the client to forget to do it? Too many times… Nice work Pontera!
