Savvy pushes rewritten model with $72-million raise, but taps Mark Casady's playbook for scaling -- something an RIA-centric 'platform' has never achieved at nearly an LPL Financial level

Savvy Wealth yesterday (July 2) announced it had secured a $72 million "B" raise, and bagged the LPL Financial playbook in the bargain – or at least a guy with a recent one.

The New York City startup brought in the cash only 10 months after its "A" raise to build out a big RIA where advisors can land.

Savvy, founded in 2021, has $2 billion in assets under management, including $500 million brought in year-to-date for 2025.  AUM is up 500% since the beginning of 2024.

The new pile of cash will go to building out more technology and for recruiting new advisors, mostly – a model not unlike a broker-dealer but with an RIA as the hub.

Yet, unlike other “RIA” plays, it doesn't acquire the firms, Savvy Wealth Founder and CEO Ritik Malhotra underscores.

“Importantly, we are not buying RIAs,” he says. “We grow by recruiting owner-operator advisors who keep equity in their book while leveraging Savvy’s technology, operations and compliance support." See: Savvy raises fresh $11 million from VC backers to fuel an RIA-on-steroids craze that could scale the wall of doubt of RIA experts and eclipse robo-advisors

There's also a recruitment tuck-in aspect.

“Part of the funding will also be used for our core platform teams’ talent recruitment,” he adds.

Need for scale

Cerulli analyst Scott Smith, who expressed doubt about the model in a previous RIABiz article, says he now sees positive signs.

“Savvy appears to have some momentum with both advisors and backers,” he says.

“By operating from an essentially tabula rasa position, it seems that they are having success really building the platform around the advisor-client experience, rather than making the best of legacy incumbent platforms.”

“With FAs' ongoing migration toward independence, they have plenty of opportunity to prove that their platform truly can offer a path of least resistance to human-led planning.”

Yet, Smith also questions whether Savvy's attractive RIA plug-in model is built to scale like an LPL with thousands or tens-of-thousands of advisors.

“The real long-term questions are, how does the business scale, and what are its goals?” he asks.

“There is plenty of room for ‘success’ at the practice level, but what are the backers targeting?”

“Dozens of FA practices, sure. Hundreds, reasonably. Thousands, maybe.”

Ongoing vision

Malhotra says ‘hundreds’ is the immediate objective and to “make [those] existing partner advisors scale faster."

“If that’s hundreds of practices delivering exceptional advice with the help of our modern platform, that’s a win,” he says.

“But the vision doesn’t end there. Our technology is designed to scale. 

Mark Casady, the former LPL Financial CEO and Chairman who founded Vestigo Ventures, says he's come to realize, throughout his decades in the industry, how powerful it is to build a firm around the needs of advisors—and how transformational that model can be at scale. See: Mark Casady quietly became co-founder of venture capital firm and, pre-post-LPL, it's making noise

“I’m looking forward to working alongside the leadership team at Savvy, applying my learning to further advance the firm’s tech-forward, human-led approach," says Casady, who is joining Savvy’s board of directors.

Hard-earned wisdom

Casady's involvement checks many boxes for Savvy, Malhotra says.

"We believe Mark’s experience growing advisor platforms will help us support far more over time. We see ‘hundreds’ as the next milestone, certainly not the limit.”

“Mark’s experience is very much part of the strategy,” he adds. LPL Financial's assets are nearing $2 trillion. See: Why Savvy Wealth is calling an $80-million LPL poach a 'monumental' milestone 

"Mark has scaled wealth platforms before and understands the real operational and regulatory demands that come with it. He can impart hard-earned wisdom about what worked and what didn’t work. 

“That experience helps us build something durable as we innovate on the advisor and client experience. 

"His involvement is also a huge vote of confidence from someone who’s seen just about everything in the industry. Mark recognizes our unique and optimal use of technology to raise the bar for advisor service.”

Embedding AI

Malhotra says he will extend his strategy to support advisors with technology and a listening atmosphere is a winning model that will get better by applying more artificial intelligence.

“AI is disrupting financial advice, but not in the way that many have predicted," he said. 

"Rather than replacing advisors, it’s amplifying their ability to deliver highly personalized and deeply human client experiences. 

"At Savvy, we’re embedding AI inside the core of our CRM and advisor-facing tech stack to ‘10-x’ their capabilities – unlocking predictive, real-time insights that strengthen human relationships. 

“As modern advisors continue to choose independence, Savvy’s boutique culture, cutting-edge technology and full-service platform offer them a welcome home where their voice matters,” he added.

Expect "predictive, real-time intelligence tailored to individual financial profiles and needs," the company states in its release.

Brian Langner, managing director at Industry Ventures, a lead “B” round investor, is betting big that Savvy can execute its vision.

“The growing tailwinds for digital transformation and generative AI, paired with Ritik’s experience and grit as a technology entrepreneur, is a perfect fit for our mandate at Industry Ventures," he says.

Attracting talent

Savvy may need new capital soon enough based upon the current rate of new raises – something it hints at in its release.

“Having completed its Series A in August 2024, Savvy is in the top decile for speed between Series A and B funding rounds, according to industry data from Carta,” it writes.

Much of Savvy's success will rely on bringing aboard new teams, but it's having little trouble attracting top-level corporate talent.

It just added Eric Hurkman as chief technology officer (CTO), who was formerly the founding CTO of Carta, a funding and equity management company (valued at $7.4 billion).

It added David Weiner as chief growth officer, who from 2016-2018 headed growth at Compass, valued at $4 billion.

And, it also poached Lisandra Wilmott, former general counsel at $200 billion AUM RIA Pathstone, to head legal and compliance – to scale without getting into trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).