Ellevest Sheds Robo Advice Business to BettermentEllevest Sheds Robo Advice Business to Betterment
The deal does not include Ellevest’s wealth management and financial planning business.
So-called robo advisor Betterment has acquired the automated investing business of Ellevest, the platform founded by Sallie Krawcheck in 2014. That does not include Ellevest’s wealth management and financial planning business, and the company’s technology, employees and operations remain intact.
Often referred to as a robo advisor, Ellevest has struggled to grow to $2.4 billion in assets under management since its launch.
This follows news in December that Krawcheck would step down from her post as CEO due to an undisclosed medical diagnosis. Sylvia S. Kwan, her longtime colleague at Ellevest and the firm’s CIO, would move into a co-CEO role with Connie Hsiung, its COO and CFO.
“As we focus on our growing wealth management and financial planning business, Betterment was the natural home for our digital-first clients. On top of automated investing, Betterment offers features that many of our digital clients have expressed interest in, including joint accounts and other cash account options,” Kwan said in a statement. “We built a platform that makes it easy to invest in a way that works for our clients' needs, goals and values—and the same is true of Betterment under the leadership of their CEO, Sarah Levy.”
For clients who don’t opt out, their accounts will transfer to Betterment on or about April 17, the companies said.
Ellevest will continue to serve clients through its private wealth RIA, which provides financial planning and wealth management to high- and ultra-high-net-worth clients with $500,000 or more in investable assets.
Betterment has acquired several robo-advice platforms over the last couple of years. Last April, Betterment struck a deal with Goldman Sachs to transfer clients and their assets from its Marcus Invest platform. In 2021, the company bought Canada-based Wealthsimple’s U.S. book of business, which included at least $142 million in U.S. assets under management and over 14,000 clients.
Betterment now has more than 900,000 U.S. customers across more than $55 billion in assets.
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