Wealthfront Acquired By UBS UBS has agreed to acquire Wealthfront, one of the pioneer automated wealth management startups, for $1.4 billion in an all-cash deal.
Wealthfront, which was founded as kaChing in 2008 in Palo Alto, California, has more than $27 billion in assets under management across 470,000 clients. The company’s primary client base is millennial and Gen Z investors.
In November, the company was reportedly seeking a $1.5 billion valuation.
Adding Wealthfront’s technology and client base will significantly boost UBS’s ability to grow in the U.S., particularly among affluent clients, according to Ralph Hamers, group CEO of UBS.
“Wealthfront complements our core business in the U.S., providing wealth management to high net worth and ultra high net worth investors through trusted relationships with financial advisors, and will enhance our long-term ambition to deliver a scalable, digital-led wealth management solution to affluent investors,” Hamers said in a statement.
The bank plans to make Wealthfront the foundation of a new digital offering. One that will also include access to human financial advisors. Moreover, something the robo-advisor has steadfastly avoided in favor of remaining a purely digital solution. UBS also plans to use Wealthfront to expand its Workplace Wealth Solutions business. Which provides employees of UBS’s corporate clients with financial education, retirement programs and equity plan participation.
Wealthfront Acquired By UBS
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Originally from Northern California, Ryan received bachelor’s degrees in English and philosophy at UC Santa Barbara. Before beginning a career in journalism at the Santa Barbara Independent. After a few years of freelancing, bartending and snowboarding in Colorado. Ryan moved to New York to earn a master’s in journalism at Columbia University. Besides covering all things in financial advisor technology, Ryan has also written about music, sports, politics, art and entertainment.
