Kinnevik invests USD 65 million in Betterment
Investment AB Kinnevik (publ) ("Kinnevik") today announced that it has invested USD 65m into Betterment LLC ("Betterment"), the largest independent automated investing service company in the United States.
The USD 100m financing round was led by Kinnevik with existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Anthemis Group and Francisco Partners also participating. Post the investment, Kinnevik will own 9.3% of the share capital of Betterment, valuing the business at USD 700m.
Betterment is the largest automated investing service company in the United States, managing nearly USD 4bn of assets for more than 150,000 customers. Betterment's vertically integrated platform provides fully automated, personalized advice and access to a low-cost, globally diversified investment portfolio. Betterment also leverages its digital platform to partner with both independent financial advisers and businesses to deliver asset management services to individual customers and employees' retirement savings plans.
Lorenzo Grabau, CEO of Kinnevik, commented: "Betterment is a fast-growing, independent company which has already established itself as a market leader in digital asset management by developing innovative and easy-to-use services. In a short period of time, it has attracted a large and loyal customer base who are investing a growing share of their wealth through the Betterment platform."
He continued: "We are delighted to partner with Jon Stein and Eli Broverman, with Betterment's entire team and with its existing investors to support the company's long-term growth. Betterment shares many of the principles that have made other Kinnevik investee companies successful: a mission to make available to all valuable digital services at an attractive price, a true entrepreneurial spirit, the pursuit of continuous technical innovation, and a belief in building customer-centric businesses that contribute to their communities. Everyone should have access to unconflicted and low-cost financial services that enable them to reach their financial goals."
"Kinnevik shares our vision of building a technology-driven financial services company that customers love," added Jon Stein, CEO and Founder of Betterment. "From our first meeting with the Kinnevik team, it was clear that we shared the same values of what a modern-day financial services company would look like."
"Our goal is to become the central financial relationship of our clients," added Stein. "Over the past year, we've made great progress towards that goal with features like RetireGuide and account aggregation, but there is still work to do. It's the early days for us on our path to help millions of Americans reach their financial goals."
Betterment is Kinnevik's fourth significant investment in the Financial Services sector following its 2007 investment in Bayport (a leading provider of inclusive financial solutions in emerging markets with a presence in nine countries), 2011 investment in BIMA (a pioneer in mobile micro insurance with a presence in fifteen countries), and, through Qliro Group, its 2014 investment in Qliro Financial Services (a provider of innovative payment services to customers of Qliro Group's stores and external merchants in Sweden, Finland and Denmark).
For further information, visit www.kinnevik.com or contact:
| Torun Litzén, Director Investor Relations | Phone +46 (0)8 562 000 83 Mobile +46 (0)70 762 00 83 |
Kinnevik is an entrepreneurial investment group focused on building digital consumer businesses. We work in partnership with talented founders and managers to create, invest in and lead fast growing digital businesses both in developed and developing countries. Kinnevik was founded in 1936 by the Stenbeck, Klingspor and von Horn families. Kinnevik's shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm's list for large cap companies under the ticker codes KINV A and KINV B.
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Source: Kinnevik via Globenewswire
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