Octopus Ventures is a venture capital firm that offers support to companies at various stages of their journey, from idea conception to IPO. They allocate over £200 million annually to invest in sectors such as health, fintech, deep tech, consumer, and B2B software, with a focus on making a positive impact. Their experienced team assists portfolio companies in scaling rapidly. Octopus Ventures' investment philosophy extends beyond monetary support, involving time, energy, and focus to work closely with founders for success. Notable companies they have backed include ManyPets, Cazoo, Depop, Elvie, and WaveOptics. Their operations span London and New York, with a network of partners in the U.S. and Asia.

Octopus Ventures

Seedcamp is Europe's seed fund, identifying and investing early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. The Seedcamp Nation includes over 400 startups building breakout businesses that change the way people live, interact and buy and includes publicly listed UiPath, Wise, and unicorns Revolut, Hopin, Sorare, Pleo, and wefox along with fast-growing businesses such as Grover, viz.ai and Ezra.  Seedcamp fast-tracks a founder's vision and creates value through immediate access to smart capital, a lifelong community of support and a global network built upon more than a decade's experience backing exceptional talent. Seedcamp fast-tracks a founder's vision and creates value through immediate access to smart capital, a lifelong community of support, and a global network built upon more than a decade's experience backing exceptional talent.

Seedcamp

Semantic Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in open markets and networks. It was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in London, England.

Semantic Ventures

TheVentureCity is a global early-stage venture fund, investing in product-centric startups across the US, Europe, and Latam. With more than $150M under management, the firm invests from pre-seed and seed with a ticket size from $100-500k to Series A with $1-4M.

TheVentureCity

PactVC

MS&AD Ventures is an early-stage venture fund focused on big data businesses related to the insurance industry. It specializes in the fields of venture capital, financial services, and finance. It was founded in 2018 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

MS&AD Ventures

1818 Venture Capital invests in early-stage UK and Middle East-based fintech companies.

1818 Venture Capital

BlackWood Ventures is an investment firm that focuses on supporting tech startup founders.  BlackWood Ventures was founded in 2022 and was headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

BlackWood Ventures

Sidekick

Sidekick is a wealth management firm that offers access to alternative investments as well as the ability to borrow against these portfolios. Sidekick provides an innovative suite of products, including stocks and cryptocurrency, as well as a funding line for customers to borrow against their portfolios when necessary. Customers will have access to the Sidekick investment team, which will provide regular updates on portfolio performance as well as share editorial content to help customers build their investment knowledge as they progress.

UK-based Sidekick intended to launch an investment management platform in 2023 that will provide users with active management of stock and crypto-based portfolios. The platform would offer professional expertise in investment management and provide the ability for users to borrow against their investment portfolios. As of October 2022, Sidekick was awaiting authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Retail investors demanding sophisticated passive investment strategies are looking for an edge.

Retail Trading Infrastructure

SideKick

UK-based Sidekick intended to launch an investment management platform in 2023 that will provide users with active management of stock and crypto-based portfolios. The platform would offer professional expertise in investment management and provide the ability for users to borrow against their investment portfolios. As of October 2022, Sidekick was awaiting authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).Funding and financialsIn October 2022, Sidekick raised <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14109">GBP 3.3 million </a>in pre-seed funding led by Octopus Ventures. The company intended to use the funds to develop its platform, expand its asset management team, and obtain regulatory approvals and registrations.

Ellevest is a hybrid investment management platform that specifically targets women, with an algorithm that takes into account gender-specific factors such as career breaks, longer life expectancy, and income differences.Ellevest currently offers services under three categories: Ellevest Essential (at a monthly fee of USD 1), Ellevest Plus (USD 5 per month), and Ellevest Executive (USD 9 per month). All three offerings include portfolio customization, banking services (spending and savings accounts), access to human advisors, and on-demand learning for subjects such as investing, career, and money. Ellevest Plus is more costly because it handles retirement accounts for clients. Meanwhile, Ellevest Executive handles both retirement accounts and investment management for multiple goals. The company also offers private wealth management services for clients who wish to invest USD 1 million or more through the platform. A dedicated advisor will work together with clients to create investment plans to meet their goals.Ellevest reported assets under management (AUM) of USD 1.4 billion as of December 2021, growing 44% during the year.In April 2022, Ellevest raised USD 53 million in Series B <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9622?industryIds=28">funding </a>co-led by BMO and Contour Venture Partners. The company planned to use the funds to expand its product offering and provide personalized coaching.

Ellevest

ComposedPro is a digital investment advisor that handles clients’ investment accounts at their employers (such as employer-sponsored accounts) as well as private investment accounts, focusing on low cost Employer-Coordinated Portfolios. The company oversees USD 25 million in total assets over 181 customer accounts as of the company’s Q2 2020 filing. ComposedPro manages half of the company’s accounts on a discretionary basis, meaning an investment advisor has the discretion to make buy and sell decisions for a client’s account. ComposedPro also has 46 non-discretionary accounts totalling USD 7.9 million in assets. The average investment account size is USD 138,222 placed across exchangeable assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), equities, bonds, and options.

ComposedPro

Guideline provides automated investment management services for employer-sponsored retirement accounts. The services also include plan set-up and administration, enrollment and education, recordkeeping, compliance with Retirement Income Security Act, and reporting.As of July 2023, Guideline had assets under management (AUM) of over USD 9 billion and over 350 employees. The company stated that it is the only provider that does not charge plan participants (i.e. employees) with any fees. Guideline charges the employers with a straightforward pricing of one flat fee per participant, in contrast to the asset-based fee model predominant in the industry (i.e. fee is charged on account balances). The standard service has a base fee of USD 49 per month and an additional USD 8 per participant. The standard service includes unlimited phone/email support to both plan participants and employers. For prime service, access to a dedicated account manager is available at a higher base fee of USD 129 and an additional fee of USD 8 per participant. In addition, the company stated that it has a low mutual fund expense ratio, at 0.08%. It purchases mutual funds from Vanguard and other fund providers.Funding and financialsIn June 2021, Guideline raised USD 200 million in funding led by General Atlantic. The company intends to utilize the funding to broaden its 401(k) offerings and introduce new retirement plan solutions.

Guideline

Based in Plano, Texas, AssetBuilder is a robo-advisory company that develops investment portfolios based on the Fama/French school of thought, using low-cost active index funds. It has Dimensional Fund Advisors (the eighth largest fund company in the world as of September 2019) as its funding partner. Human advisors are available to provide investing guidance. As of April 2019, the firm’s assets under management (AUM) amounted to USD 765.9 million. The firm’s business model relies on a fee-only structure, meaning a customer solely pays AssetBuilder to create and manage investments (the company does not receive product-specific commission). The minimum investment for AssetBuilder is USD 50,000 with an asset management fee ranging from 0.24% to 0.45%; the higher the investment, the lower the fee. Though the firm does not have a setup fee, it requires a custodial cost for setting up a portfolio of USD 11.95 per trade for each recommended mutual fund. Most of the platform’s portfolios require about 11 to 14 mutual funds, costing about USD 131.45 to USD 167.30 to open an account.

AssetBuilder

Based in Canada, Smart Money Invest provides portfolio management services to individual clients, advisors, and employers (such as group saving plans for retirement). Human advisors are available to serve individual investors.The company provides financial tools to develop a long-term financial strategy by calculating net worth, setting a budget, managing investment accounts, and planning for retirement.

Smart Money Invest

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services directly to individuals solely via digital platforms.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to individuals via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provide solutions for financial advisors/asset managers to automate wealth management and administration functions.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to businesses via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provides solutions for financial institutions to set up their own robo-advisory function and offer services to clients.

Startups that offer online platforms for investors to trade various securities such as stocks, ETFs, and options directly via the platform

Leverages AI/ML to automate allocation and management of investment funds to cater to retail investors

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support financial institution in offering various investment related services

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
 
 London-based robo-advisory platform, Sidekick, has secured GBP 8.5 million (~USD 10.3 million) in funding. This comprises GBP 4.5 million (~USD 5.7 million) in seed funding and GBP 4 million (~USD 5.1 million) via a debt facility. The seed funding round was co-led by Pact VC and TheVentureCity and saw participation from MS&amp;AD, Blackwood, 1818, among others. With this, Sidekick's total funding has reached GBP 11.8 million (~USD 15 million).
 The funds will be used to expand the team, increase product offerings, and secure a European license.
 Sidekick has already obtained regulatory permissions from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and launched an actively managed equities offering in January.
 
</div> Analyst QuickTake: 
 In March, Sidekick announced the <a href="https: 
//www.fintechfutures.com/2024/03/uk-wealthtech-start-up-sidekick-debuts-new-wealth-management-app/"> full launch </a> of its platform, over a year after its <a href="https: 
//sp-edge.com/updates/14109"> pre-seed </a> fundraising of GBP 3.3 million (~USD 4.2 million) in October 2022. Sidekick’s recent funding also reiterates its focus on business growth through expanding investment offerings and plans to secure a European license to ensure compliance.

SideKick

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