Gregory Van, co-founder and CEO of Endowus (right); Samuel Rhee, Co-Founder, President and CEO … [+]
Singapore-based wealth management startup Endowus – backed by global city-state investor EDBI – announced on Wednesday that it has raised $35 million in a funding round joined by new investors Citi Ventures , MUFG Innovation Partners and “four Asian billionaire families”.
Returning investors UBS Next, Prosus Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Singtel Innov8 participated in the round. The new capital brings the startup’s total funding for six years to $95 million. Endowus declined to disclose its latest valuation.
“Investors today are looking for tailored, data-driven, digital-driven solutions to meet their lifestyle and long-term wealth needs,” said Everett Leonidas, Head of Asia Pacific. of Citi Ventures, in a statement on Endowus’ latest funding. “With its strong technology and product innovation, the Endowus team has built a leading total wealth digital platform and laid the foundation for continued success in the future.”
Winner of last year’s Forbes Asia 100 to Watch list, Endowus provides investment advisory services through its website and app. Users can manage their cash savings or contributions to public pension schemes, such as Singapore’s Central Provident Fund, on the Endowus platform. With group assets under advisory exceeding $5 billion, the startup claims to have achieved 80% revenue growth in 2022, following its acquisition of multi-family office Carret Private last October.
Looking ahead, Endowus aims to expand into Hong Kong, where it began operations in April. The startup’s digital wealth advisory services in the city include an independent, fee-based wealth management platform, which gives investors access to 15 multi-fund model portfolios. Endowus also offers a self-service fund platform called Fund Smart, with over 200 funds from 40 fund managers and private wealth management services for professional investors.
“We are now the dominant player in Singapore, and with this strong base of talent and technology, we are able to enter a new overseas market,” says Samuel Rhee, co-founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Endowus , in a video interview with Forbes Asia. “We’ve actually built a separate tech stack for Hong Kong, with a very different go-to-market strategy than Singapore…as a result, there’s been a lot of investment and the early responses are very positive.”
Certainly, players in the wealth technology, or technology targeting the wealth management industry, may face obstacles that challenge incumbents. The addressable market for legacy tech disruptors remains “limited,” according to a May report on global fintech from Boston Consulting Group and QED Investors, as ultra-high net worth individuals may rely more on human guidance and illiquid products, among other factors.
Wealthtech startups have attracted Asian investors following the pandemic. Last November, Singapore-based ADDX, which operates a blockchain-based stock exchange, raised $20 million to expand its institutional wealth management platform. Five months prior, Vietnam-based fintech Finhay raised $25 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Openspace Ventures and Vietnam Investments Group. In 2021, Indonesian online brokerage Ajaib became a unicorn — a startup with a valuation of over $1 billion — thanks to a $153 million Series B funding round.
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