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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Insurance-as-a-Service company Insuritas has been acquired by VIU by HUB, a division of HUB International, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers.
The acquisition will expand Insuritas’ insurance product portfolio and leverage VIU by HUB’s advanced analytics platform to provide more personalized customer experiences.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Insurance-as-a-Service company Insuritas has been acquired by VIU by HUB, a division of HUB International, which is the fifth largest insurance broker in the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
VIU is a digital insurance company that offers a range of policies, including auto insurance, homeowners insurance, second home insurance, renters’ insurance, toy insurance, life insurance, umbrella insurance, financial security, and family plans and policies. The Chicago-based company provides users quotes quickly and offers a platform where clients can sync all their personal policies from across carriers in one place.
“This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter in our journey and will allow us to rapidly expand customized insurance solutions,” said Insuritas CEO Jeff Chesky in an emailed statement. “By joining forces with VIU by HUB, we are amplifying our ability to enhance [clients’] sales and service capabilities and resources with state-of-the-art digital analytics tools.”
Insuritas was founded in 1998 and has since raised $10 million. The Connecticut-based company’s unique model allows banks and credit unions to own and embed a digital insurance agency within their existing operations, without taking on any of the operational risk.
For Insuritas’ current agency clients, the acquisition is good news, as it will make available the widest selection of insurance products offered by the largest collection of insurance carriers of any independent agency complex in the U.S. Additionally, Insuritas will have access to VIU by HUB’s agent resources and will be able to combine VIU by HUB’s analytics platform with its embedded agency technology, providing end customers more personalized experiences.
The insurance subsector remains among the least disrupted in fintech, but that is beginning to change as digital-first insurtech companies like Insuritas and VIU by HUB drive innovation in the space. By leveraging embedded insurance models and advanced analytics, these firms are making strides in modernizing a traditionally slow-moving industry.
Enterprise AI platform Uptiq.AI has acquired data integration startup UpSwot to enhance its AI Workbench capabilities and expand its applications for banks, fintechs, and wealth management firms.
Uptiq.AI will use UpSwot’s Financial Data Gateway, which integrates data from accounting, payroll, and CRM tools, enabling financial institutions to gain actionable insights and offer tailored recommendations to their commercial clients.
By combining AI-driven insights with data integration, the partnership empowers financial institutions to optimize operations, improve client engagement, and deliver more personalized services.
Enterprise AI platform for financial services Uptiq.AI made its first acquisition this week. The Texas-based company bought up data integration startup UpSwot.
While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Uptiq.AI expects the purchase will help it deliver more applications tailored to serve a range of financial services, including wealth management firms, banks, credit unions, fintechs, and non-bank organizations.
UpSwot was founded in 2019 to bring banks actionable insights derived from their commercial clients’ data. The company leverages data from its Financial Data Gateway, which integrates with third-party SaaS software across key categories like Accounting, Banking, Payroll, ERP, and CRM. UpSwot uses the data to offer banks insights into trends and performance across their business customers, monitoring churn and engagement to drive more loyalty. UpSwot can simultaneously use the data to enable banks to offer their commercial clients recommendations on data-informed business decisions. The company demoed at FinovateSpring last year.
Uptiq.AI CEO Snehal Fulzele called the acquisition a “game-changer,” adding, “With UpSwot’s advanced Financial Data Gateway, we can unlock the full potential of our AI Workbench. This allows us to rapidly bring innovative AI applications to financial services organizations, enabling them to harness the power of their data like never before. Together, we’re setting a new standard for what Enterprise AI can achieve in financial services.”
As a result of the agreement, UpSwot’s Financial Data Gateway will power Uptiq.AI’s AI Workbench, which will allow banks to leverage structured and unstructured data for a variety of use cases. Uptiq.AI’s agents will be able to embed data from the wide variety of sources that Financial Data Gateway uses, which will help it differentiate itself from other agent developer platforms.
“Uptiq.AI and UpSwot share a commitment to driving meaningful innovation in financial services,” said UpSwot CEO Dmitry Norenko. “Joining Uptiq.AI will enable us to expand our reach and further amplify the impact of our data integration technology. Together, we are redefining how financial institutions can use AI to deliver exceptional value to their clients.”
Founded in 2022 as Cion Digital, Uptiq.AI helps banks optimize their operations and build valuable customer experiences. The Texas-based company, which has raised $32 million, was founded by Snehal Fulzele. Fulzele co-founded Cloud Lending Solutions in 2012 and led the company as CEO until he sold it to Q2 in 2018. Today, Uptiq.AI serves more than 350 clients across wealth management, banks, fintechs, and brokers. Uptiq.AI demoed at FinovateSpring 2022 under its former name, Cion Digital.
Deel has acquired U.K.-based international funds transfer company Atlantic Money. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition marks Deel’s ninth acquisition.
Deel will leverage Atlantic Money’s expertise to enhance its global payroll solutions, enabling businesses to send secure international payouts.
Payroll and compliance company Deel has acquired international funds transfer company Atlantic Money. Terms of the deal, which was announced late last week, were not disclosed.
According to California-based Deel, acquiring Atlantic Money will help strengthen Deel’s payments infrastructure in Europe and offer it more fintech expertise. This is Deel’s ninth acquisition and its fourth one this year. Atlantic Money joins remote work management platform Hofy, payroll and HR platform PaySpace, and employee enablement platform Zavvy — Deel’s three other acquisitions this year.
Founded in 2020, U.K.-based Atlantic Money helps users send money internationally with a transparent fee structure. The company charges a flat, £3 ($3.80) fee for money transfers and claims to be, on average, 10x cheaper than its competitor Wise. Unlike Wise, however, Atlantic Money is much more limited in scope. The company only facilitates funds transfers among 10 countries, while Wise allows users to send funds to nearly 90 countries. Since its inception, Atlantic Money has moved over half a billion pounds for 10,000+ customers, helping them save “millions” in fees.
According to Atlantic Money Co-Founder and CEO Neeraj Baid, Deel will leverage the money transfer firm’s expertise and infrastructure to help businesses send payouts to international workforces. “Deel’s mission is to make running a global business as easy as running a local one, and that includes helping workers make global payments securely and easily,” said Baid. “Our team looks forward to working alongside Deel’s experts to share insights and develop technologies that will benefit companies managing international workforces.”
Deel was founded in 2018 and enables companies to hire employees across the globe and pay them in more than 150 currencies. In addition to facilitating payroll, the company helps companies manage global workforces, hire contractors, relocate workers, and more. Deel was valued at $12 billion in May of 2022 and has raised a total of $680 million in funding.
Belgian regtech Harmoney has acquired compliance specialist APPC, a subsidiary of the Forsides Group.
The acquisition will provide APPC clients with a broader range of tools to fight challenges ranging from anti-money laundering (AML) to counter-terrorism financing (CTF).
Harmoney made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London.
Belgium-based regtech Harmoneyannounced its acquisition of APPC, the compliance-oriented subsidiary of the Forsides Group. The acquisition will enable Harmoney to offer a streamlined, all-in-one compliance solution to financial institutions (FIs), integrating all regulatory operations on a single platform and empowering FIs to maintain compliance with the ever-changing regulatory environment.
The acquisition comes after five years of collaboration between Harmoney and the APPC team. This collaboration has yielded flexible, customized solutions to help FIs deal with challenges ranging from anti-money laundering (AML) to counter-terrorist financing (CTF). Post-acquisition, the APPC brand will remain intact; its services will be enhanced and expanded via Harmoney’s offerings. This will provide APPC clients with access to an even broader range of compliance solutions. APPC clients will also benefit from the expertise of the Harmoney team which offers a cost-efficient approach to compliance and comprehensive coverage to complex corporate structures.
“Our long-standing partnership with APPC has paved the way for this exciting new chapter,” Harmoney CEO Thomas Van Maele said. “By integrating all regulatory processes onto a single platform, we’re able to merge advanced technology with expert support from two expert teams that share the same values and dedication to compliance.”
Founded in 2016, Harmoney made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2022 in London. At the conference, the company demonstrated the workflow orchestration of a digital reboarding of a private customer. The workflow includes identification, authentication, and risk screening that provides an overall risk score that enables compliance teams to conduct due diligence and, ultimately, determine acceptance, escalation, or rejection.
This summer, Harmoney announced that it was teaming up with Discai, a subsidiary of KBC Group, which leverages data science and financial expertise to help banks and other financial institutions combat financial crime. The two companies launched an integrated AML solution for FIs that combines Discai’s AI-based alert system with Harmoney’s end-to-end case and process management platform. Also this year, Belgian banking solutions collaborative Isabel Group announced that Harmoney would be the first integration partner for its newly launched verified corporate data hub.
Harmoney has raised $5.3 million (€6 million) in funding according to Crunchbase, courtesy of a seed round in 2023.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
You may not think of the U.S. when it comes to having a czar in a leadership role. However, Axios reported last week that President-elect Trump is considering naming an AI czar that would be responsible for coordinating policy and governmental use of AI. This is notable because, as of now, the U.S. does not have a central agency governing and regulating the use of AI.
If put into power, a U.S. AI czar would potentially be responsible for unifying the country’s AI strategy across government and private sectors. The AI czar would also be charged with creating regulatory clarity and streamlining regulations for AI development in key industries such as fintech, healthcare, and eCommerce. Given the U.S.’s current role in the global economy, an AI czar could play a role in setting global standards for fintech AI regulation.
Benefits
There are some surprising benefits to a potential AI czar taking leadership in the U.S. First, the leader would have the potential to coordinate AI innovation and guide global efforts. This centralized orchestration could accelerate the development of AI-powered fintech solutions like fraud detection, credit scoring, and personalization strategies. Additionally, for both banks and startups, having clear, government-issued guidelines for the use of AI offers many benefits, including increased investor confidence and faster adoption of AI across subsectors. Finally, having an U.S.-led AI strategy could foster cross-border partnerships and may also be able to influence international fintech standards.
Risks
As with many applications of AI, however, there are potential risks and challenges associated with the crowning of an individual as AI czar. First, there is significant potential for favoritism to shape the role. According to Axios, the AI leader will not require Senate consent. Rather, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump has selected to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will have input into who is selected for the AI czar role. This raises concerns over potential favoritism and bias. Regardless of who is placed in the potential role or how they are appointed, there are also risks that the use of AI will end up over-regulated and that centralizing control of AI usage could stifle fintech innovation across the globe.
Global impact
U.S. policies created under an AI czar might intensify competition with other countries in the AI-arms race. Specifically, the role may help the U.S. compete with China, which has heavily invested in AI. Creating an AI czar could help the U.S. catch up with China by fostering rapid advancements in AI applications in fintech and related fields. In addition to clarifying regulation around the use of AI, the appointed person could help by coordinating research, funding, and partnerships at a national level. This streamlined approach might also encourage collaboration among U.S. fintech companies, making them more competitive in global markets.
What’s next?
Regardless of what happens (or doesn’t happen) with the AI role, both banks and fintechs should pay close attention while monitoring any U.S. AI policy changes. This applies to both firms that are creating their own AI-driven solutions in-house, as well as to those that leverage AI-driven solutions from third party providers. Everyone is in the AI game– whether they think they are or not– and the decisions made by policymakers will shape the rules of that game.
This week in Finovate’s Fintech Rundown, we highlight big fundraisings in wealthtech and mortgagetech, as well as an acquisition in the world of money movement. Check back all week long as the Fintech Rundown keeps you informed on the latest news in fintech!
Wealth management
Global wealthtech solutions provider Masttroannounces upgrades to its platform, including real-time wealth visualization and AI-powered efficiency.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) agrees to acquire Japanese robo-advisory firm WealthNavi for $664 million.
Cryptocurrencies
Taiwan expedites implementation of its new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations for cryptocurrency companies.
Razorpayteams up with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to boost cybersecurity for digital payments in India.
Embedded solutions provider YASteams up with QBE Hong Kong to offer Pay-As-You-Sell product liability insurance for ecommerce merchants.
Avivastrikes five-year partnership with NatWest to distribute its insurance solutions through NatWest U.K.’s retail banking brands.
Financial crime prevention
Finovate Best of Show winner Themislaunches KYC/AML company, Tathabbat, in Saudi Arabia. Check out our recent Finovate podcast interview with Themis Founder and CEO Neepa Patel.
Digital identity solutions provider Signicat has teamed up with data specialist AsiaVerify.
The strategic partnership will help businesses looking to expand from Europe to Asia, and vice versa, meet local regulatory compliance requirements with regards to KYC, KYB, and UBO.
Headquartered in Norway, Signicat made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017 in London.
Digital identity and fraud prevention solutions provider Signicat has forged a strategic partnership with APAC-region data specialist AsiaVerify. The partnership will enable Signicat to expand its reach across the Asia-Pacific region, helping businesses comply with local regulations as they seek to expand their operations from APAC to Europe and from Europe to APAC.
“Our globally compliant digital identity solutions enable us to support our customers’ expansion needs wherever they grow,” Signicat Chief Product and Marketing Officer Pinar Alpay said. “This partnership enriches our capabilities in the Asia-Pacific, offering our clients more localized data to expand confidently into this high-growth market while maintaining compliance with regional and global standards.”
AsiaVerify is Signicat’s first APAC-specific data provider, offering real-time access to authoritative data from official sources in countries like China and Singapore. The partnership will help businesses looking to enter the APAC region by making it easier for them to navigate, manage, and comply with often complex local regulatory requirements.
AsiaVerify provides real-time access to critical data from trusted sources to support Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), and Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) identification in companies throughout Asia. AsiaVerify’s platform delivers instant access to translated records from more than 344 million companies, more than 106 million alerts including court records and bankruptcies, and more than 2.9 billion individuals including government IDs, phone numbers, watchlists, and more.
“Asia presents vast opportunities for growth and expansion, yet it also brings unique challenges, particularly around meeting local regulatory demands,” AsiaVerify Head of U.K. and Europe Joanna Wands said. “Addressing these challenges is at the heart of what we do, and we felt a strong alignment with Signicat in this shared commitment to addressing industry challenges effectively.”
Norway-based Signicat made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope 2017 in London. Today, more than 13,000 companies around the world use Signicat’s digital identity solutions. Signicat’s identity platform manages the entire customer lifecycle from compliant onboarding and secure login to electronic signing and orchestration. The company supports 240+ data sources to facilitate business and individual identification, including national eIDs, ID document scanning and biometric verification, as well as data sources for AML, KYC, and KYB checks.
Last month, Signicat was featured in the first edition of Europe’s Long-Term Growth Champions 2025 published by Financial Times and Statista. Also in October, the company unveiled its Open Banking Hub, which provides businesses with a secure and consensual way to verify an individual’s personal information via their banking account. The Open Banking Hub provides broader identity verification options for customers, and greater security for businesses when verifying bank account ownership, affordability, or account information.
Founded in 2007, Signicat is led by CEO Asger Hattel.
Interested in demoing at FinovateEurope 2025 in London? Applications are still being accepted from innovative companies with new solutions that are ready to show. Visit our FinovateEurope hub today to learn more.
FinovateEurope 2025 takes place in London on February 25 and 26. Register to attend and save up to £600.
Fintech headlines often highlight big funding rounds and valuations — but we know the real story goes deeper. At Finovate, it’s all about the technology and the impact it creates.
At FinovateEurope, 30+ leading fintech innovators will showcase their tech to an audience of1,000+ senior-level decision-makers from across the fintech ecosystem: Banks, payment processors, tech giants, investors, regulators, or merchants. From sales and partnerships to acquisitions and product feedback, Finovate is the ultimate platform for high ROI in 2025.
Why demo at Finovate?
Demoing at FinovateEurope is an unparalleled opportunity for any company driving innovation in fintech — whether a startup, a bank, a public entity, or an established leader.
Here’s why it works:
Single track. Maximum impact. Demo in front of 700+ C-level executives, VPs, and senior decision-makers with undivided attention— all in one room.
7-minute demos that deliver Show (not just tell) the audience how the technology works and why it’s the perfect fit for their needs.
AI-powered networking Leverage strategic networking breaks, pre-booked quick-fire meetings, and our AI-driven matchmaking platform to connect with the right people.
Plug-and-play stands Seize the high-interest buzz surrounding the demos in the expo (stands included in demo packages).
Lifelong exposure Stay in the spotlight long after the event. Success stories — funding, acquisitions, awards — are shared with our global audience of 7,500+ subscribers and 303,000+ annual website visitors.
Selected companies get early-bird rates when they apply by Friday, December 6. Please reach out to us at europe@finovate.com if you have any questions.
Agentic AI solutions provider for community banks and credit unions, interface.ai, has introduced a pair of new tools to help fight deepfake fraud. The company has launched two flagship products — device biometric authentication and Generative AI (GenAI) bot training — designed to help financial institutions defend themselves and their customers from fraud and unauthorized access.
interface.ai’s device biometrics solution uses device-based fingerprint and facial recognition technology to authenticate users over voice and chat AI. The new technology builds on the company’s risk-based, multi-factor authentication system, combining device and voice biometrics, AI-driven analysis, and caller anti-spoofing to protect users against evolving fraud threats while minimizing friction.
“Security in financial services demands constant innovation,” interface.ai CEO Srinivas Njay said. “With device biometrics, we are not just offering a new authentication method — we are enhancing our already formidable security framework, offering financial institutions the perfect balance of frictionless access and robust protection.”
interface.ai also unveiled a new, proprietary GenAI capability that enhances the speed of training highly capable AI-powered bots. Training AI bots typically involves manual scripts that delineate every question and response. This process is time-consuming and inefficient, insofar as much of the information a bot will provide already exists on the company’s website or within other readily available company resources. Instead, interface.ai’s new offering directs the AI to the company’s content where it automatically learns from the data and is able to provide accurate responses to customers on day one. Further, the AI bots continuously scan company content for updates to ensure that responses are accurate and current, all without requiring manual intervention.
“Our latest Generative AI capability provides a game-changing solution for financial institutions looking to scale their AI capabilities quickly and effectively,” Njay said. “By streamlining the chatbot training process, we are empowering banks and credit unions to harness the full potential of AI at a fraction of the cost and effort, while providing a more dynamic, conversational experience that resolves more queries.”
interface.ai won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at our all-digital conference, FinovateWest 2020. The company most recently demoed its technology at FinovateFall 2023, introducing Sphere, interface.ai’s GenAI-powered, multimodal, ChatGPT-like AI assistant for financial institutions. The solution is available in two iterations: Sphere for Customers and Sphere for Employees. The former replaces online mobile banking with an AI assistant that provides intelligent guidance and personalized assistance. The latter replaces up to 15 applications typically managed by frontline staff, boosting efficiency by 10x.
interface.ai’s latest launches are part of the company’s fall 2024 product release, which also features an expansion of its biometric consent options now offering integrations with DocuSign, IMM eSign, and Acrobat Sign. interface.ai also announced enhancements to its platform’s content organization that improve both efficiency and ease of use. This includes support for direct synchronization with SharePoint.
In other recent big news for the company, interface.ai secured $30 million in funding last month in a round led by Avataar Venture Partners. The first major investment for the bootstrapped-since-inception firm, the funding makes interface.ai “the most valuable AI company in banking” the company noted in a statement.
“This funding will allow us to accelerate the transformation of self-service in banking through agentic AI, delivering unified and hyper-personalized experiences that empower financial institutions’ customers and employees,” Njay said. “Our AI agents don’t just react — they anticipate needs, providing tailored advice and autonomously guide individuals toward long-term financial wellness.”
Headquartered in Covina, California, interface.ai was founded in 2019.
Alera Group has partnered with TIFIN @Work to integrate its workplace benefits and wealth management tools into its FinWell Connect program.
The integration will provide employees and advisors personalized financial guidance from Alera Group’s insurance, benefits, and wealth management verticals.
Founded in 2023 TIFIN @Work was created by parent company TIFIN to deliver actionable, personalized financial recommendations.
Financial services firm Alera Group has partnered with TIFIN to improve financial wellness among its clients. The Illinois-based firm has integrated TIFIN @Work’s workplace benefits and wealth management platform into its FinWell Connect financial wellness program.
Founded in 2017, Alera Group is the result of the merger of 24 U.S. entrepreneurial firms. The company serves as a broker that offers connectivity to employee benefits, property and casualty insurance, retirement plan services, and wealth services. Under today’s partnership, TIFIN @Work’s tools will be available within its retirement plan services arm.
With the implementation, Alera Group seeks to meet the rising demand for workplace-based financial solutions, and offers FinWell Connect to its employees and advisors. The move makes TIFIN @Work’s tools a bridge between retirement benefits and wealth management.
“Other platforms fill gaps; TIFIN @Work drives true engagement and business growth,” said Retirement Plan Services Executive Vice President and National Practice Leader Christian Mango. “We’re excited to offer a modern solution that benefits both employees and advisors. The partnership with TIFIN @ Work further strengthens Alera Group’s commitment to robust, cutting-edge retirement and wealth solutions.”
TIFIN @Work offers Alera Group’s retirement plan participants personalized, tailored guidance regarding their financial futures. The technology provides actionable solutions by connecting them with financial experts. The platform suggests a solution from Alera Group’s insurance, benefits, or wealth management vertical. As a result, users receive a personalized suggestion at the time of need.
TIFIN @Work is a subset of its parent company TIFIN, a Colorado-based firm that creates and operates companies across a range of fintech sub-sectors. TIFIN’s @Work arm, launched in 2023, offers users AI-powered, personalized insights and actionable recommendations.
“Partnering with Alera Group marks a pivotal step in uniting workplace benefits with wealth management. TIFIN @Work is the bridge from retirement to financial confidence, enhancing employees’ financial journeys and expanding advisors’ reach and impact,” said TIFIN @Work CEO Marc McDonough.
A holiday-shortened week begins with news of an acquisition, a new partnership, and a new solution to enhance lender-borrower communication. Be sure to check back all week long for updates on the latest headlines in fintech.
With markets near all-time highs and Bitcoin teasing the $100,000 mark, investors have become increasingly interested in new opportunities to diversify their investments, reduce risk, and grow their wealth. Unfortunately, there are many assets — from cryptocurrencies to real estate to art — that can be difficult for investors to access and incorporate in their overall investment plan.
In this month’s column, I caught up with Scott Harrigan, President of Alto and CEO of Alto Securities. Alto provides a self-directed investment platform that empowers investors to build their wealth by investing not just in stocks, but also in alternative investments, including cryptocurrencies. The platform supports more than 27,000 investors and has more than $1.4 billion in assets under custody.
Alto has three primary divisions: Alto Solutions, a self-directed IRA administrator; Alto Securities, a wholly-owned registered broker-dealer; and Alto Capital, an exempt reporting advisor that provides alternative investment opportunities to accredited investors. Alto Solutions made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023 in New York with founder and CEO Eric Satz leading a demo of the company’s Alto IRA offering.
In this conversation, Harrigan talks about the pain points investors have when trying to integrate alternative investments into their portfolios and what Alto does to help resolve these issues. We also talked about the opportunities a growing number of investors are seeing in crypto and the challenge of making historically difficult-to-access private investments available to a broader community of investors.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Alto was founded in 2015.
What problem does Alto solve and who does it solve it for?
Scott Harrigan: Alto aims to lower the barrier to entry for alternative investments, making alternatives available within an IRA so investors can diversify their retirement savings, reap the benefits of reduced volatility, and have the potential to increase returns. Alto IRA account users can benefit from tax-advantaged investment options in a wide range of alternative assets, including private equity, venture capital, real estate, art, crypto and more, providing them with the opportunity to diversify their investment portfolio while planning for retirement.
How does Alto solve this problem better than other companies or solutions?
Harrigan: With the goal of lowering the barrier to entry, Alto addresses these two pain points: investors want to understand their various alternative investment options and they want easy access to these types of investments in a streamlined platform.
Alto is the only digitally native self-directed IRA provider with multiple alternative investment options. This is unique because many legacy IRA providers have been around for decades and continue to operate in the same fashion they always have, showing no urgency to grow or evolve. They are overlooking the importance of the digitally-oriented experiences that individuals demand these days. Alto understands the importance of being digital-first and bringing a seamless and enjoyable experience to investors.
As for providing multiple alternative investment options, we are forging diverse opportunities in how and where individuals invest their retirement dollars. Alto offers Traditional, Roth, and SEP IRAs so investors can select the right vehicle for their money based on their unique goals, and individuals have the option to put their retirement funds toward anything from biotech to bitcoin, wine to whiskey, and farmland to fine art.
Who are Alto’s primary customers and how do you reach them?
Harrigan: Our goal is to bring alternative investments to everyday investors, and we do this by removing the hurdles that have long prevented them from investing in this sector. There are three areas key to our success in expanding access and awareness. The first is expanding the number and type of investment opportunities offered, so that individuals have freedom of choice and can identify what options are right for them. The second is creating a user-friendly digital experience that makes investing in alternatives more approachable. Last, but certainly not least, is providing education, and disseminating more information and resources to help investors make confident investment decisions.
In addition to expanding our reach more broadly, we also curate opportunities for accredited investors. This past year, we launched Alto Marketplace, a new part of the Alto platform dedicated to curating private alternative investment opportunities for accredited investors. The platform allows eligible investors to invest in historically difficult-to-access private investments which are curated specifically by Alto. Investors now have access to private equity, venture capital, real estate, fine wine, art, and more, all in one platform.
Can you tell us about a favorite implementation or deployment of your technology?
Harrigan: Our technology provides investors access to unique investment opportunities in the alternatives space within an IRA. We provide opportunities for investors to build wealth beyond the stock market and diversify their retirement portfolio with alternative investments.
As part of our commitment to enabling individuals to invest in a wider variety of alternative assets, we were proud to go live with the Alto Marketplace this past year. Marketplace enables Alto’s users to enjoy a streamlined, consolidated investing experience as they explore offerings that range across a variety of different asset classes. Accredited investors can benefit from alternative assets that may offer portfolio diversification and a chance of achieving long-term financial stability in today’s volatile market.
What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?
Harrigan: My experiences have helped me become deeply familiar with SEC and FINRA guidelines, critical to bringing fair, transparent and compliant opportunities to the everyday investor. Having worked in private markets for the past seven years, I gained a much deeper understanding of how alternative asset investment structures work and how we could work within regulatory guidelines to provide the access that we have today. Creating special purpose vehicles is complex, but we do it because we want to bring a modernized and simplified experience for investing in alternatives.
You recently announced a partnership with SignalRank? Why team up with SignalRank? What will this partnership accomplish?
Harrigan: As mentioned, we launched Alto Marketplace to curate exciting private alternative investment opportunities for investors. Partnering with SignalRank, the first private markets index made up of preferred Series B shares in high growth venture-backed companies, is in line with our commitment to provide investors with wider access to investment opportunities that, by nature, were formerly more exclusive.
We have had prior venture capital opportunities through our Marketplace, but SignalRank is unique in that its algorithm has successfully predicted successful transitions of Series B startups to billion dollar companies. This partnership will help us accomplish our goal to bring unique strategies that aren’t more widely publicly available, and have been largely limited to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors, to more investors. Alto’s special purpose vehicles bring investors these opportunities at lower thresholds, for example by lowering the minimum investment to $25,000 whereas typically it might be closer to $500,000 or even higher.
What excites you about the growth of the alternative asset market? Is there an education gap to be covered in order to get more eligible individual investors interested in alternative assets?
Harrigan: I am excited about how we’re in the early days for the alternatives space. The industry is just starting to recognize how big alternative investments will become in the next five years. If you don’t know what this business is about, you’re going to need to, because this is where wealth management is headed in the next five years.
Because we are in the early days, there is absolutely an education gap. Our original study found that a lack of familiarity with alternative investments was the most significant barrier to investing in these assets as part of a diversified retirement portfolio. One common misconception is that the long-term nature required of some alternative assets is a drawback. However, there is a definite advantage in combining the tax efficiency of self-directed IRAs with the extended investment horizons of alternatives. This long-term alignment allows investments to compound and realize strong returns.
As alternatives are poised on this incredible growth trajectory, we’re excited to be ahead of the curve in providing education on how Alto IRA account users can benefit from tax-advantaged portfolios and outsized returns.
What are your goals for Alto? What can we expect to hear from you in the months to come?
Harrigan: In 2025, we expect to bring a much larger variety of alternative investments to our platform. In 2024, we launched 15 deals, so we expect to continue on this momentum and bring investors even more optionality and choice.
We’re also keeping an eye on the preferences of Gen Z and Millennials, two groups that research shows are engaging with investments differently than the generations before them. Notably, those aged 21 to 43 are currently more likely to choose alternatives over stocks.
Last, we will continue to advance our proficiency in how we educate investors. We feel a significant obligation to provide investors with as much information as possible so that they can make informed, confident decisions about their retirement savings. In line with this strategy, we plan to focus on scaling information about and access to Alto CryptoIRA. Crypto presents an immense opportunity for investors to diversify their portfolios and realize greater returns. We want to make more individuals aware of the opportunity they have to invest in crypto as part of an IRA.
