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Singapore’s WeInvest raises US$12.2M in Series A funding round from Schroders, angel investors

[Updated] Singapore’s WeInvest raises US$12.2M in Series A funding round from Schroders, angel investors

WeInvest plans to use the new funding to support product development and expansion in its existing key markets

Update: The previous version of this article has wrongly mentioned Lighthouse1 as an investor in WeInvest’s seed funding round. WeInvest has also amended an information on their statement about AdviseWealth

Global wealth management firm Schroders today announced that it has agreed to acquire a minority equity stake for an undisclosed sum at Singapore-based digital wealth services WeInvest, with completion of the investment expected to take place in June.

The investment is part of the startup’s S$16.5 million (US$12.2 million) Series A funding round, which also involved undisclosed senior industry professionals as angel investors.

Prior to this funding round, WeInvest has raised a seed funding round from angel investors and has been incubated at FinTech Hive Accelerator.

The startup has also been known as a “cockroach startup” which is defined by Business Insider as a business “that builds slowly and steadily from the get-go, keeping a close eye on revenues and profits.”

“We waited for the right investors and believe the investment from Schroders’ forges a great strategic fit which will lead to higher value-add for our clients and the industry at large,” WeInvest Co-Founder & CEO Bhaskar Prabhakara explained to e27 in an email.

Also Read: Here are the 30 finalists of the Singapore’s central bank FinTech Awards

“The growth capital raise will be focused largely on product development to expand the functional range of our platform across regional regulatory requirements, business models, and products. Our aim is also to industrialise our implementation and end-to-end support setup,” he added.

Founded by Prabhakara and CTO Aananth Solaiyappan, WeInvest is a robo-advisor platform-as-a-service provider for banks, wealth and asset managers, insurance companies and independent financial advisors. Its complete end-to-end investment platform covers tech platform, investment strategies, operations, execution and custody.

Its services include TrackWealth (an aggregation as a service platform enabling clients to track their finances), AdviseWealth (a B2B robo-advisory platform), and GroWealth (a goal-based and thematic investing platform).

WeInvest currently operates in Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore with 38 employees based in Singapore and India, as well as sales partnership agreements with representatives in Malaysia and in the Middle East.

In addition to product development, the funding will also be used to support the company’s expansion in the key markets it operates in.

Also Read: Singapore to send delegation of 11 startups to TiEcon 2017 to strengthen ties with Silicon Valley

Per December 31, 2017, Schroders has managed GBP447 billion (US$604.7 billion) of clients’ assets with 4,600 staffs working for the company in six continents.

“Many of our distribution channels are actively evolving their platforms to equip their wealth advisors with digital tools to manage and service their clients more effectively, and to provide digital advice,” said Susan Soh, CEO Singapore, Schroders, in a press statement.

“We believe this investment opens up opportunities for closer collaboration with our distributors, through a platform that enables them to tailor solutions for their clients,” she added.

Image Credit: Anthony Tyrrell on Unsplash

The post Singapore’s WeInvest raises US$12.2M in Series A funding round from Schroders, angel investors appeared first on e27.