WealthTech Safari Feb 20, 2026

24 minutes ago
5 min read

Your guided tour of the interesting events in WealthTech for the week.

Morningstar warns Robinhood's new venture fund a potential 'disaster' for investors

Morningstar analyst Bryan Armour labeled Robinhood's new pre-IPO venture fund as a reckless move due to the firm's lack of investment management experience.
Significance: This critique highlights the growing tension between fintech disruptors attempting to democratize private equity and established research firms prioritizing traditional competence.

Knote: This reads to me as Morningstar being defensive for some reason. It is not clear to me that managing a pre-IPO fund requires decades of experience and it is hard to say that the established funds are better managed when this fund has not even launched yet. The bottom line is that Robinhood is looking to be the new Charles Schwab in 15-20 years and so far it looks like they are on track. That probably does put a lot of players on the defensive, but I think Morningstar does not have anything to fear here.

Mariner Partners with State Street to Use its Charles River Wealth Management Platform

Mariner is implementing State Street’s Charles River platform to modernize its technological infrastructure and streamline advisory workflows across its national business.
Significance: The adoption of institutional-grade enterprise technology by a large RIA signals a heightened focus on scalability and operational efficiency to support rapid AUM growth.

Knote: It looks like Mariner is going for strong portfolio management and scalability, key strengths for Charles River. I just hope they are still going to focus on ancillary services and Family Office as-a-Service too.

Otto Money Raises $1.3 Million Pre-Seed Round

Bengaluru-based startup Otto Money secured $1.3 million in pre-seed funding to develop an AI-driven, unbiased financial guidance platform for Indian retail investors.
Significance: This investment underscores the global shift toward conflict-free, digital-first advisory models that prioritize goal-based planning over traditional product distribution.

Knote: It's nice to see some good, old fashioned, early stage WealthTech funding from a VC. Of course, it is in India, which we still feel is one of the hottest direct-to-consumer digital advice plays globally.

𝗨𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗾 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀 $𝟮𝟱𝗠 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀

Uptiq raised $25 million in Series B funding to scale its Qore platform, which deploys domain-trained AI agents to automate back-office financial tasks.
Significance: The move from experimental AI pilots to production-ready orchestration layers indicates that the industry is maturing toward scalable, automated operational frameworks.

Knote: We feel that the value of AI in WealthTech is becoming more the infrastructure around the AI versus the AI itself. Enter the Qore platform, an AI orchestrator, because AI is good at many things, except structured processes since it tends to try and figure out the process from scratch each time. Also note Curql, a VC fund that basically serves as an outsourced CVC for credit unions and brings together the innovation with the distribution. That’s a winner, in my view.

Indian WealthTech Stable Money Secures $25 Million to Expand Fixed Income Platform

Fixed income startup Stable Money raised $25 million to expand its digital platform that allows retail investors to access low-risk products like bonds.
Significance: The rapid growth of fixed income platforms in emerging markets reflects a massive investor appetite for digital safety and transparency amidst market volatility.

Knote: India is not exactly in a retirement income crisis with only about 7% of the population over 65. But the popularity of the Stable Money platform shows that some savers prefer the safety of fixed income and it is an easy step into savings for many. The US has an even greater need for fixed income solutions since 18% of our population is over 65 with a record number of people turning 65 this year.

Edward Jones Adds Cash Flow Optimization to Services

Edward Jones has launched a cash flow optimization tool powered by Envestnet’s MoneyGuide to help clients identify surplus funds for investment goals.
Significance: By integrating real-time liquidity management, the firm is evolving its value proposition from investment management to holistic, tech-enabled financial wellness.

Aviva Investors seeks to tokenise products with Ripple

Aviva Investors is partnering with Ripple to explore tokenizing investment funds using the XRP Ledger to enhance market liquidity and reduce costs.
Significance: This collaboration marks a significant step for institutional asset managers moving toward blockchain-based settlement systems to modernize the entire asset lifecycle.

Knote: While it might be an exaggeration to say that public markets continue their march towards tokenization, unless we are talking about the French Foreign Legion's "Slow March", in the private investment arena it is a full-on sprint to tokenize.

Avantos Raises $25 Million for AI Workflow Layer

AI-native operating system Avantos secured $25 million in Series A funding to streamline the full client lifecycle for major wealth management institutions.
Significance: The rise of context-aware knowledge graphs suggests that the next generation of WealthTech will focus on replacing fragmented legacy CRMs with unified execution layers.

Knote: They are using the headline suggesting they raised $35 million, but that includes $10 million they raised back in 2024. They are not lying, but usually we only see the current raise in the headline so there is some confusion.

Vestwell Raises $385 Million to Power the Future of Saving

Savings infrastructure provider Vestwell raised $385 million in Series E funding to expand its modern 401k and ABLE account ecosystem.
Significance: As millions of Americans reach retirement age, Vestwell’s massive capital injection positions it as a dominant infrastructure layer for the shifting retirement economy.

Jump Raises $80 Million Series B to Expand AI Operating System for Financial Advisors

Jump secured $80 million in Series B funding to transform its popular AI notetaking tool into a comprehensive operating system for wealth managers.
Significance: Jump's rapid adoption by 27,000 advisors signals that AI-driven workflow automation is becoming an essential requirement for firms managing high-volume client bases.

Betterment Launches Pilot of RIA Referral Program

Betterment has initiated a pilot program to refer retail clients with complex needs to independent RIAs on its custodial platform for a fee.
Significance: By entering the referral space, Betterment is directly challenging traditional custodians like Schwab and Fidelity for control over the retail-to-RIA pipeline.

Knote: According to WealthManagement.com, Betterment now has their much awaited advisor referral program in a closed pilot. We like the Self-Directed Trading as Lead Gen theme and it applies to digital advice as well. These platforms are realizing what Schwab and Fidelity have known for a long time: there is a lot of future wealth tide up in those small accounts.