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Ortolani, A. (2026, January 21). Schwab plans to ramp up, expand RIA lending options for clients . Wealth Management. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/ria-news/schwab-plans-to-ramp-up-expand-ria-lending-capabilities-to-clients ·       Charles Schwab CEO Rick Wurster announced plans to significantly increase lending capabilities for registered investment advisors (RIAs) to better compete with wirehouse banking services. ·       The expansion is driven by direct feedback from advisors who identified more robust banking and lending options as their primary request for the custodial platform. ·       Schwab’s Pledged Asset Line, which allows clients to borrow against non-retirement assets, serves as the foundation for this growth following an 85% increase in originations over the past year. ·       Ultra-high-net-worth clients are a specific target for these enhanced loan opportunities, as only 9% of this segment currently utilizes Schwab’s existing lending products. ·       The firm intends to leverage its banking capabilities to support the fiduciary independence of RIAs while providing them the tools to match the integrated service models of large Wall Street rivals. ·       Management suggested that increasing access to liquidity through lending will attract more net new assets and encourage high-net-worth clients to consolidate their holdings at Schwab. ·       The company is considering long-term mergers and acquisitions to further broaden its service offerings and private market liquidity options for both RIA and retail clients.

Ortolani, A. (2026, January 22). Edelman moves to Orion for tech stack . Wealth Management. https://www.wealthmanagement.com/financial-technology/edelman-financial-engines-moves-to-orion-for-wealth-tech ·       Edelman Financial Engines has transitioned its entire technology stack to Orion after maintaining an eight-year relationship with rival provider Envestnet. ·       The registered investment advisor currently manages over $308 billion in assets and supports a network of more than 370 financial planners. ·       Orion will provide a comprehensive suite of tools including portfolio management, trading, data sharing, and advisor engagement platforms. ·       This technology shift follows a leadership change in October where Ralph Haberli succeeded Jay Shah as the firm's Chief Executive Officer. ·       Edelman executives stated that the move to Orion aims to better integrate internal systems and enhance the digital experience for their clients. ·       The transition represents a significant market win for Orion, which currently oversees approximately $5.8 trillion in assets under administration. ·       Majority owners Hellman & Friedman and minority stakeholder Warburg Pincus continue to oversee the firm’s strategic direction alongside founder Ric Edelman.

Your weekly guide to interesting happenings in WealthTech globally. In this issue, commentary on the following: DOL, White House Near Release of Proposed 401(k) Alts Rule  Edelman Moves to Orion for Tech Stack  Flanks and FinReg360 launch EDX: Europe’s first standardized financial data exchange protocol  Groww steps up wealth play via MF and portfolio management solutions  Nationwide Welcomes New Leaders, Income Lab Launches AI Scribe  OneDigital Introduces Private Investments Within Personalized Portfolios for Defined Contribution Plans  Schwab Plans to Ramp Up, Expand RIA Lending Options for Clients  Download full report:

Wint Wealth has raised $27 million in a Series B funding round as it looks to expand access to fixed income products for India’s growing base of retail investors. The company focuses on structuring and distributing yield-oriented and asset-backed fixed income opportunities that have historically been difficult for individuals to access. The new capital will be used to support product expansion, strengthen platform capabilities, and scale operations as the company grows its role in India’s retail bond market.  The funding comes as individual investors show increasing interest in fixed income products that offer more predictable returns and portfolio diversification. Wint Wealth positions itself as core infrastructure for retail fixed income by simplifying onboarding, improving transparency, and standardizing access to products that were previously fragmented and opaque. Its platform is designed to serve both investors and issuers by reducing friction and enabling more efficient capital raising.  The raise also reflects a broader shift across financial services toward technology-driven infrastructure and data-intensive platforms. As global financial hubs such as Dubai invest heavily in data center capacity to support digital economies, wealth platforms are similarly prioritizing scalability, reliability, and compliance. For companies like Wint Wealth, the combination of capital, technology, and infrastructure is increasingly essential to meeting investor expectations and supporting the next phase of wealth creation. Link to Article

AssetPlus has raised $19.5 million in a growth funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners with participation from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures and Rainmatter. The Chennai-based company operates a digital infrastructure platform that serves over 18,000 mutual fund distributors across India. This capital infusion follows a previous funding round and will be used to deepen the company technology stack and broaden its product offerings. While mutual fund distribution remains the core focus, AssetPlus has expanded into health and term insurance, fixed deposits, and retirement products. The company plans to introduce portfolio management services and global investment options within the next six months to provide a more comprehensive system for its partners. This transaction highlights the continuing momentum within the Asian wealth management sector and specifically the Indian market. AssetPlus provides the technology for mutual fund distributors who utilize the platform to manage over $860 million in assets for approximately 150,000 retail investors. Link to Article

Atomic Insights secured 10 million dollars in seed funding led by Aquiline Capital Partners to transform payment infrastructure for the wealth management industry. The company provides a specialized platform that automates and centralizes complex financial workflows such as bill pay and money movement. This technology is designed to serve registered investment advisors and family offices that manage significant client assets. Other participants in the funding round included Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. This initiative aligns with the Family Office as-a-Service theme where technology brings high-touch and low-scale services down-market. The industry is shifting its focus toward offering a broader range of services to existing clients rather than simply increasing the number of clients served. For financial advisors and platform integrators this solution provides a secure workspace with a full audit trail for all transactions. Automating payment tasks reduces the risks and errors associated with manual data entry and disjointed systems. It enables firms to collaborate more effectively at the center of a client financial life while maintaining high standards of operational excellence. Source

Harvest Group recently announced its acquisition of Firstance as part of a strategic plan to strengthen its presence in the European wealth management sector. Based in Italy, Firstance specializes in providing a private life insurance distribution platform that connects institutional partners with a wide range of insurance products. Harvest is a French software company that provides tools for financial planning and wealth management professionals. This acquisition allows Harvest to integrate insurance solutions more deeply into its existing suite of advisory services. The deal brings together two significant players in the European market to create a more unified service offering for wealth managers and private banks. By combining Harvest expertise in financial software with Firstance specialized insurance platform, the new group aims to simplify complex wealth management workflows. The partnership focuses on providing advisors with better tools to manage client portfolios across different asset classes and jurisdictions. This consolidation reflects a broader trend of regional platforms scaling up to meet the needs of a diverse European client base. For the WealthTech industry, this transaction highlights the importance of cross border platform integration and the convergence of insurance and wealth management. Platforms are increasingly looking for ways to offer holistic advice that covers both investment and protection needs. This move by Harvest positions it as a major contender in the competition to provide end to end solutions for financial intermediaries. The combined entity is expected to drive innovation in digital distribution and help advisors deliver more personalized services to their clients. Link to Article

Executive Summary   Alts2Wealth will not succeed through distribution alone -- it will require fundamental changes in how alternatives are onboarded, subscribed to, administered, reported, and understood.   Four pillars must improve together for Alts2Wealth to become mainstream: Technology and operational scale Advisor and investor education Data quality, analytics, and due diligence Clearing and custody rails standardized and scaled   Technology must make 3 low-scale operations highly scalable: Onboarding (some work left to do) Subscription (a lot of work left to do) Post-investment administration (a lot of work left to do – much is contingent on improving the subscription phase) Ideally, we need a unified, seamless system for maximum scale Marketplaces, but not as much since we believe TAMPs will do most of the sourcing, research, and due diligence in the early days.   Improved Education, which remains a critical constraint, as alternatives lack shared mental models and require clear explanation of risk, return drivers, liquidity trade-offs, and portfolio use.   Improve data and analytics, which have challenges that are structural, driven by fragmented records, inconsistent definitions, limited lineage, and lagged reporting.   Purpose-built Clearing and Custody that is clarified and standardized, preferably with external clearinghouses and/or distributed ledger replacing bi-lateral communication between investor and manager.   Alts2Wealth is inevitable, but not automatic; success depends on coordinated progress across infrastructure, education, and data rather than incremental fixes or product proliferation. The people who need to step up to the plate at the moment are: Managers WealthTech platforms Advisors Data providers Custodians Download Full Paper:

Alpaca has announced the closing of a $150 million Series D funding round led by Drive Capital, propelling the company to a $1.15 billion valuation. As a self-clearing broker-dealer and API-first platform, Alpaca provides the foundational technical layer that allows fintechs and financial institutions to embed stock, ETF, options, and crypto trading into their own applications. This latest capital injection is supplemented by a $40 million line of credit to further bolster the company's balance sheet as it pursues aggressive international growth. The company currently powers over nine million brokerage accounts across 40 countries, serving more than 300 partner organizations including Kraken and SBI Securities. In the past year, Alpaca has significantly expanded its product suite to include multi-leg options, 24/5 U.S. stock trading, and Shariah-compliant investment tools. Notably, the firm has also emerged as a leader in digital assets, reportedly powering the vast majority of tokenized U.S. equities and ETFs through its specialized infrastructure. The new funding will be used to enhance Alpaca’s global investment infrastructure and support sophisticated institutional trading clients. Key initiatives include establishing a local presence in new geographic markets, securing additional regulatory licenses, and bridging the gap between traditional fiat and on-chain financial ecosystems. By reinforcing its cybersecurity and platform resilience, Alpaca aims to solidify its position as the global standard for modern brokerage services. https://alpaca.markets/blog/alpaca-raises-150-million-at-a-1-15b-valuation-to-build-the-global-standard-for-brokerage-infrastructure/

Your weekly guide to interesting happenings in WealthTech globally. In this issue, commentary on the following:   Private Markets in 2026: M&A and Wealth Channel Will Drive Growth Again  Apex and Allfunds Join Forces to Expand Access to Offshore Investing for Global Investors  WealthTech in Southeast Asia: Private Wealth, Digital Transformation, and the Outlook for 2026 and Beyond  UBS Group AG: Rebuilding Global Wealth Tech and API-Driven Architecture  Fidelity and Oliver Wyman: Wealth Management Trends and the Mass Affluent Focus for 2026  Advisors Plan to Prioritize Tech Stack Upgrades and AI Integration in 2026  Revolut Exploring FUPS Acquisition to Enter the Turkish Market  Link to content:

Your weekly guide to interesting happenings in WealthTech globally. In this issue, commentary on the following: 2025 WealthTech Market Update: The WealthTech Mirage What Really Needs to Happen for Alts2Wealth to Become Mainstream SimCorp and MSCI expand collaboration to streamline investment managers' access to private market data Notre Dame FCU invests in CU WealthNext to own infrastructure. WealthTech 2026 – The top 10 trends in view for a fast-moving sector Wealthfront stock plummeted 17% following CEO conflict of interest news. FMG names Dave Christensen CEO to lead AI-driven platform growth. The WealthStack Podcast: 2026 WealthTech Outlook with Davis Janowski UAEC secured $30 million to optimize intelligent quantitative trading systems. MAIA Technology raised £4 million to unify investment operations workflows. Aquilance Receives $16M Investment From Private Equity Firm Ten Coves iAltA acquired BridgeFT to bridge public and private market data. Harvest acquired Firstance to lead European life insurance digital distribution. Wint Wealth raised $27 million to scale India’s bond platform.

Executive Summary On paper, the 2025 numbers are strong, with $6.6 billion raised across 153 deals. But the most important takeaway from this data isn't that funding is bouncing back, it’s who got left behind. The reality is that this recovery has almost entirely skipped over the earliest stages of the market. While total capital is climbing, Seed and Series A activity is still in a slump. It confirms a tough truth for the industry: while the big players are finding their footing again, the capital for the "next big thing" at the starting line remains structurally blocked.   Deal volume recovered modestly:  153 deals in 2025 vs. 142 in 2024 (~+9% YoY). Capital rebounded sharply:  $2.4B in 2024 to $6.6B in 2025 (~+185% YoY). Early-stage activity declined:  Seed and Series A rounds fell ~17% YoY, even as total deals increased. Later-stage activity accelerated:  Series B+ rounds expanded materially, driving the majority of incremental dollars. Mega-rounds returned:  13 rounds of $100M+ in 2025 vs. 3 in 2024, disproportionately influencing total funding. Strategic participation strengthened:  Strategics represented ~33% of known investor hits, the highest level on record. M&A remained resilient and strategic-led:  157 acquisitions were recorded in 2025, with ~91% of known acquirer participation coming from strategics.   The core takeaway: 2025 was not a broad reopening of venture capital. It was a selective recovery, where capital flowed to companies that had already cleared early validation hurdles and could demonstrate strategic relevance, distribution leverage, or integration depth. Download the full analysis: