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WEALTHTECH SAFARI A Guided Tour of WealthTech News Week of April 3, 2026   State Street signals it’s ready to ‘disrupt’ RIA custody five years after abrupt exit, madly hiring Altruist veterans to build Apex-powered, ‘digitally native’ AI platform •      State Street Global Advisors, the asset management arm of one of the world’s largest custodian banks, is reportedly developing a digitally native RIA custody platform leveraging AI and Apex Fintech Solutions, having recruited several Altruist veterans. •      By re-entering the RIA custody market with a modern technology stack, State Street aims to challenge existing incumbents, though integrating agile startup culture with its legacy institutional framework presents a significant hurdle. Knote: I really want this initiative to work and I think all advisors should too. The raw potential of a brand new, innovative, perhaps even digital custodial platform re-imagined from the ground up immediately sets me off on wistful daydreams. Combined with the global presence of State Street, it could be a milestone development. What I worry about is, even with the most modern technology and architecture, it might still need to touch the core technology of State Street, and therein lies the problem. But, if they can solve that problem, I think they will go a long ways towards solving the problems of our industry. Read More →   Free AI WealthTech platform debuts for advisors •      UX Wealth has launched riskDNA, a specialized AI-native platform offering advisors risk intelligence, portfolio analytics, financial planning, and CRM capabilities at no cost. •      By subsidizing advisor software costs through asset manager distribution intelligence, this platform introduces a new revenue model that could significantly reduce technology barriers for growing RIAs. Knote: In my opinion, the dream architecture for a WealthTech would be a clean, centralized database with modular functionality hung off of it (CRM, portfolio construction, proposals, etc.). At the risk of attack, I will point out that the functionality does not necessarily have to be AI, but it can be. On the surface, riskDNA may be the closest thing I have seen yet. Read More →   Bachatt secures $12 million Series A led by Accel (India) •      Indian WealthTech startup Bachatt has raised $12 million in Series A funding to simplify financial planning and democratize access to wealth management for the nation’s underserved segments. •      This investment highlights a growing strategic focus on high-volume, low-friction digital platforms to capture emerging market investors early in their financial journey. Knote: Bachatt launched last May and claims to already have 3 million users on their platform and looking to scale to 30 million users in the next 12–24 months. That is the kind of growth US platforms can really only dream about. Read More →   Fiduciary duties in selecting designated investment alternatives •      The Employee Benefits Security Administration has proposed a rule to create a process-based safe harbor for fiduciaries evaluating alternative assets for defined contribution plans. •      By emphasizing an asset-neutral, prudent fiduciary process, this regulation aims to reduce litigation risks and open the door for integrating alternative assets like private equity and digital assets into 401(k) lineups. Knote: A big move forward for Alts2Wealth, except that our observation is that the defined fiduciary mandate that all fiduciaries “objectively and thoroughly evaluate all potential product offerings based on specific factors such as performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks, and complexity” is not really feasible at the moment. Whoever steps into this gap with a due diligence product could build themselves a business as big or bigger than Morningstar, even if it is Morningstar itself. Read More →   T. Rowe Price names Bill Cashel as head of alternatives for its wealth channel •      T. Rowe Price, a global investment management firm with over $1.6 trillion in AUM, has appointed Bill Cashel as the new Head of Alternatives for U.S. Wealth to oversee and expand the delivery of alternative investment capabilities to wealth advisors. •      This strategic leadership hire signals T. Rowe Price’s aggressive expansion into the Alts2Wealth market, positioning the firm to capitalize on growing intermediary demand for both public and private market solutions. Knote: The main thing to note here is that this is a new position and represents T. Rowe taking the gloves off in the Alts2Wealth fight, just as everyone has or will in the near term. I will also point out that I have not met a lot of slow people from AQR, so I suspect Bill Cashel will get things moving fairly quickly. Read More →   AI, fintech boom: QED Investors’ India field notes 2026 •      QED Investors reports that artificial intelligence spending in Indian financial services will double by 2026, with global fintech revenues projected to hit $1.5 trillion by 2030. •      As AI becomes a core structural element, financial institutions are shifting from legacy channels to modular, embedded infrastructure to capture a rapidly expanding and digitally native investor base. Knote: We keep saying it, but this is just math. India has a population of 1.5 billion people or so and the average age is 29. Their investor base is already 125 million and has been growing at a 29% CAGR over the last 5 years. GDP is projected in the 6–7% range and wealth is building rapidly. And yet, there are only about 1,000 RIAs. There really is only one answer: technology. Read More →   Dhan reportedly in talks to acquire Infinyte Club (India) •      Dhan, a fast-growing Indian trading platform, is reportedly in advanced discussions to acquire wealth management startup Infinyte Club for roughly $10 million to offer institutional-grade investment tools to its users. •      By integrating private market opportunities and portfolio tracking, Dhan exemplifies a growing industry shift where retail trading platforms are evolving into comprehensive wealth management ecosystems. Knote: More action from India. WealthTech funding has tilted heavily at self-directed trading in India. There is nothing wrong with that except that the real problem India needs to solve is not Bitcoin trading but holistic financial advice, which is pretty much zero. We applaud Dhan given a hat tip that direction with this acquisition. Read More →

Dhan, a prominent stock trading platform operated by Moneylicious Securities, is reportedly in advanced discussions to acquire the wealth management startup Infinyte Club for approximately $10 million in a combination of cash and equity. This strategic move aims to broaden the service offerings of the parent company, Raise Financial Services, as it seeks to capture a larger share of the growing wealth management sector in India. Infinyte Club, which previously secured $3.6 million in funding from Elevation Capital and a group of prominent angel investors, specializes in providing institutional grade investment tools to a community of high net worth individuals and startup operators. The core functionality of Infinyte Club allows its members to track diversified portfolios and access exclusive private market opportunities, including employee stock ownership plans and pre-IPO investments. The platform serves roughly 50,000 members and focuses on the unique liquidity needs of employees at high growth technology companies. Following the completion of the deal, the Infinyte Club leadership team and its staff are expected to relocate to Mumbai to lead the wealth management division within the Dhan ecosystem. This integration will enable Dhan to offer more sophisticated tracking and advisory services to its existing base of more than 1 million active traders. This acquisition reflects a broader industry trend where retail trading platforms are moving up the value chain to provide comprehensive wealth management solutions for the mass affluent and affluent segments. By incorporating private market access and holistic portfolio tracking, Dhan is positioning itself to serve a wave of wealth creation that is expected to continue over the next decade. The deal follows other recent consolidations in the space and underscores the increasing importance of providing specialized financial services beyond simple brokerage operations. This transaction provides a clear path for Dhan to compete effectively for long term assets and deeper relationships within the high net worth market. Knote: More action from India. WealthTech funding has tilted heavily at self-directed trading in India. There is nothing wrong with that except that the real problem India needs to solve is not Bitcoin trading but holistic financial advice, which is pretty much zero. We applaud Dhan given a hat tip that direction with this acquisition. Link to Source

CNBC-TV18. (2026, March 24). AI, fintech boom: QED Investors' India Field Notes 2026. CNBC-TV18. https://www.cnbctv18.com/videos/business/startup/ai-fintech-boom-qed-investors-india-field-notes-2026-19878028.htm Artificial intelligence spending in Indian financial services is projected to double by 2026 as the technology becomes a core component of financial infrastructure. QED Investors forecasts that global fintech revenues will increase six-fold to reach an estimated $1.5 trillion by 2030. The report highlights a shift where fintech becomes a horizontal feature, causing the lines between financial and non-financial applications to blur significantly. Venture capital sentiment in India is moving away from speculative hype toward supporting defensible AI innovation and long-term capital sustainability. QED Investors intends to deploy approximately $500 million into the Indian startup ecosystem to support growth in sectors like digital lending and insurtech. Financial institutions are advised to invest in modular embedding infrastructure rather than continuing to rely on legacy distribution channels. Emerging trends indicate that Edge AI will play a critical role in providing localized and private AI solutions for the Indian financial market. Knote: We keep saying it, but this is just math. India has a population of 1.5 billion people or so and the average age is 29. Their investor base is already 125 million and has been growing at a 29% CAGR over the last 5 years. GDP is projected in the 6-7% range and wealth is building rapidly. And yet, there are only about 1,000 RIAs. There really is only one answer: technology.

T. Rowe Price. (2026, March 31). T. Rowe Price Names Bill Cashel As Head Of Alternatives For Its Wealth Channel. T. Rowe Price. https://www.troweprice.com/en/us/press/2026/press-release--t--rowe-price-names-bill-cashel-as-head-of-altern T. Rowe Price has appointed Bill Cashel as the new Head of Alternatives for U.S. Wealth to lead the firm's expanding private markets engagement. Bill Cashel will oversee the delivery of alternative investment capabilities from both T. Rowe Price and Oak Hill Advisors to wealth advisors. The new leadership role involves collaborating with sales teams to identify and pursue business opportunities within the intermediary distribution channel. Cashel will play a key part in the firm's strategic alliance with Goldman Sachs Asset Management to provide public and private market solutions. T. Rowe Price plans to expand its alternatives distribution team in the coming months to support these growing capabilities. Before joining T. Rowe Price, Cashel served as a partner at AQR Capital Management and co-founded the private market platform Privacore Capital. As of February 28, 2026, T. Rowe Price manages approximately $1.80 trillion in total client assets across its global investment platforms. Knote: The main thing to note here is that this is a new position and represents T. Rowe taking the gloves off in the Alts2Wealth fight, just as everyone has or will in the near term. I will also point out that I have not met a lot of slow people from AQR, so I suspect Bill Cashel will get things moving fairly quickly.

Breen, O. (2026, April 2). State Street signals it's ready to 'disrupt' RIA custody five years after abrupt exit, madly hiring Altruist veterans to build Apex powered, 'digitally native' Al platform, but no official word yet. RIABiz. https://riabiz.com/a/2026/4/3/state-street-signals-its-ready-to-disrupt-ria-custody-five-years-after-abrupt-exit-madly-hiring-altruist-veterans-to-build-apex-powered-digitally-native-al-platform-but-no-official-word-yet State Street Global Advisors is reportedly preparing to re-enter the RIA custody market five years after selling its previous $200-billion custody unit. The firm is developing a digitally native wealth management platform that leverages artificial intelligence and software from Apex Fintech Solutions. State Street has recruited at least seven former employees from the digital-first custodian Altruist to help build this new technology stack. The strategic goal is to offer a fully digital, globally scalable clearing and custody platform that incorporates multi-currency and multi-jurisdictional capabilities. Industry experts estimate that integrating this new architecture with State Street's institutional layer to launch a basic domestic product will take 18 to 24 months. Realizing the complete vision with unified managed accounts and private market capabilities is projected to require a four- to five-year development timeline. Analysts caution that State Street will face significant organizational hurdles in merging nimble startup cultures with its large institutional framework while starting with zero scale in a highly competitive market. Knote: I really want this initiative to work and I think all advisors should too. The raw potential of a brand new, innovative, perhaps even digital custodial platform re-imagined from the ground up immediately sets me off on wistful daydreams. Combined with the global presence of State Street, it could be a milestone development. What I worry about is, even with the most modern technology and architecture, it might still need to touch the core technology of State Street, and therein lies the problem. But, if they can solve that problem, I think they will go a long ways towards solving the problems of our industry.

Janowski, D. (2026, April 1). Free AI Risk Platform Debuts for Advisors. WealthManagement.com . https://www.wealthmanagement.com/advisor-support-platforms/new-ai-risk-platform-launches-for-financial-advisors UX Wealth, a US based TAMP, has launched riskDNA, a specialized AI-native platform designed to provide financial advisors with advanced risk intelligence and portfolio analytics. But, it also includes financial planning and CRM. The software is available to advisors without subscription fees because its operational costs are subsidized by asset managers seeking distribution intelligence. The system is built using an agentic AI framework that separates complex financial services into modular, interoperable technology components. Founder and CEO Kyle Wiggs designed the tool to serve as an efficient growth engine that enables rapid technology adoption for registered investment advisors. The platform provides asset managers with specific insights into how their investment strategies are being positioned and utilized by wealth managers. RiskDNA is currently accessible to UX Wealth Partners advisors and is slated for a full public market launch on May 1, 2026. Knote: In my opinion, the dream architecture for a WealthTech would be a clean, centralized database with modular functionality hung off of it (CRM, portfolio construction, proposals, etc.). At the risk of attack, I will point out that the functionality does not necessarily have to be AI, but it can be. On the surface, riskDNA may be the closest thing I have seen yet.

Bachatt, an Indian WealthTech startup, has secured $12 million in its Series A funding round led by global venture capital firm Accel. The Mumbai-based company, legally registered as Trusave Fintech Private Limited, aims to simplify financial planning for India’s underserved segments. By lowering the entry barrier for investing, the firm specifically targets young professionals and self-employed individuals who have traditionally lacked access to structured wealth management services. The platform initially focused on a micro-savings model, allowing users to start investing with small amounts in digital gold and mutual funds. Bachatt's technology suite streamlines the onboarding process, using a mobile-first approach to reach users in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. As the company grows, it is expanding its ecosystem to include credit products and more sophisticated asset allocation frameworks. This strategy allows the firm to capture users early in their financial journey and provide curated fund baskets as their wealth increases. This infusion of capital will be utilized to enhance the platform’s technical infrastructure and accelerate the rollout of advisory-led investment models. For the broader WealthTech industry, the investment underscores the strategic importance of high-volume, low-friction platforms in emerging markets. By integrating compliance and risk governance directly into the digital experience, Bachatt demonstrates how technology can democratize access to financial advice. The deal highlights a continued trend of major venture firms backing solutions that bridge the gap between traditional banking and the digital economy. Knote: Bachatt launched last May and claims to already have 3 million users on their platform and looking to scale to 30 million users in the next 12-24 months. That is the kind of growth US platforms can really only dream about. Link to Source

Employee Benefits Security Administration. (2026, March 31). Fiduciary duties in selecting designated investment alternatives. Federal Register. https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-06178.pdf The Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a proposed rule to establish a process-based safe harbor for fiduciaries selecting designated investment alternatives under participant-directed defined contribution plans. This regulation aims to reduce the regulatory burdens and litigation risks that have historically discouraged plan sponsors from including alternative assets in 401(k) lineups. Alternative assets covered by the proposal include private equity, real estate, digital assets like cryptocurrency, commodities, infrastructure, and lifetime income strategies. The proposed rule mandates that fiduciaries must objectively and thoroughly evaluate all potential product offerings based on specific factors such as performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks, and complexity. Emphasizing an asset-neutral approach, the regulation refrains from endorsing or prohibiting any specific asset class, instead grounding compliance entirely in a prudent fiduciary process. This initiative follows a recent executive order intended to democratize access to alternative assets for retirement investors and supersedes prior guidance that restricted cryptocurrency investments. Upon publication in the Federal Register, the proposal will be open to a 60-day public comment period to allow industry stakeholders to evaluate the new fiduciary guidelines. Knote: A big move forward for Alts2Wealth, except that our observation is that the defined fiduciary mandate that all fiduciaries "objectively and thoroughly evaluate all potential product offerings based on specific factors such as performance, fees, liquidity, valuation, benchmarks, and complexity" is not really feasible at the moment. Whoever steps into this gap with a due diligence product could build themselves a business as big or bigger than Morningstar, even if it is Morningstar itself.

Merrill Launches AI-Powered Meeting Journey Merrill, a wirehouse giant, launched a tool to automate meeting preparation, summarization, and client follow-ups. This launch underscores the rapid enterprise-wide adoption of AI to eliminate administrative friction in wealth management. Knote: Merrill was one of those firms that did not want to deploy notetakers for liability reasons. It looks like the allure of saving thousands of advisor hours finally wore them down. Read More   CurrentClient Secures $1.25 Million Seed Round for Advisor Communication Platform CurrentClient, a communication startup, secured seed funding to enhance its platform for financial advisor-client engagement. The investment signals growing venture capital interest in specialized tools that modernize legacy client communication methods. Knote: It's nice to see a good, old-fashioned VC seed investment in an early-stage company. VC funding has been coming back, but for the <$10mm checks, it is still very slow. Read More   Flanks Launches AI Financial Advisor for Wealth Managers Flanks, an account aggregator, introduced an AI Financial Advisor designed as an intelligent co-pilot for multi-custodian portfolios. Automating complex portfolio interrogation via natural language represents a significant shift toward real-time, AI-driven advisory support. Knote: There isn't much of a moat around AI tools these days, except one: data. So it makes sense that one of Europe's largest portfolio aggregation companies would field an AI overlay. Read More   Corebridge Financial and Equitable Holdings Announce Transformational Merger Corebridge Financial and Equitable, two insurance giants, have announced a merger to scale their retirement and wealth capabilities. This massive consolidation highlights the ongoing trend of "Peak 65" driving strategic mergers to capture retirement income market share. Knote: It's not WealthTech per se, but will likely shake-up the tech stack over the next 24 months, so heads up. Read More   Fundment Tops Defaqto 2026 Platform Service Ratings in Adviser Survey (UK) Fundment, a UK-based AdvisorOS, outranked established competitors to secure the top spot in the 2026 Defaqto ratings. The success of specialist providers suggests that service quality and modern technology are becoming primary differentiators over legacy brand heritage. Knote: Fundment has come from nowhere to rocket to the top slot with a modern platform that we would say is easy, functional, and importantly, when you turn it on it just plain works. US legacy platforms should take note. Read More   iCapital and Aladdin Wealth Partner to Bring Alternatives into the Core Advisor Portfolio iCapital and Aladdin Wealth, an analytics platform, partnered to integrate private market assets into standard advisor workflows. Bridging the gap between alternatives and traditional portfolios is essential for firms aiming to normalize non-public investments at scale. Knote: My only real question is "what took them so long?" I will be interested to see how the Aladdin platform handles the analytics around mixed public/private portfolios. That is a gap in the market at the moment, in my opinion. Read More   Cerulli Estimates that US Retail Financial Assets Broke above $100 Trillion in 2025 Cerulli Associates, a research firm, estimated that U.S. households now control over $100 trillion in financial assets. The explosive growth of mass-affluent wealth demands scalable, technology-led advisory models to capture the expanding middle-market segment. Knote: Cerulli also estimates that the $100,000 to $2,000,000 segment rose to $25 Trillion and 47 million households. I'm calling that out because it should be of interest to growth-minded advisors as these prospects are more "gettable" than more established households. They note a stat I have not seen before and like: new client engagement drops from 44% for those under 30 to 24% for those over 50. Read More   AssetMark Becomes Latest Firm to Add New Tax Planning Tools AssetMark, a TAMP provider, added advanced direct indexing and tax-loss harvesting tools to its Adhesion wealth platform. Rapidly expanding tax-efficient investing capabilities indicates a broader industry focus on delivering personalized, high-value investor outcomes. Knote: Altruist and Orion also announced tax-optimized investing initiatives in the last few months. Read More   AI-led WealthTech Rising as VCs Bet on a Fintech Disruption (in India) Indian WealthTech startups, including AI-driven firms, are attracting significant venture capital to modernize middle-income advisory services. Leveraging the India Stack for AI-powered advisory could create one of the world's most attractive D2C wealth opportunities. Knote: We continue to believe D2C advice in India to be one of the most attractive WealthTech opportunities globally. The main driver is the massive and rapidly growing mass affluent population, lack of professional advisors, and shift from gold and real estate to financial assets. The AI part is just the cherry on top. Read More   Larry Fink Letter to Shareholders: Alts2Wealth Takeaways BlackRock, an asset manager, is targeting $400 billion in private market fundraising and major revenue from technology services by 2030. Integrating private market data into unified platforms signifies a fundamental shift toward making alternatives a core component of retail portfolios. Knote: In last year's letter, Larry Fink envisioned the 60/40 portfolio moving to a 50/30/20 portfolio with the 20 being alternatives. Read More   Allfunds reports 74% Alternatives growth Allfunds, a fund platform, reported a 74% increase in alternative assets under administration as demand for private markets accelerates. Massive growth in the alternatives segment underscores the success of platforms that facilitate friction-free access to non-traditional investments. Knote: We continue to maintain that TAMPs will be the largest beneficiaries of the Alts2Wealth movement. Read More   GeoWealth Gets $42.5 Million Strategic Investment from Goldman Sachs GeoWealth, a TAMP firm, received strategic funding from Goldman Sachs to expand its public-private investment infrastructure. This investment highlights the central role of turnkey platforms in delivering institutional-grade alternatives to the registered investment advisor market. Knote: It is not surprising that they are targeting some of the proceeds to build out its infrastructure around alternative assets. We believe TAMPs will be the gatekeepers of alternatives in the wealth management channel. For more on this see https://www.wealthtechstrategy.com/post/tamps-the-tip-of-the-alts2wealth-spear Read More   Quorus Secures $5 Million To Scale Tax-Managed Infrastructure Quorus, an infrastructure provider, raised seed capital to scale its automated tax-loss harvesting and personalized portfolio tools. Democratizing family-office-level tax optimization reflects a shift toward holistic advice focused on the center of a client's financial life. Read More   iCapital Acquires Hexure to Expand Alternative and Insurance Distribution iCapital, an alternatives platform, acquired Hexure to integrate digital sales automation for insurance and annuities into its infrastructure. Combining insurance-based structures with private market access creates a more seamless retirement income solution for wealth managers. MMNote: This hits 2 themes squarely, so I can get behind this investment thesis. 1. Peak 65 is happening right now! Annuity products are key for advice through retirement. 2. Alternatives are the hottest topic right now. Specifically, many private placement annuities allow you to take a decent amount of your gains tax free. Easing the friction will be transformational for investors. Read More     Berlin based Upvest secures $125 million to modernize European investment rails Upvest, an infrastructure provider, raised funding to modernize legacy banking and investment systems across Europe and the UK. Providing modular API-first rails allows traditional institutions to launch modern investment products with significantly reduced regulatory and operational overhead. Knote: The transaction reportedly values Upvest at around $740 million, although that may be thrown off a little by the straight debt component, depending on how they are treating that. Still over a 75% gain from their last round a little over a year ago. Retirement savings in Europe is getting modernized with a rise in technology demand for SIPPs (IRAs) and Altersvorsorgedepot (scarier-sounding IRAs). JP Morgan also recently purchased WealthOS to advance the SIPP market. Read More   Abra to Go Public via Merger with New Providence Acquisition Corp. III Abra, a digital-asset firm, plans to go public through a $750 million merger with a special purpose acquisition company. This listing represents the maturation of digital asset wealth management as firms seek capital to scale custodial and trading services. Read More   Envestnet Integrates Interval Funds Directly into its Unified Managed Account Platform Envestnet, a wealth platform, integrated interval funds into its UMA framework to streamline access to private market strategies. Automating the subscription and redemption lifecycle for interval funds removes major operational barriers to democratizing institutional-grade investments. Knote: Interval funds seem to be the gateway drug for alternatives these days and a safe way for Envestnet to dip its toe in the water. AssetMark is doing the same. There is some tech lift involved, for example incorporating the redemption window, but otherwise fits neatly into existing architecture. Read More   JIFFYAI Launches AI Advisor Companion JIFFYAI, is an AI firm, launched a tool to automate advisor meeting preparation, scheduling, and follow-up documentation. The rapid evolution of AI advisor assistants highlights the competitive battle to own the "last mile" of advisor productivity. Knote: The competition in the AI advisor assistant space continues to heat up. They are rapidly evolving and adding functionality. We have renamed this sub-sector from "Workflow Support" to "Notetaker" to "Meeting Management" and now "AI Advisor Assistant" all within the last 9 months. Read More

Bank of America. (2026, March 26). Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank Launch AI-Powered Meeting Journey. Bank of America Newsroom. https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/content/newsroom/press-releases/2026/03/merrill-and-bank-of-america-private-bank-launch-ai-powered-meeti.html Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank have launched "AI-Powered Meeting Journey," an integrated solution designed to automate the full lifecycle of client engagement for financial advisors. The platform streamlines advisor workflows by providing intelligent tools for meeting preparation, real-time AI notetaking, and automated follow-up task generation. According to the firm, this new capability can save financial advisors up to four hours per meeting across millions of client interactions annually. The tool utilizes advanced natural language processing to capture key discussion points and create shareable summaries while maintaining strict enterprise-grade security standards. This rollout is part of Bank of America’s broader $13.5 billion annual technology investment, which includes $4 billion specifically dedicated to new AI and digital initiatives. The solution integrates directly with the firm’s proprietary Salesforce CRM and advisor workstations to ensure seamless data synchronization and administrative efficiency. Future advancements will focus on further accelerating advisor capacity and supporting more proactive, personalized guidance through a high-tech and high-touch service model. Knote: Merrill was one of those firms that did not want to deploy notetakers for liability reasons. It looks like the allure of saving thousands of advisor hours finally wore them down.

CurrentClient, a voice and text communication platform for financial advisors, announced the closing of a $1.25 million seed funding round led by Thicket Ventures. The investment marks a significant milestone for the Provo, Utah based company as it seeks to scale its operations and enhance real time engagement between advisors and their clients. As part of the transaction, Justin Wisz, a partner at Thicket Ventures, has joined the CurrentClient board of directors. The firm also announced the appointment of Austin Guest, formerly of Finny, as its new head of sales to drive adoption across the wealth management landscape. The platform provides a compliant and integrated phone and messaging system specifically designed for registered investment advisors and financial planners. CurrentClient focuses on eliminating the friction associated with traditional communication methods while ensuring all interactions meet strict regulatory standards. The software allows advisors to utilize modern messaging channels without compromising oversight or security. By centralizing these communications, the company seeks to help firms maintain a cohesive digital presence and provide a more intuitive experience for a diverse client base. This funding arrives as the wealth management industry faces increased pressure regarding off-channel communications. Since 2021, regulators have issued fines exceeding $2.7 billion for violations related to federal securities laws and recordkeeping. CurrentClient intends to use the capital to support product expansion and accelerate its mission to modernize the foundational architecture of advisor communications. Knote: It's nice to see a good, old-fashioned VC seed investment in an early stage company. VC funding has been coming back, but for the <$10mm checks, it is still very slow. Link to Source

FinTech Global. (2026, March 25). Flanks launches AI financial advisor for wealth managers. FinTech Global. https://fintech.global/2026/03/25/flanks-launches-ai-financial-advisor-for-wealth-managers/ WealthTech firm Flanks, a company best known for its account aggregation, has launched a new AI Financial Advisor designed to serve as an intelligent co-pilot for wealth management professionals. The platform utilizes a multi-agent AI framework that allows advisors to interrogate complex, multi-custodian portfolios using natural language queries. Users can access instant, contextualized analysis across all asset classes, including automated currency normalization and private equity capital call tracking. The tool is engineered to provide descriptive analysis while strictly adhering to compliance guardrails that prevent it from issuing specific investment recommendations. All data processing occurs within Flanks' secure in-house environment to ensure that sensitive client information is never shared with public artificial intelligence systems. The underlying technology integrates with over 600 financial institutions across 33 countries to deliver cleaned and validated wealth data. Knote: There isn't much of a moat around AI tools these days, except one: data. So it makes sense that one of Europe's largest portfolio aggregation companies would field an AI overlay.