Wealthfront


Wealthfront Inc. is an automated investment service firm based in Palo Alto, California, founded by Andy Rachleff and Dan Carroll in 2008. As of January 2019, Wealthfront had more than $11.4 billion of assets under management. Wealthfront is considered a "robo-advisor" investment service.

History

Wealthfront was founded by Benchmark co-founder Andy Rachleff and Dan Carroll in 2008 as kaChing, a mutual fund analysis company, before pivoting into wealth management. Rachleff was the firm's founding CEO. In December 2012, the firm started tax-loss harvesting for accounts of more than $100,000.
The company started 2013 with $97 million in assets under management and grew by 450% in one year. In 2013, Wealthfront introduced "direct indexing", a tax-loss harvesting platform that purchases the individual securities of an investment portfolio. Between January 2014 and October 2016, Adam Nash was Wealthfront's CEO. Founder Andy Rachleff retook the role in 2016.
In 2016, Wealthfront launched a partnership with the state of Nevada to launch a 529 tax-advantaged college savings plan. In the previous year, Nevada passed approval on a new tax credit for employers who provide fund matching to employees participating in 529 savings programs. Andy Rachleff is currently the executive chairman and chief executive officer. In January 2018, Wealthfront launched homeownership planning tool for Path. In January 2020, Wealthfront was listed in Business Insider's Top 10 Best Robo Advisors in 2020.

Finances

The company has received funding from Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures, The Social+Capital Partnership and individuals, including Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and Jeff Jordan. In April 2014, Wealthfront raised $35 million in a funding round led by Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital and Benchmark Capital. The funding round brought the firm's total funding to $65.5 million.