Socially Responsible Investing Platform Raises Funding to Support Recent Expansion into New Customer Segments & Tap $23T Market Opportunity
Press Release -SAN FRANCISCO (July 26, 2018) – OpenInvest (www.openinvest.com), the first digital investment advisor for socially responsible investing, announced today that it raised $10.4 million in Series A funding. The round was led by QED Investors, with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz (who led OpenInvest’s previous venture round in 2017) SYSTEMIQ, Wireframe Ventures, Yard Ventures and Abstract Ventures.
According to Morningstar’s Sustainable Funds U.S. Landscape report, assets under management in portfolios using various approaches to sustainable investing have grown to an estimated $23 trillion globally, an increase of more than 600 percent over the past ten years. OpenInvest’s platform delivers customized investment portfolios aligned with an individual’s or institution’s values. ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing, or investing with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside financial returns, is increasingly in-demand.
“Socially responsible investing is one of the fastest-growing segments of equities management,” said Greg Mazanec, Partner, QED. “Early on, OpenInvest recognized the need for an efficient way to personalize investments around values and created a first-of-its-kind investment technology platform that filled this void. OpenInvest is positioned to become the next tech-driven financial powerhouse, and we’re excited to support the company’s rapid growth.”
OpenInvest has digitized the management of custom managed accounts. Clients ranging from only $100 to tens of millions of dollars in assets – and their advisors – use OpenInvest to instantly launch portfolios that reflect particular environmental and social concerns, while tightly tracking any market index or specified investing strategy. Thereafter, they have access to cutting-edge features such as real-time impact reporting, voting in shareholder resolutions with a swipe, full transparency, tax-loss harvesting and other features.
“OpenInvest is building the wealth management platform of the future,” said Conor Murray, co-founder and chief executive officer. “We put advisors and clients in the driver’s seat, while replacing layers of intermediation beneath them who traditionally blocked transparency and control.”
Investors can align their assets with their values by customizing their portfolios through OpenInvest’s cause-based investment screens, including but not limited to: divestment from fossil fuels producers, deforestation, the prison industrial complex or weapons; supporting gender equality, LGBTQ rights, refugees and low-carbon leaders, among many others. Investors can also further individualize their portfolios by including or excluding individual companies. In the meantime, each user’s portfolio auto-rebalances to keep them tightly tracking market indices.
“OpenInvest has built the infrastructural layer for the coming post-fund paradigm,” said Joshua Levin, co-founder and chief strategy officer, OpenInvest. “In the past, financial institutions’ competitive advantages came from black boxes. The future is defined by transparency, technology, and values.”
Built by hedge fund technologists and civil society leaders, OpenInvest is changing the way that people invest. The new funding will enable the company to further accelerate its growth and support its continued technological innovation. Recently, the company expanded its customer offering from retail investors to advisors and to institutions such as pension funds, family offices, foundations, and endowments.
For more information, please visit www.openinvest.com.
About OpenInvest
OpenInvest (https://openinvest.com) is a registered investment advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and one of the first venture-backed Public Benefit Corporations. The company was founded by a unique set of innovators: a technology leader from the world’s largest hedge fund (Bridgewater), a sustainable finance leader from the world’s largest environmental NGO (WWF), and the founder of a consumer tech unicorn (Deliveroo). OpenInvest’s mission is to use technology to help mainstream values-informed investing… OpenInvest’s technology platform supports full client customization, in-depth impact reporting, dynamic divest-invest activity, easy shareholder engagement, and more, while ensuring clients tightly track specified market indices. To get started, contact your advisor, visit openinvest.com, or download the iOS or Android app. Follow OpenInvest on Facebook and Twitter.
About QED Investors
QED Investors is a leading boutique venture capital firm based in Alexandria, VA. They are focused on investing in early stage, disruptive financial services companies in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America. QED is dedicated to building great businesses and uses a unique, hands-on approach that leverages their Partners’ and Principals’ decades of entrepreneurial and operational experience, helping their companies achieve breakthrough growth.
