Vanilla, an award-winning estate planning software company, announced a significant funding round.
The round was led by returning investor Insight Partners, with additional capital from Venrock, Vanguard, and other previous investors.
New strategic investor Edward Jones Ventures and Alumni Ventures also joined the round.
The company secured a substantial investment to support its rapid growth and innovation in the estate planning sector. This funding round will help Vanilla enhance its Estate Advisory Platform, notably through the integration of pioneering AI technology.
Vanilla’s platform is revolutionising the estate planning industry, by enabling financial advisors and estate planners to offer comprehensive, digitally-enabled estate management solutions. The platform’s capabilities include visualizing estate documents, creating customizable estate plans through the Vanilla Document Builder, and leveraging AI to provide tailored estate planning advice.
The new funds will be used to expand the platform’s capabilities, especially its AI functions, and to foster broader adoption among financial advisors and estate planners. This will enable Vanilla to meet the increasing demand for tech-driven, accessible estate planning services.
Additional noteworthy developments at Vanilla include the launch of over 50 new platform features this year and forming a customer advisory board with representatives from major RIAs and wirehouses.
Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla, emphasized the importance of this funding, “”As we accelerate our efforts to revolutionize how advisors, planners and attorneys approach estate planning, we are excited to deepen our partnership with Insight Partners, Venrock, and Vanguard, as well as to welcome Edward Jones.
“With the support of our investors, we are expanding our platform, including our pioneering AI technology, to make modernized estate planning accessible and efficient for all.”
Jon Rosenbaum of Insight Partners shared his views on the investment, “Advisors are under immense pressure to differentiate and deliver a modern user experience which their end clients have come to expect due to the rise of consumer FinTech alternatives.
Vanilla has built an enterprise-grade platform to deeply integrate into an advisor’s stack and handle all the complexities of estate planning, all while giving their end clients an intuitive, approachable planning experience. This ultimately drives better advisory and relationships.”
Since its founding in 2019 by Steve Lockshin, Vanilla has raised more than $66m, with contributions from notable figures such as NBA legend Michael Jordan and F. William McNabb III, former CEO of Vanguard Group.
The company’s rapid ascent is marked by a tenfold increase in its customer base, now serving a diverse range of clients including small RIAs and large firms like Vanguard and Mariner Wealth Advisors.
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