Automated investment platform Fundment will use the money it has been given by a Swedish bank to create retirement income products.
The company provides a low-cost investment platform for advisers which it claims will allow them to fight back against robo-advisers.
In its third funding round Fundment was given an undisclosed amount by NFT Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Gothenburg-based Collector Bank.
Fundment’s founder Ola Abdul said: “We are going to use the money to improve the product. When you have a technology product it is ongoing, we have never finished improving it.
“We are looking at retirement products to address the challenges advises have now.
“The question for us is how to we make it easier for advisers to do their job.”
Fundment offers white-labelled discretionary investment management at a low cost which advisers can offer to clients they might otherwise turn away.
It received authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority in April 2016 and went live in February after a period of testing.
Mr Abdul said the reaction had been “overwhelmingly positive” and firms of all sizes have expressed an interest.
He said: “We have had one or two networks who have reached out to us but it is early days.”
Mr Abdul added that as well as retirement products, Fundment might look at mortgages.
He said: “Advisers have asked us about this and we have never said it is a non-starter. Maybe further down the line.
“We want to get the basics right for now.”
At the moment Fundment offers Isas, Junior Isas and self-invested personal pensions.
Johan Lundberg, partner at NFT Ventures, said: “Fundment is has been built to help IFAs to do more – and more profitably.
“By cutting out the unnecessary duplication of having separate risk profilers and DFMs, it closes the suitability gap and gives traditional IFAs a powerful tool to serve smaller accounts efficiently.
“Ola and his team have an impeccable industry pedigree and have built a robust and highly scalable product – and we look forward to working with them to help them maximise growth and achieve the success they deserve.”
damian.fantato@ft.com
