Personal Capital

It may be the dead of summer (or in the case of Atlanta, the first week back to school-jeez), but it's turning out to be a very big week for funding rounds in the fintech arena. Earlier this week, Juvo announced a $40M funding round, then PeerIQ announced their $14M round yesterday. Overnight, Kabbage announced a $250M investment from Softbank and robo-advisor Personal Capital also announced they've closed a new $40M round. It would appear that there is some serious VC out there investing in fintech, and if this is what happens in the slow days of summer, what will we see when we get around to early Fall. Looks to me like fintech is HOT HOT HOT in the VC world.

(Cindy Taylor/Publisher)

In a sign of how competitive the hybrid advice space has become, Personal Capital announced it added millions more for its operations on Tuesday and will use the new funding to expand its advisor base in multiple cities across the U.S.

The Silicon Valley-based hybrid advisor announced it received an additional $40 million from its wealthy patron IGM Financial, which is part of Montreal-based Power Corporation of Canada.

IGM committed $75 million to Personal Capital last May as in its Series E fundraising round. The new funding is an extension of that commitment, the firm said in a statement.

Personal Capital stated it now has $4.9 billion in AUM, with $1.4 billion gained this year alone, and saw average accounts climb from $340,000 to over $380,000 in the same period.

The firm noted that its Private Client Service tier, which serves investors with more than $1 million, represents roughly 40% of its AUM.

Bill Harris remains on Personal Capital's board as chair.

The funding has been crucial to turning around Personal Capital's fortunes, as it tries keeping pace with industry competition, from incumbents that adapted its own model to digital-first startups that now offer hybrid advice too.

Vanguard's Personal Advisor Services, for instance, has over $80 billion in assets, and has been on a CFP hiring spree to bolster staff at its call centers serving its hybrid advice service.

In addition to spending on marketing and product development, Personal Capital stated it will be hiring advisors in Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, while expanding its San Francisco and Denver offices..."

Full Story at Financial-planning