PictureWealth lands AUD 12m and seals acquisition
PictureWealth, the Australian fintech co-founded by former DBS Bank chief innovation officer, Neal Cross, has landed AUD 12 million ($8.2 million).
The fintech, which offers wealth-focused products, closed the late-seed funding round on 25 June.
PictureWealth is a profitable start-up with annual revenues of AUD 20 million
The company has also acquired financial services licensee, NEO Financial Solutions (NFS) for an undisclosed sum.
Funding
The AUD 12 million funding was comprised of private equity and debt. The fintech has not revealed any of its investors. Previous backers of the fintech are also unknown.
It last raised funds in 2017, totalling to AUD 2.3 million. But according to Crunchbase, the start-up did not announced its investors in this round either.
Cross said in a LinkedIn post that PictureWealth is a profitable start-up with annual revenues of AUD 20 million.
It has roughly 40,000 customers, and Cross says it holds around AUD 2 billion in funds under advice.
Acquisition
NFS is wholly owned by PictureWealth, making it one of the firm’s first subsidiaries. NFS offers its clients a suite of financial planners.
These planners can help with anything from tax-effective investment planning, to diversified investment strategies and retirement planning.
The newly acquired company’s managing director, Mark Edman, will become PictureWealth’s chief operating officer.
Cross said the start-up wants to grow the business “rapidly in a compliant and well-governed manner”. He also implies that the fintech may be looking to invest in new technologies.
“We felt acquiring NFS with its robust compliance protocols was the way forward so that we could offer advisers and their clients a new home amidst very turbulent market conditions,” says fellow co-founder and CEO, David Pettit.
“Many financial advisers have spent their entire lives building a business that is now worth less than expected, or in some cases nothing at all.”
