Investment Product and Service Launches

Art by Jackson Epstein

Morningstar Invests $11 Million in iraLogix 

iraLogix Inc., which creates products for the individual retirement account (IRA) market, has announced the completion of an $11 million Series B expansion led by independent investment research firm Morningstar  Inc., with additional investments made by company insiders.

iraLogix enables institutional partners to rapidly launch profitable white label IRA programs that leverage  institutionally priced investments as well as professional advice and education. The company’s modular technologies are cloud-native and support a fully paperless process with no account minimums.

Upon making this investment, Morningstar will take a minority stake in iraLogix. James Smith, head of workplace strategy and business development for Morningstar Investment Management, has been appointed  to iraLogix’s board of directors.

David Bernard, chief executive officer of iraLogix, comments, “In addition to their investment in iraLogix, Morningstar brings the power of their industry reach to this partnership. The combination of our uniquely flexible technology and institutionally priced investments with Morningstar’s highly respected investment advice and managed account capabilities makes for a compelling business model that will help more clients achieve IRA business profitably while providing better options to everyone saving for retirement. It offers a competitive opportunity with inherent cost and scale advantages the industry has been searching for.”

Brock Johnson, president of global retirement and workplace solutions at Morningstar Investment Management, adds, “With a mission tightly aligned with ours, iraLogix offers a natural expansion of our approach to democratizing high-quality investment and saving advice for every working American, no matter their salary or account balance. Together, we will expand on the success of our managed accounts platform so  more people can access personalized advice across not only retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, but also for IRAs in order to achieve the retirement of their dreams.”

Transamerica Announces Latest R6 Share Classes

Transamerica has launched its new R6 retirement share classes for five existing Transamerica mutual funds. The new R6 shares are available to retirement investors in employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs). The five new Transamerica R6 share classes launched on May 28.

The new share classes are:

• Transamerica Large Growth fund(R6 Ticker: TAGDX)
• Transamerica US Growth fund(R6 Ticker: TAGHX)
• Transamerica Mid Cap Growth fund(R6 Ticker: TAGFX)
• Transamerica Emerging Markets Opportunities fund(R6 Ticker: TEOOX)
• Transamerica Intermediate Bond fund(R6 Ticker: TAGMX)

“Helping retirement investors achieve their goals is important to us, and combining strong investment strategies with these new R6 share classes can be an effective means to accomplish that,” says Tom Wald, chief investment officer (CIO) for Transamerica Asset Management Inc.

With the addition of five new R6 share classes, Transamerica Asset Management increases its array of mutual funds, variable product portfolios and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) totaling assets under management (AUM) of more than $89 billion as of April 30.

ESG Asset Launches New Capital Health Care Disruptors Fund

EFG Asset Management (EFGAM) has added to its growth equity range with the launch of the New Capital Healthcare Disruptors Fund.

Benchmarked against the MSCI World Health Care index, the fund will have up to 30 holdings across the market cap spectrum. It is managed by Mike Clulow, and EFGAM’s US growth equity team—Tim Butler, Joel Rubenstein and Chelsea Wiater— all of whom are based in Portland, Oregon.

The team seeks to identify health care companies with disrupting technologies and services in segments such as biopharmaceuticals, with gene therapy, immunotherapy and genetically targeted treatments; medical devices, including robotics, miniaturization and wearables; health care services such as telemedicine and remote monitoring; and pharmaceutical outsourcing in cloud solutions, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI).

“We search for companies that are displacing legacy participants facing patent expirations and product obsolescence,” Clulow says. “COVID-19 has accelerated this adoption cycle, as next-generation products may drive more cost-effective outcomes and potentially minimize the likelihood of viral or bacterial transmission. The broader use of telemedicine, the shift toward minimally invasive procedures and the widespread adoption of wireless devices and wearable products all reflect this trend.”