Uncategorized July 17, 2024

World Investment Advisors Acquires Boston Harbor Wealth Advisors

$3.5 billion firm joins World (formerly Pensionmark) to expand its growth strategy and enhance its offering to advisers and clients.

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World Investment Advisors LLC, formerly Pensionmark, announced Wednesday the acquisition of Boston Harbor Wealth Advisors LLC, an independent financial services firm located in Westborough, Massachussetts.

World makes its first acquisition as the newly named company that, in part, has a strategy to build through expanding its network of wealth and retirement advisers connected back to the larger parent business. BHWA will bring with it 76 team members, 15 offices throughout the Northeast and Ohio, and more than $3.5 billion in assets under administration; the firm specializes in financial planning and investment management for individuals, families and corporations.

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“We are delighted to welcome the Boston Harbor team to the World family,” said Troy Hammond, CEO of World Investment Advisors, in a statement. “In addition to an incredible group of financial advisers, we are fortunate to be adding premier leadership and team members that will prove invaluable for our advisers, clients and ongoing acquisition growth strategy.”

According to the announcement, BHWA offers strong leadership and a desirable footprint to World Investment Advisors. Meanwhile, BHWA advisers will benefit from World’s centralized support model, multi-custodian offering, modern tech stack and lead generation resources, according to the announcement.

“Having World’s backing will significantly increase our effectiveness as we expand our recruiting efforts in the RIA space with a more robust and competitive offering for advisers,” said Matthew Davis, BHWA’s CEO, in a statement.

BHWA marks World Investment Advisors’ third acquisition within nine months and the second acquired firm with more than $3 billion in AUM.

World Investment Advisors announced its rebrand from Pensionmark Financial Group last Wednesday. The company stated that the new name enhances alignment with parent company World Insurance Associates LLC.

World acquired Pensionmark in March 2022, with the division currently employing 392 certified financial advisers overseeing $55 billion in assets under advisement between its wealth management and institutional segments. The wealth management division has increased its assets under management to $11.5 billion from $1 billion during the past two years.

Deals & People July 17, 2024

Human Interest Aims for Public Listing

The BlackRock-backed 401(k) provider says its latest $267 million financing furthers a groundwork to go public.

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Human Interest, the 401(k) provider backed by BlackRock Inc., announced a $267 million funding round Wednesday that it says furthers the groundwork for a public stock market listing.

The 401(k) provider’s latest investment includes a Series E fundraising round led by private equity firms Marshall Wace and Baillie Gifford, bringing its total in primary and secondary financing to $700 million, according to the firm. BlackRock, whose founder, Larry Fink, has been discussing the need for a retirement rethink in the U.S., announced a minority investment in the San Francisco-based firm back in January 2023.

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Human Interest has more than one million employees on its platform and passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The firm is forecasting 70% revenue growth in 2024. It will look to become a public company “when the time is right,” says Rakesh Mahajan, chief revenue officer.

“This latest raise was designed to bring additional top-tier public equity investors onto the cap table,” the firm wrote in the announcement. “Human Interest is approaching cash flow break-even and has enough cash on the balance sheet to fund continued 70%+ year-over-year growth without additional capital.”

Along with the funding, Human Interest announced the hiring of executives with experience taking startups public.

Tripp Faix has joined as chief financial officer, a role he held previously at Mambu, a banking software provider, and Marqeta, a card issuing platform, where he “led” their $15 billion initial public offering in 2021. He will be replacing Chris Holmes, who was in the role a little over one year.

Jeff Buckley will join the finance team, reporting to Faix, as chief accounting officer; he held the same role at Palantir and Zynga, where he also was part of preparing the firms for public listings. He will be replacing Yangesh Patel, who was in the role almost two years.

Finally, Human Interest announced new board members Leslie Stretch and Roxanne Oulman. Both contributed to the IPOs of CallidusCloud and Medallia, Stretch as CEO and Oulman as CFO.

Human Interest has sold about 20% of all the new 401(k) plans in the U.S. and forecasts it will sell more than 25% in 2024, according to the firm.

“As we continue to revolutionize the retirement industry, we’re being very deliberate about how we build out our cap table, leadership team, and board,” said Jeff Schneble, Human Interest’s CEO, in a statement. “We have a short list of investors we want to partner with now and in our future as we look towards becoming a public company.”

 

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