Betterment increases AUM to $3bn and expands network of RIAs
Leading independent US robo-advisor, Betterment, has increased AUM to $3bn, a near three-fold increase since January according to the firms CEO, Jon Stein. He also stated that Betterment recently gained approval from Goldman Sachs allowing its employees to use the robe-platform. Betterment already works with Fidelity in this way and is also in talks with JP Morgan according to Stein. Goldman and JP Morgan have both declined to comment. 

There’s a new top robot in town.

Betterment, a seven-year old “robo-adviser” wealth manager, surpassed rival Wealthfront this week after surpassing $3 billion in assets under management — nearly tripling client funds since January, CEO Jon Stein told The Post.

The milestone comes seven months after an online spat erupted among Betterment, Wealthfront, and Charles Schwab, which had started its own automatic investing platform.

At that time, each company was amping up its marketing battle plan and publicly dissed their rivals’ fee structure in an attempt to woo new customers.

“When Schwab entered the space there were a lot in the industry saying, ‘Oh this is going to be trouble for Betterment,” Stein said. “In fact, what we saw was that we started growing faster.”

Schwab, which has almost $2.5 trillion in total assets, has more than $4 billion invested in its robo-platform, spokeswoman Alison Wertheim told The Post.

Robo-advisers are online-centered investing platforms that rely on automatic investing strategies rather than flesh-and-blood wealth managers.

While Betterment has a tiny amount of assets under management compared to traditional wealth managers, it recently has gotten approval from Goldman Sachs so that its employees can use the platform alongside Fidelity for investing.

Betterment also is in talks with JPMorgan Chase for the same approval, Stein said.

Kate Wauck, a Wealthfront spokeswoman, declined to provide a precise figure of the company’s assets, and instead referred to the Web site that boasts of “nearly $3 billion of [clients’] assets.”

Spokespeople for Goldman and JPMorgan declined to comment.