Farther, a startup investment advisory platform and RIA with more than $600 million in assets under management, has raised $31 million in a Series B round of funding.
According to the company, the round was oversubscribed and closed after four days. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Cota Capital, Khosla Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, and Moneta Venture Capital also participated. The company did not add any new board members.
Farther’s valuation more than doubled to $131 million, following the close of the round. According to PitchBook, a data company focused on private markets, Farther last raised $15 million in May 2022 in a Series A. At the time, the company was valued at $50 million.
Taylor Matthews, Farther Co-Founder and CEO, told RIA Intel that the company, which was founded in 2019, helps advisors streamline administrative tasks so that they can focus on problem-solving for clients. According to Farther, advisors at the company spend 90 percent of their time engaging with clients and prospects.
“If you get to spend more time with your clients, that means more time prospecting, more time on actual financial advice, which you probably got into the business to do, and less time on all of those kind of annoying tasks that get in the way of building a business,” Matthews said.
Nearly one-third of advisors believe that they don’t have enough time to spend with clients, according to a recent J.D. Power survey. Of those who said they didn’t have enough time, 41 percent said they spend more time each month than their peers on non-value-added tasks, such as compliance and administrative duties.
The company plans to use the money to expand its wealth management portal as well as to “continue providing advisors with a competitive compensation structure — substantially stronger than at traditional institutions.”
“The registered investment advisor sector has long grappled with inefficient processes, outdated technology, and constraining advisor compensation structures,” Justin Overdorff, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said in a statement. “Farther is actively disrupting the conventional norms of wealth management, crafting a dynamic platform that empowers advisors and paves the way for scalable expansion.”
Matthew said that although the company has plenty of runway they aren’t closing the door on a possible future round of funding. “There’s always more to do. As much as we’ve checked off the infrastructure that we need to build this business and to deliver a phenomenal experience to advisors. We’re not going to rest on our laurels. We’re going to continue investing and exceeding what else is out there and this gives us a lot of fuel to do that.”
Early this year, Farther said its assets under management have grown five-fold in a year. About 40 percent of Farther’s AUM growth has been organic, Matthews said. In the last year the company has also expanded its staff from 50 employees to 110. Currently, Farther serves more than 1,100 households and employs about 45 advisors.
