Charlotte fintech startup Amicus.io announced today that it's closed on an $8.7 million Series B funding.
The round was led by The FR Group, a Canada-based family office. The Wells Fargo Startup Accelerator and Chris Jones, a former executive at JPMorgan Chase and Blackrock, also participated in the round. Amicus had previously raised $8.8 million in capital.
Cofounders Cor Hoekstra and Walt Ruloff have always been intentional about who invests in their company.
"I would say the majority of our investors are mission-aligned," Hoekstra said. "Walt and I have been intentional in targeting investors who are passionate about how we might reinforce a culture of generosity."
Amicus.io was founded by Hoekstra and Ruloff in 2017 to help put banking at the heart of charitable philanthropy and give the average person greater opportunity to give to causes they support.
The digital platform, which officially launched today, is called DAF 2.0 and is similar to a traditional donor advisor fund, though Hoekstra said those types of accounts are antiquated, inefficient and most often used by high-net-worth individuals. The similarity between a traditional DAF and Amicus is in how the account functions — the account holder deposits money and gets a tax receipt, the assets grow and the account holder can grant the funds to the charities of their choice over time.
Hoekstra said they will use the new funds to further commercialize the startup, starting with an investment in sales and marketing. Amicus recently hired Raja Musunuru as chief technology officer.
The company also has plans to add to its development team, which is a 13-person operation based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The new hires will be based in Charlotte.
