Growing Chicago fintech startup GeoWealth announced new funding on Thursday to further build out its turnkey asset management platform.
A 2024 Inno Fire awardee, GeoWealth — a tech platform that offers registered investment advisors with a flexible, customizable and user-friendly platform — closed on $18 million led by BlackRock with participation by Kayne Anderson Growth Capital and J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
The funding will be used to further build out the platform that now supports more than $28 billion of assets with more than 180,000 accounts managed by nearly 200 RIAs.
"We weren't out raising money from a formal round standpoint," GeoWealth CEO Colin Falls told Chicago Inno. "The plan was if we were going to do additional investment in the business, which we were planning to, it was actually going to be from internal investors. Ultimately, what happened is that through commercial dialogue with BlackRock, it made sense to align strategically."
He noted that GeoWealth did land additional capital internally from investors as well to top off the funding, which will help create more flexibility.
Falls said the new capital will be used to retire some debt and make sure that the company is well capitalized to get aggressive in expanding the engineering team.
Founded in 2010 and headquartered on Michigan Avenue, GeoWealth reached more than 100 employees in 2023 with plans for further expansion in 2024, marking a 45% growth rate year-over-year and a 200% growth rate since 2020.
The company expects to reach profitability by the end of 2024.
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