FinTech Acorns Hits $860M Valuation

Investing and savings startup Acorns has announced a Series E funding round to bring its valuation to $860 million.

The $105 million round included Comcast Ventures, NBCUniversal, Bain Capital Ventures, BlackRock, TPG’s Rise Fund, DST and Michael Dell’s MSD Capital. NBCUniversal, now Acorns’ largest shareholder, will get a seat on the company’s board, which will be filled by CNBC Chairman Mark Hoffman.

In addition, Acorns announced a partnership with CNBC to produce original content, which aims to reach a less financially savvy audience.

“This partnership with Acorns builds on CNBC’s 30-year commitment to democratizing the financial markets, helping generations invest for their future,” said Hoffman. “We are excited to bring together two brands with this shared social purpose to drive value to our viewers, users and customers.”

The two companies will develop educational content for current and future investors, with a team that will create content for Acorns’ platforms. Content production will be starting immediately.

“We aim to put the tools of wealth-making in everyone’s hands, and this includes helping all Americans grow their money knowledge,” said Noah Kerner, CEO of Acorns. “Collaborating with the powerhouse that is CNBC will take these efforts to entirely new heights for our customers.”

As a result of this latest investment, Acorns is one step closer to reaching unicorn status, with its valuation now three times higher than it was after its last funding round in 2016. It is also larger than its two industry competitors: Robo-Advisors’ Betterment, which has a $700 million valuation, and Wealthfront, valued at $500 million.

Acorns’ products have attracted 4.5 million users. One of its five products enables customers to automatically invest the spare change from their debit or credit card purchases, while an automated retirement account service has more than 350,000 investors who have invested $40 million to date.