By: 9 April 2021

The new capital will support Ethic’s continued rapid growth, in addition to further investment in the company’s technology platform

Ethic, the tech-driven asset management platform that powers personalisation for advisers, has closed a $29 million series B funding round.

The round was led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from existing investors including Fidelity Investments, Nyca Partners, Sound Ventures, ThirdStream Partners, Urban Innovation Fund and Kapor Capital.

This new capital will support Ethic’s continued rapid growth, in addition to further investment in the company’s technology platform.

The funding follows a strong period of growth for Ethic, which saw the company increase the number of assets on its platform by over 10x since its prior round of funding in 2019.

This also comes at a time when global events have boosted investors’ consideration for how their portfolios affect sustainability issues such as racial justice, climate change, worker treatment, democracy, and health and wellness.

Doug Scott, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ethic, says: “We’re grateful to have backers who share our belief that we all have a role to play in fostering a more sustainable and equitable future, and that the capital markets can be leveraged as a force for good.”

“This is particularly true when considering the developments of the last year, which only reaffirm our mission of helping accelerate the transition to sustainable investing.”

Ethic’s series B raise also comes on the heels of a year in which direct indexing, which is core to its offering, has continued to gain significant momentum in the asset and wealth management community.

Following a wave of recent industry consolidation, the company has emerged as one of the largest independent providers of sustainable direct indexing strategies for wealth advisers, with more than $760 million in assets.

Dan Petrozzo, partner at Oak HC/FT, says: “It’s increasingly clear that the future of asset management is personalized, and Ethic is leading the charge.”

“Ethic’s unique direct indexing approach ensures the company is primed to meet a burgeoning demand from wealth advisors, as well as the broader investor community. We’re delighted to be partnered with this mission-driven team that is helping drive a major revolution in asset and wealth management.”

Founded in 2015, Ethic empowers advisers to personalise a given benchmark to correspond with a client’s investment, values, and tax management preferences, while seeking to minimise tracking error to the underlying benchmark.

Advisers can also differentiate themselves and forge deeper relationships with their clients using Ethic’s technology platform to deliver transparent impact reporting, and leveraging its breadth of educational tools surrounding various sustainability issues.

Since announcing its $13 million series A raise in 2019, Ethic has entered into a strategic agreement with Fidelity Investments and has partnered with several large advisory firms.

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