Award-winning estate planning software company to accelerate investments in AI, expansion of platform, and customer adoption.
Vanilla, the award-winning estate planning software company, announced strategic fundraising led by returning investor Insight Partners, in addition to contributions from Venrock, Vanguard, and other previous investors. Vanilla also welcomes a new strategic investor, Edward Jones Ventures, and new investor Alumni Ventures. In addition to supporting its rapid growth and customer adoption, the company will use the funding to expand its platform, including its first-of-its-kind embedded AI technology, to revolutionize how financial advisors and estate planners help households of all wealth levels build their legacy.
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“The leadership team at Vanilla brings unparalleled domain expertise and a proven track record in building and scaling cloud software companies. We believe Vanilla is uniquely positioned to lead the reinvention of the estate planning industry as it rapidly scales into a significant business”
The investment comes at an opportune moment for both the company and the greater wealth management industry as the adoption of estate planning software gains significant traction. According to the most recent T3 survey, the use of estate planning software spiked sharply among advisors, with a 259% increase over the last two years. This growing momentum is evident in Vanilla’s impressive growth:
- Over 10,000 end-clients on the platform, spanning from $1 million to over $1 billion in net worth
- Visualized and mapped over 12,500 estate documents ranging from simple estates to complex ultra-high net worth estates
- Launched our on-demand trust and estate document offering, Vanilla Document BuilderTM, available in all 50 states
- Formed a customer advisory board representing the leading firms from large RIAs to wirehouse customers
- Released over 50 new features and enhancements since the beginning of the year, maintaining a rapid pace of innovation
- Earned “Best Fintech Innovation” award at the Global WealthTech Awards 2024
Vanilla is leading and pioneering a new approach to fundamentally alter the $221 billion estate planning industry with its comprehensive, fully digital estate planning platform – the Estate Advisory Platform. Recent innovations in V/AITM, Vanilla’s AI technology for estate planning, and Vanilla Document BuilderTM, an on-demand trust document offering, complement Vanilla’s leading client estate summaries. Designed to simplify the legacy-building process from start to finish, the platform enhances client and advisor education, visualizes plan structures, illustrates how assets work with their plan, proactively monitors for changes, and supports document creation and plan execution.
Vanilla’s platform innovation allows investment advisors, broker-dealers, and other financial services providers to cultivate deeper, more valuable client relationships, leading to greater retention and growth in assets under management over time.
“As we accelerate our efforts to revolutionize how advisors, planners and attorneys approach estate planning, we are excited to deepen our partnership with Insight Partners, Venrock, and Vanguard, as well as to welcome Edward Jones,” said Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla. “With the support of our investors, we are expanding our platform, including our pioneering AI technology, to make modernized estate planning accessible and efficient for all.”
Jon Rosenbaum, Managing Director at Insight Partners, added, “Advisors are under immense pressure to differentiate and deliver a modern user experience which their end clients have come to expect due to the rise of consumer fintech alternatives. Vanilla has built an enterprise-grade platform to deeply integrate into an advisor’s stack and handle all the complexities of estate planning, all while giving their end clients an intuitive, approachable planning experience. This ultimately drives better advisory and relationships.”
“The leadership team at Vanilla brings unparalleled domain expertise and a proven track record in building and scaling cloud software companies. We believe Vanilla is uniquely positioned to lead the reinvention of the estate planning industry as it rapidly scales into a significant business,” said Nick Beim, Partner at Venrock.
Founded in 2019 by wealth management expert and entrepreneur Steve Lockshin, Vanilla has rapidly emerged as the leading force in modernizing estate planning. With more than $66 million raised to date from notable investors, including Insight Partners, Venrock, and individuals such as NBA legend Michael Jordan and F. William McNabb III (former CEO of Vanguard Group), Vanilla has assembled a diverse team from wealth management, estate planning, and enterprise software backgrounds. Since its launch, Vanilla has experienced exponential growth, increasing its customer base tenfold. The platform now serves a wide range of clients, from small RIAs to major firms such as Vanguard, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Balentine, and Avantax, which have adopted Vanilla’s technology to deliver differentiated, bespoke estate planning services at scale.
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