Eton Solutions, a SaaS family office software platform, has raised $38MM from Navis Capital Partners, launched an updated client experience and transaction processing platform (AtlasFive 2.0), as well as a mobile app for family offices.
Eton's platform has $425B in assets under administration, powers over 4.3MM annual transactions, and manages the wealth of about 400 families globally. It offers data aggregation, consolidation, normalisation, fund accounting, and tax support services for single and multi-family offices. The transaction processing workflow initiates family office operations and records these transactions on an investment ledger, general ledger, and tax ledger. On the user side, there is a mobile app and client portal.
As we mentioned in our previous coverage of Eton, family offices waste 20-40% of working hours on manual processes because of generic software — many use a combination of spreadsheets, accounting software packages, and tax systems. Further, family offices are facing pressures from multiple directions: (1) gathering and reporting on data across increasingly different asset classes; (2) cybersecurity threats; and (3) the need to find operational efficiencies at a time of economic turmoil. That's why see growth in family office software platforms and wealth management software companies in general. For more, see the "Events & Reports" section below to read a new BNY Mellon report on the disconnect between next-gen clients and family offices.
Allfunds, a B2B wealthtech platform for the fund industry, is partnering with BB Asset, the asset management arm of one of Brazil’s largest fund managers, Banco de Brasil. BB Asset will have access to the Allfunds Connect platform, which offers portfolio reporting and digital tools for data & analytics, reporting, research, and regulatory services.
Unfortunately, this year’s activity has not translated into positive stock performance, but this is likely due to category valuation collapse. AUM has declined from €1.4T in Q1FY2022 to €1.3T as of Q3FY2022 — global macro has spared no one this year.
Sequoia and Temasek-backed crypto trading firm Amber Group, which has $5B+ in AUM, has raised $300MM in a Series C funding round led by Fenbushi Capital US. Amber was last valued at $3B in its $200MM Series B+ round in February, and Fenbushi Capital also backed Amber's $100MM Series B round in June 2021. The recent round's funding is primarily to protect Amber users from its FTX exposure, prompting a restructuring and a halt to Europe and US expansion plans. Further, Amber also had to terminate its sponsorship deal with Chelsea FC and slash its workforce to less than 400 from about 700 currently. Staff numbers earlier peaked at 1,100.
Digital asset companies are narrowing their focus on core value propositions. Given the economic contraction, this is happening everywhere from investment banks (e.g., Goldman Sachs laying off up to 4,000 employees) to tech firms (e.g., Meta’s 11,000 employees). With that, we expect Amber to focus more WhaleFin, its flagship digital asset platform for retail investors. The platform (1) allows users to trade in over 100 assets; (2) provides automated transaction cost analysis reports; (3) instrument and portfolio data; and (4) a cross-collateralized account system to manage risk.
The collapse of FTX has rippled through the holdings of many institutional investors and hedge funds, with mark-downs in Genesis, DCG, Grayscale, and BlockFi, as well as adversely impacted the Solana ecosystem, creating further contagion for venture firms SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz. We expect more down-rounds to come in the industry, which needs to shore up capital to plug in hole, and also last through a bear market.
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