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Who Will Be Reimagining FinTech Next?

via Business Wire

ScratchWorks announces three semi-finalists in its fourth annual FinTech accelerator competition

ScratchWorks, a leading FinTech accelerator, today announced the semi-finalists in its annual competition that connects innovative tech startups with wealth management leaders to advance the digital transformation of the financial services industry. Finalists will pitch their companies to a panel of three industry luminaries whose firms represent over $100 billion in assets under management, with the goal of securing an investment for their company.

Of the 22 FinTechs that sought funding or early stage investing in ScratchWorks “Season 4,” three companies were chosen to take the stage and showcase their innovative technologies to investors:

  • Andes Wealth Technologies is an integrated client onboarding and communications platform to help financial advisors deliver differentiated and personalized services at scale.
  • benjamin is a powerful workflow automation engine and business support system that automates a myriad of time-consuming—yet imperative—tasks, providing advisors more time to foster value-added client relationships.
  • College Aid Pro is a college planning SaaS platform that provides students, families, and the advisors supporting them with technology, education and guidance needed to ensure a great return on the college investment.

The Investors

Finalists will be judged by members of ScratchWorks, including leaders from top wealth management and investment firms across the country. After over a decade of collaboration as part of a study group, they formed ScratchWorks to help discover and grow ideas in the fintech space.

The “Season 4” ScratchWorks investment panel includes Marty Bicknell, CEO and President of Mariner Wealth Advisors; Shannon Eusey, Chief Executive Officer, Beacon Pointe Advisors, LLC; and Michael J. Nathanson, Chairman and CEO of The Colony Group.

“I continue to be impressed with the quality of submissions we receive to ScratchWorks each year,” said Marty Bicknell, CEO of Mariner Wealth Advisors. “Season 4 offers another great opportunity to see what the future of Fin & WealthTech can offer RIA firms, Advisors and their clients. And I’m thrilled to be back in person, for the final live event.”

ScratchWorks is sponsored by Fidelity Institutional® and the University of Colorado (CU) Leeds School of Business.

“With the RIA space constantly evolving, ScratchWorks is doing the important work of uniting industry experts and disruptive, forward-thinking FinTechs to reimagine what’s possible in this environment,” said David Canter, executive vice president and head of the registered investment advisor segment at Fidelity Institutional. “These companies understand the need for greater technological innovation in the advisor landscape to give advisors more time to focus on clients, and give them tools to drive deeper connections.”

Last year’s panel made investments in two of the finalists, Lifeworks and ReAllocate.

Competition for this year’s funding will take place at the Barron’s Advisor Independent Summit, which takes place March 21-23, 2022. For more information about ScratchWorks, visit www.scratch.works.

Disclosure: Mariner Wealth Advisors, RMB Capital, Covenant, Brighton Jones, Beacon Pointe Advisors and The Colony Group are each an investment adviser registered with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Registration with the SEC does not imply any level of skill or training. For additional information about any of these registered investment advisers, including fees and services, you can visit their websites or refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website (https://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov).

Fidelity Institutional® ("Fidelity") is an independent company, unaffiliated with ScratchWorks. There is no form of legal partnership, agency affiliation, or similar relationship between ScratchWorks and Fidelity, nor is such a relationship created or implied by the information herein. Fidelity has not been involved with the preparation of the content supplied by ScratchWorks and does not guarantee, or assume any responsibility for its content. Fidelity Institutional and Fidelity Investments are registered service marks of FMR LLC. Fidelity Institutional® provides clearing, custody, or other brokerage services through National Financial Services LLC or Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Members NYSE, SIPC. 1021075.1.0

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