The fund giant’s contribution is part of a €30m funding round, one of the largest for a European digital manager to date. The robo-adviser has now received total funding of €41m.
The deal is BlackRock’s latest venture into the digital wealth management arena, which has included several acquisitions, and joins its existing tech suite, spanning Aladdin Risk for Wealth, iRetire and Future Advisor in the US.
As part of the arrangement, Patrick Olson, chief operating officer of EMEA at BlackRock will join Scalable Capital’s Supervisory Board.
Since its launch 16 months ago, the Munich and London-based robo adviser has already acquired £217m of assets from over 6,000 retail clients. And it has ambitions to expand its reach across the European continent.
The business claims to offer “a flexible multi-language and currency platform that can operate across multiple international tax and regulatory regimes.”
Olson said Blackrock’s latest investment in Scalable Capital is part of a wider fintech trend in the European retail market.
“The retail distribution landscape is evolving at a rapid pace, as consumers increasingly engage with their financial investments through technology,” he said.
“This trend is prompting strong demand from European financial institutions – including banks, insurers, wealth managers and advisory firms – for high-quality technology-enabled investment solutions.
“Our investment in Scalable Capital allows us to meet these evolving needs of our clients and their customers and to help shape their business models for the future.”
Scalable Capital co-founder and co-CEO Adam French agreed that BlackRock “shares our vision that technology is not just a competitive advantage but a requirement for wealth management businesses to be successful in the future.”
“Its investment in our firm is a fantastic validation of our work so far, opens up new growth avenues for our business and firmly establishes us on the digital wealth management map in Europe,” French added.
The investment is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approval.
