Mical Jeanlys-White created WealthMore out of frustration.
She spent years on Wall Street, developing products at American Express and working as a managing director at JPMorgan Chase. She realized that the financial industry still had a long way to go when it came to helping consumers build and understand their wealth.
“Seventy percent of Americans don’t have access to a wealth advisor due to high account minimums and high fees, but those who do have a wealth advisor accumulate twice as much wealth,” he told TechCrunch. “When I tried to find a wealth advisor, I encountered the same frustrating and unsuccessful experience.”
Their response was to launch WealthMore, an investment platform that requires just a $5,000 minimum to connect clients with advisor-led portfolios, licensed wealth advisors, and financial planning services.
The idea came to him while he was riding his Pelotonnaturally.
“I like to say that WealthMore is a fusion of Peloton and wealth management,” he said. “Our goal is to normalize that for the 99% of the population. When more people are better off financially, the social and multiplier impact is significant.”
After two years of building the company, the company Quietly launched its beta version in June and officially announced it today, right here on TechCrunch.
Creating this product has been a deeply personal experience for Jeanlys-White. Her grandmother immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti and was the family's unofficial financial advisor. She, like many immigrants, was part of a savings club, What helped her achieve her goals and put a down payment on a house. She enjoyed talking about money and being around people with similar interests.
“But her money stayed in savings accounts and low-interest certificates of deposit,” Jeanlys-White continued. “She was never on a banker’s call list. With the benefit of a wealth advisor, she could have been a millionaire and built generational wealth.”
The racial wealth gap is wide. The data shows that While Black median wealth increased from $27,970 to $44,890 between 2019 and 2022, the numbers still lag behind other racial groups. Hispanic households have a median wealth of $62,000, white households have a median wealth of $295,000, and Asian American households have a median wealth of $536,000. The 2021 U.S. Census found that white households own 80% of the wealth in this country compared to 4.7% owned by Black families. That racial wealth gap has been difficult to close, with Some experts believing it might take another hundred years to even get close to that.
Jeanlys-White notes that women can lose up to at least $1.2 million due to the gender pay gap, and only 49% of black women have a 401k Compared to 62% of adults overall, the wage gap is a key contributor to the retirement savings and wealth gap.
Potential user survey and brand building
Before Jeanlys-White began developing the platform, she surveyed more than 300 potential users to see how much they would be willing to pay. That helped her determine the company’s pricing levels (there are three tiers, starting at $25 a month for a minimum account size of $5,000) and the website design. She has partnered with Apex Clearing Corporation to provide brokerage services.
To help build the brand, the company launched lifestyle products, such as apparel, and hosted wealth-building conversations at hair salons, doctor’s offices and conferences. “People were willing to be honest and vulnerable with us.” Additionally, Jeanlys-White made sure to have diverse wealth advisors on the platform, saying wealth creators often don’t see themselves represented in the industry.
On the app, the company has created communities like #firstgenwealth and #newinvestors for people to join together and organize activities and events. “We created communities, like #blkwomenhealth, to address these unique factors and empower our community to leverage sound financial planning and investing to get ahead,” Jeanlys-White told TechCrunch. (She said users can find her at #firstgenwealth, #blkwomenwealth, and #womenwhowealth.)
Despite a Difficult financing environment for fintechsJeanlys-White began fundraising for her company in October 2023 and closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round of at least $1 million led by Emmeline Ventures in April 2024. Other investors include a16z TxO, BFM Fund, and First Row Partners.
She recalled that early investors expressed concern about previous fintechs that had struggled in this space, but she continued to hone the company's story.
“Once investors were able to ‘see’ the product, our fundraising ability changed dramatically,” he said.
The team currently consists of 10 people. The first hire was the head of engineering, as Jeanlys-White was not a technical founder and needed someone to help get the product into the hands of users, she said.
She hopes the company can exit beta mode by the end of the year, in time to help people with their New Year’s financial resolutions. For now, Jeanlys-White is excited to see people start to interact with the platform and reminisces about her grandmother’s experience.
“She would have loved WealthMore,” he said, noting that she would have especially loved the communities. “Our wealth advisors would have helped her overcome her fear of the stock market and that would have been a huge win. She is smiling down on WealthMore.”
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