US-based online investment manager Betterment has raised $32m in a series C round backed by Citi Ventures, the corporate venturing unit for financial services firm Citi, and has now accumulated $45m in total funding.
Betterment runs an online service that claims to be able to optimise investment portfolios of any size, eschewing managers or mutual funds and avoiding the fees that would otherwise be payable to them.
Citi acted in the round as a new investor, as did asset manager Northwestern Mutual Capital and venture capital firm Globespan Capital Partners, while returning backers included Bessemer Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures and Anthemis Group.
Bessemer, Anthemis and early-stage fund Reinmkr Capital all previously backed Betterment’s $3m series A round in 2010, and Menlo joined the three in the company’s 2012 series B round, which closed at $10m.
Betterment will use the new funds to hire additional staff and expand its product offerings and services, having recently introduced a service called Retirement Income, which claims to be the first automated income service for retirees that calculates the optimum amount of money they can withdraw from their pension funds.