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Betterment

Also a provider — view Betterment’s profile →

“Can a robo-advisory pioneer become the full-stack financial operating system for American consumers and the businesses that employ them?”

Founded2008
HQNew York, New York, USA
Latest roundSeries F, September 2021
IndustryFintech / Investment
The story

Founded in 2008 and launched in 2010, Betterment pioneered the US robo-advisory market, building an automated investing platform for retail consumers. Over time it expanded horizontally into 401(k) administration (Betterment at Work), RIA custody and reporting (Betterment Advisor Solutions), and banking-adjacent products like Cash Reserve and Checking. The acquisition of Makara in 2022 added crypto portfolios. Betterment now positions itself as a full-stack personal finance OS, layering checking, high-yield cash, investment management, crypto, retirement, and now credit (SBLOC) into a single platform — while remaining reliant on partner banks and third-party infrastructure for regulated activities.

Last 12 months
2025-05
2026-02
2026-03
Product timeline
2010
Betterment launched publicly at TechCrunch Disrupt as one of the first robo-advisors, offering automated investing for retail consumers.· pivot
2014
Launched Betterment for Business (now Betterment at Work), offering employer-sponsored 401(k) plans.· banking
2017
Launched Betterment for Advisors (now Betterment Advisor Solutions), an RIA-facing investment platform.· banking
2018
Launched Betterment Everyday (high-yield cash and checking accounts), expanding from pure investing into banking-adjacent products.· banking
2021
Raised latest known funding round (Series F) in September 2021, bringing total rounds to 10.· ipo
2022
Acquired Makara, a crypto portfolio service, enabling Betterment Crypto investing.· acquisition
2024
Launched SBLOC (Securities-Backed Line of Credit) through banking partner The Bancorp Bank, N.A., deepening wealth management for high-net-worth clients.· lending
Regulated entities
2
regulatory licences held by Betterment
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
12 layers disclosed in Betterment’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Stripe
Money movement
in the full report
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Open banking
in the full report
Unified APIs
in the full report
KYC
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Crypto
in the full report
Investing
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
12 more providers across 11 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.