The firm, led by Hardeep Walia, says client accounts will be
moved to Folio Investing.
Online broker Motif Investing is closing its
doors about 10 years after it opened them in Silicon Valley. The fintech firm,
which offered advisors and investors build-your-own portfolio platforms, sent a
note to users late Friday about its closure.
“At this time, we’ve made the decision to
cease operations and transfer your account to Folio Investing,” it said in a
statement shared on Twitter.
“First major investing #fintech to hit the
dust?” asked Scott Salaske, CEO of the investment and advisory firm
Firstmetric, on Twitter.
“One of the largest in terms of funds raised
in my recent memory, $126M according to @crunchbase,” replied Bill Winterberg,
CFP, a fintech consultant.
Motif was led by Hardeep Walia, a former
Microsoft executive. (Requests for a comment on the closure were not returned.)
“I think the Friday night announcement was
probably by design. It’s a bummer though, Motif’s offering was very well done
and had a unique spot in the investing space. It was/is a very good service,”
tweeted Kip McCauley, an
investor, minority owner of the New York Knicks and a microblogger.
The movement of accounts is set for the
evening of May 20, Motif said in its email, which noted that Folio offers
fractional shares and portfolio customization options.
Motif’s Minimums
The firm let clients
invest as little as $300 in a Motif portfolio. Margin
trading required $2,000 or more. For those wanting Direct Index accounts, a
balance of at least $10,000 was needed, while Impact accounts required $1,000
or more.
In November, Motif — which was a
FINRA-registered broker-dealer and an SEC-registered RIA — said it
had some 350,000 clients.
Motif focused its efforts on letting advisors
and investors build portfolios around specific investing themes and economic
trends. Its investors included Goldman Sachs, Ignition Partners, Foundation
Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.
Some of its board members have been former SEC
Chairman Arthur Levitt, JP Morgan Private Bank CEO Kelly Coffey and former
Boston Consulting CEO Carl Stern.
Janet Levaux, MA/MBA, is Editor in Chief of Investment
Advisor magazine; she has covered the financial markets since 1991 and advisors
since 2005. After living in Latin America and Europe as part of her studies at
Yale and Johns Hopkins SAIS, Janet worked in Japan and then California, where
she raised two children and earned a business degree before returning to her
hometown of San Antonio, Texas.
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