tru Independence, a registered investment advisor platform overseeing $12.5 billion in client assets, has gone bi-coastal with the opening of a new headquarters in Philadelphia this week.
The decision to establish the new home base at 2400 Market St., just off the Schuylkill River, follows a year of record growth for the Portland, Ore.-based firm. tru has added six new teams in 2023—in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida and Colorado—along with more than $4 billion in assets, representing a four-fold increase over last year’s recruited assets.
As much as 60% of prospective partners representing around $5 billion in assets are also based along the East Coast, according to leadership, creating “the need for a brick-and-mortar presence” as regional expansion continues.
Philadelphia was identified as an attractive market due to its emergence as a “prominent financial hub,” said CEO Craig Stuvland, who called the location “strategic” and said it would allow the firm to tap into regional talent. As part of the expansion, the platform has added a team of seven to bolster operational support across sales, compliance, human resources, accounting and technology from the new office.
Since debuting truView—an Advyzon-based technology platform incorporating behavioral finance elements and supported by an in-house client services team—in late May, tru has increased assets by nearly $3 billion over just five months.
“truView has definitely been a big component of our success,” Stuvland told WealthManagement.com in October. “We've been trying to solve for this for years, as far as a platform that combines an advisory dashboard with business insights, risk metrics, all their CRM client information, portfolio and investment management, financial planning tools, all embedded into in one technology.”
tru also recently announced a partnership with Opto Investments to offer partner firms access to private investments across private credit, private equity, real estate and venture capital, along with a set of customized funds created exclusively for the tru platform.
Founded in 2014, the firm has been seeking a capital partner to support continued growth initiatives. Currently, Stuvland owns a majority stake alongside private equity investor David Beatty, through his company Entwood Holdings.
Wirehouse breakaways currently comprise a little more than two-thirds of the 30-plus teams on the platform, while the rest came from other large RIA acquirers or were existing firms in need of additional support.
Teams that have come onboard in 2023 include SpirePoint Private Client from Morgan Stanley, Seven Mile Advisory from Mariner Advisors, Gainline Financial Partners from Wells Fargo’s FiNet, and Crossover Capital Advisors, Sykon Capital and 44 North Capital from Merrill Lynch.
Stuvland said he expects to continue onboarding firms at a measured pace over the next 14 months, but said they will be larger, with between $750 million and $2 billion in managed assets.