San Francisco-based startup Origin received $12 million in funding to launch an automated financial planning program as an employee perk, according to TechCrunch. The round was led by Felicis Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst, Founders Fund and an early Stripe employee, Lachy Groom.
Of its 32 employees, Origin has six financial planners on staff. The platform is designed to set up a largely automated initial plan for the user that can later be fine tuned for an individual’s circumstances. The financial planning developer has 15 enterprise clients, including social network NextDoor, software developers Fuze and health gadget maker Therabody, according to the report. Participating companies pay $6 per employee per month.
With open banking APIs becoming more commonplace, financial planning as an employee benefit is increasingly feasible, the report concluded. Already in the works, eMoney's Project Avocado, which facilitates "a self-guided planning experience," is also highly dependent on reliable access to data aggregation and information like retirement plan contributions.