Michael Carvin

The importance of managing personal finances came to the forefront during the pandemic as individuals sought to buffer themselves against the effects of COVID and the economy. With the internet, many of these individuals chose to go the self-directed route. Many also established relationships with professional financial advisors. In either case, it’s likely these people interacted with this NYC startup without even knowing it. SmartAsset is a personal finance content engine that distributes content, tools, and calculators related to common, everyday financial issues as well as a customer acquisition platform for the personal finance advisory industry. By using content as a driver of interest, SmartAsset can connect interested individuals with advisors that will meet their investment goals, preferences, and criterion. The company, founded in 2012, now handles over 100M customer interactions per month, is responsible for originating $1.5B in new assets under management for advisors per month, and is nearing $100M in ARR. AlleyWatch caught up with Cofounder and CEO Michael Carvin to learn more about the path to building one of NYC’s newest unicorns, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding from investors that include North Bridge Venture Partners & Growth Equity, Citi Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, Javelin Venture Partners, TTV Capital, CMFG Ventures, and New York Life Ventures