Investment Enhances Value Added Business Development Support for Focus Partner Firms

New York, NY – June 19, 2018 – Focus Financial Partners (‘Focus’), a leading partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms, today announced its minority investment in SmartAsset, a New York-based FinTech company, which connects prospective clients with financial advisors and provides tools to help people make financial decisions. The deal marks Focus’ first direct investment in FinTech and demonstrates Focus’ commitment to provide value added growth support to its partner firms while supporting innovation in the wealth management space.

Focus invested in SmartAsset’s series C funding totaling $28 million, along with Javelin Venture Partners, TTV Capital, IA Capital and Citi Ventures among others. SmartAsset is a Y Combinator company founded in 2012, providing personal finance tools and information resources to more than 45 million people each month. The capital injection aims to fuel the growth of the proprietary “SmartAdvisor” platform, which connects qualified investors with financial advisors. Focus Co-Founder Rajini Kodialam and Principal Eric Amar will join the SmartAsset Board as a member and an observer, respectively.

“We are delighted to team up with Focus given their leadership position in the RIA industry and their history of promoting growth for their entrepreneurial partners. We have a shared mission to connect investors with financial advisors and we could not be happier to have the support of investors who bring with them the expertise and acumen needed for us to further accelerate our growth,” said SmartAsset’s CEO and Co-Founder Michael Carvin. “This investment will help us to accomplish our mission of becoming the web’s premier resource for financial tools and information resources.”

“SmartAdvisor is an innovative platform that delivers customized and qualified client leads to fiduciary financial advisors. A scalable approach to digital client acquisition is an important lever for the wealth management industry and we believe that SmartAsset has the widest reach and the most advanced capabilities in this space,” said Rudy Adolf, Founder and CEO of Focus. “Our founding mission is to support entrepreneurs who provide fiduciary wealth management advice to clients. Investing in SmartAsset is a natural next step in our evolution as we seek to set new standards for the advisory industry and add value to our partners in their business development efforts.”

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About Focus Financial Partners

Focus Financial Partners is a leading partnership of independent, fiduciary wealth management firms. Focus provides access to best practices, resources, and continuity planning for its partner firms who serve individuals, families, employers and institutions with comprehensive wealth management services. Focus partner firms maintain their operational independence, while they benefit from the synergies, scale, economics and best practices offered by Focus to achieve their business objectives. For more information about Focus Financial Partners, please visit www.focusfinancialpartners.com

About SmartAsset

SmartAsset is a financial technology company that empowers people with automated personalized financial tools. Its proprietary technology, industry leading research and patent-pending Automated Financial Modeling software forecast the impact of different decisions on people’s personal finances, enabling millions of people to make smart financial decisions. Its SmartAdvisor service connects consumers with financial advisors. For more information, visit www.SmartAsset.com. To learn more about SmartAdvisor, visit https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/.

Media Contact:

Daijing Lin

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