American investment management firm BlackRock has agreed to acquire a significant minority equity stake in Scalable Capital, a digital investment service with offices in Munich and London.
The size of the stake was not disclosed by the companies.
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BlackRock and two other German venture capital firms, namely Holtzbrinck Ventures and Tengelmann Ventures, have agreed to infuse €30m in capital into the robo adviser.
Scalable currently has over €250m of assets from more than 6,000 retail clients. The latest cash injection takes the robo adviser’s total funding till date to €41m.
Scalable co-founder and co-CEO Adam French said: “BlackRock’s backing provides a huge opportunity for us to partner with their clients to help accelerate our business with financial institutions and corporates.”
BlackRock EMEA COO Patrick Olson will now join the supervisory board of Scalable.
“The retail distribution landscape is evolving at a rapid pace, as consumers increasingly engage with their financial investments through technology. This trend is prompting strong demand from European financial institutions – including banks, insurers, wealth managers and advisory firms –for high-quality technology-enabled investment solutions. Our investment in Scalable Capital allows us to meet these evolving needs of our clients and their customers and to help shape their business models for the future,” Olson noted.
The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory nod.
Scalable will continue to remain an independent entity following the acquisition, with product selection and asset allocation decisions remaining independent.
