Money management and investments fees and their drag on net returns have been a long- term target. Earlier in the month, Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, theorized that stock market valuations would rise if financial advisors and their weak returns and high fees they offer didn't exist in the market. Over the longer term, thanks in part to marketing, which showed greater efficiency of its low commission index funds versus professionally managed ones, has led them to become the largest mutual fund provider by assets under management in the world.
Within the Fintech world, reducing fees and disrupting the status quo in brokerage commissions is also taking place. Robo investing firms like Nutmeg, Betterment and Wealthfront are gaining traction among younger long-term investors for their ability to potentially deliver reduced fees and higher profits.
Adding to the list of companies using technology to solve the problem of investment fees is FeeX. A provider of services for individuals to monitor and reduce hidden fees in their IRA, 401K and similar accounts, FeeX announced that it has received $6.5M in Series B funding. The deal was led by Horizon Ventures with existing investor Blumberg Capital also participating in the Funding Round . With the funds, FeeX has raised $9.6M to date since starting.
Launched in the US in March of this year, according to FeeX, they currently have 60,000 users who have assets under management of over $1B with their services finding $277M in potential long-term savings of hidden fees for customers. According to FeeX CEO, Yuval Zurel, who commented in the company’s press statement, the current investment will be used to expand the company’s offering into other markets such as banking, credit cards and mortgages.
Included among FeeX’s founders is Co-Founder and former President of Waze, Uri Levine, who decided to leave the navigation app provider when it was acquired by Google and work on a new startup. Similar to Waze which is a scalable business with its product becoming stronger as it adds users, David J. Blumberg, Director of FeeX and Managing Partner of Blumberg Capital, remarked about similar attributes for FeeX, stating, “FeeX is revolutionary -- harnessing the wisdom of the crowd to help consumers obtain better value from financial institutions. Markets work best when information flows with transparency and clarity, so we think FeeX will bring about huge improvements in financial markets for consumers and businesses alike."
