Registrations open for second Future Proof Festival: Wealthtech Weekly

January 18, 2023 6:07 PM

The "world's largest wealth festvial" is ready for round two

Wealth management's biggest beach party is making a comeback to close out summer 2023.

On Wednesday, registrations for the second Future Proof Festival on Sept. 10-13 went live. And organizers of the event billed as "the world's largest wealth festival" are looking to up the ante after gathering more than 1,700 people on a half mile of beachfront in Huntington Beach, California, last summer.

The Advisor Circle and Ritholtz Wealth Management collab is expected to attract more than 3,000 attendees in its second outing, including 2,000 financial advisors.

"The success and scale of the inaugural Future Proof Festival proved the need for a new annual gathering for modern financial professionals looking to future-proof their businesses, build community, and play a key role in building the future of the wealth management industry," Advisor Circle CEO Matt Middleton said in a statement. "We've spent the last several months gathering feedback, building new solutions and expanding the team to support the expected growth of the event."

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Wealthtech was a main attraction of the inaugural gathering. In addition to an agenda filled with some of wealth management's most prominent tech voices, the inaugural Future Proof last year featured special attractions including a keynote from Google Head of Product Inclusion Annie Jean-Baptiste on how to develop more inclusive technology for advisors, and a FinTechX Demo Drop that saw 10 companies present their latest breakthroughs to a live crowd.

Selected by a committee of industry experts from a pool of more than 100 applicants, Future Proof's FintechX presenters were graded on creativity, outside-the-box thinking and the ability to create a real impact for attendees of the festival.

"Never in my career have I seen such amazing feedback for a live event, especially a first year one. Future Proof was a smash hit because of the enthusiasm the attendees brought to the table," Josh Brown, CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management, said in a statement. "Our community is every bit as responsible for its success as we are. Wait til you see what we're planning for 2023!"

Officials said that like the first Future Proof, event speakers this year will be invited to participate or must apply to speak. A company statement stresses that there are no "pay-to-play'' speaking opportunities.

Speaker applications are being accepted at this link through February 21, 2023.

Scroll down to get caught up on other recent fintech news you might have missed in our Wealthtech Weekly recap. And check out the previous edition here.

BMO to present awards ceremony highlighting Black tech standouts

Lekan Olawoye, CEO and founder of BPTN

BPTN

BMO and the Black Professionals in Tech Network (BPTN) are joining forces for a new award ceremony celebrating Black Excellence in technology.

Nominations are now open for the inaugural Obsidi By BPTN Awards. The event, set to take place on June 21 and presented by BMO, aims to highlight the contributions of leading Black professionals and Black-led organizations in North America who are making a tangible difference in the tech industry.

Lekan Olawoye, CEO and founder of BPTN, called the ceremony a "game-changing initiative." He said the idea is unique because it directs focus to "a racialized community group seldom heard or even celebrated within the tech industry."

"Get ready to be inspired and amazed by all the exceptional achievements within North America's Black tech ecosystem," Olawoye said. "We know that Black professionals and Black-led organizations are crushing it both in the workforce and business. Now we're providing them with a platform to cement their legacies in history and reaffirm what we've always known; Black professionals are an innovation powerhouse in the tech industry to be reckoned with."

Bojan Pavlovic, the chief information and operations officer for BMO's North American banking and wealth management arm, said the organization is honored to partner with BPTN on the effort.

"The best teams are diverse teams, and BMO is committed to celebrating top talent and their achievements in the industry," he said. "These awards are the first of their kind. We're thrilled to raise the bar for future generations."

Nominations must be submitted via Obsidi By BPTN Awards website no later than Friday, Jan. 20, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. All the award winners will be officially announced on Feb. 15 in honor of Black History Month.

The following 10 categories will be recognized at the event:

Black Tech Executive of the Year
Black Employee Resource Group of the Year
Black Marketer of the Year
Black Venture Capital Firm of the Year
Black Breakout Professional of the Year – Sales Division
Black Breakout Professional of the Year – Technology Division
Black Product Innovator of the Year
Black Designer of the Year
BMO Black Tech Community Builder of the Year
BMO Black Entrepreneur of the Year, Technology Industry

For more information, please visit obsidi.com.

MarketReader raises $3.1M to develop market analytics platform for advisors

Photo by Pixabay

A new analytics slated to launch later this year to identify and explain stock and ETF price movements in real time now has millions of dollars in its coffers.

New York-based startup MarketReader on Wednesday announced the close of a seed funding round of $3.1 million. It was led by "angel investors largely comprised of family offices and financial advisors," according to the company.

Jens Nordvig, MarketReader's co-founder and CEO, said the funding will fuel the development of auser platform that will deliver real-time, data-driven explanations of price movement across asset classes to financial advisors and retail investors.

"We are thrilled to close this funding round that will allow us to rapidly develop and launch our revolutionary user platform," Nordvig said. "Everyone wants to know why the market is moving. MarketReader offers advisors a never-before-seen tool that massively increases efficiency by answering this question."

MarketReader plans to launch its user platform in 2023 on a monthly subscription basis. The service will feature live data and analytical tools to help users understand not only what is moving in the market, but also why.

The initial feature set will be designed specifically for financial advisors and wealth managers, but the company plans to add features catering to the broader retail and institutional investing markets.

The MarketReader user platform is supported by the company's proprietary data ingestion and financial modeling system.

"Although 2022 presented a challenging environment for many companies to raise capital, we are excited that savvy investors saw the potential of MarketReader," Nordvig said. "When people see a good idea, they still want to embrace it. Financial advisors and family offices saw the usefulness of this concept for their own practices and decided to invest due to the sheer functionality of the end product."

InvestorFlow names new chief solutions officer

InvestorFlow Chief Solutions officer Hye Kyung Lee

Hye Kyung Lee

Alternative assets platform has a new chief solutions officer.

Hye Kyung "HK" Lee is joining the California-based fintech company after stacking up years of alternative assets operational strategy experience with Apollo Global Management and Oaktree Capital Management.

She also spent time with Accenture and P&L Consulting Group advising private equity and other alternatives managers in optimizing their investor experiences and fund operating models.

"I am thrilled to have HK join InvestorFlow as our Chief Solutions Officer," Todd Glasson, CEO and founder of InvestorFlow, said in a statement. "Her significant alternative investment industry experience coupled with her enthusiasm to provide holistic solutions for clients makes her a perfect fit with our culture and to lead our solutions efforts with our clients."

After completing her chemical engineering degree at The Cooper Union, Lee began her career as a business transformation consultant focusing on private equity for Accenture before founding and serving as president of P&L Consulting Group.

She was senior vice president and head of the project management office for Oaktree, and most recently served as managing director and head of investor services for Apollo Global Management.

"I have always been energized by all the smart people in this industry trying to solve extraordinarily complex problems. My aim is to continuously innovate on those solutions, injecting technology where possible and where appropriate. We are at an exciting intersection of industry maturity and leapfrogging technologies," Lee said. "At InvestorFlow, I will be thinking about our clients' challenges more holistically. This company is an amazing group of experts and practical problem solvers, who are dynamic and driven by designing and delivering on a better way of getting things done at scale."