SmartAsset Raises $1.5M To Help You With The Big Financial ...
Anthony Ha is a writer at TechCrunch, where he covers media, advertising, and startups. Previously, he was a staff technology writer at Adweek, worked as a senior editor at the tech blog VentureBeat, and was also a reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing.... ? Learn More
SmartAsset, a Y Combinator-backed startup offering interactive tools to help homebuyers understand the financial ramifications of their decisions, has raised $1.5 million in new funding.
The round was led by Javelin Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, with participation from YC, Peterson Ventures, Quotidian Ventures, and Identified CEO Brendan Wallace. SmartAsset actually announced funding just two months ago ? in the intervening months,?SmartAsset took the stage at YC Demo Day, which probably attracted some new investors. With the new money, the company has raised a total of $2.4 million, and?Javelin Managing Director Jed Katz is joining SmartAsset?s board of directors.
Co-founder and CEO Michael Carvin has said that SmartAsset emerged from his own experience buying a home. When he looked for help online, all he could find was general advice and simplistic financial calculators. SmartAsset tries to go deeper, taking your basic financial information and offering insight like how much money you can afford to borrow and put down, as well as the long-term cost of renting versus buying. The company?s calculations are tailored to a specific location, so it can also tell you about the tax implications of a home purchase.
Moving forward, Carvin wants to turn SmartAsset into a broader financial tool that users turn to for a number of difficult financial decisions. Over the next three months, the company plans to add new features to its home buying guide, then Carvin said it will launch similar tools for college and further education.
SmartAsset isn?t disclosing its current user numbers, but last month, it said it had more than 20,000. And again, these are people who are at least considering a home purchase, so they?re much more valuable to advertisers than a random web visitor.
As a side project, the company also released a tool to help entrepreneurs calculate the impact of their fundraising terms on their ultimate financial outcome. I guess Carvin has been putting that calculator to good use.
SmartAsset Introduction from SmartAsset on Vimeo.
SmartAsset makes life?s biggest decisions easier by bringing full transparency to the financial decision making process. It?s the Web?s first personal finance platform designed to empower people with highly personalized information and recommendations around major financial decisions. SmartAsset?s platform will start with home buying analysis and expand to over 24 other life-changing financial decisions, such as whether to go back to school or when to retire. Founded in 2011, SmartAsset is funded by Y Combinator and angel investors in...
? Learn moreInvests in early-stage tech companies with incredible potential, managed by teams of energetic, trustworthy and capable leaders. Key focus areas include digital media, Internet commerce, mobile and healthcare IT. Javelin looks for advanced bleeding-edge innovations, where the addressable market size is substantial and strong competitive advantages exist. A typical investment is between $1 to $2 million, with reserves for follow-on investments. In addition, Javelin also considers smaller seed investments for unique companies just getting started. Located in downtown San...
? Learn moreNorth Bridge Venture Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Boston, Massachusetts and San Mateo, California. Headquartered on both sides of the country, the firm spreads investments on the east and west coasts.
? Learn moreSource: http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/30/smartasset-funding/
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