Edison Partners, a growth equity investment firm, has led a USD62 million financing in New York-based YieldStreet, a digital wealth management platform.
YieldStreet will use the funds to introduce new investment offerings, expand investor access, and increase retail investor education and engagement.
While fintech innovation continues to upend traditional banking and investing, wealth creation and investment diversification through multi-asset investments and yields available to institutional investors remain elusive to both accredited and non-accredited investors alike. YieldStreet eliminates this inequity by enabling investors to participate in investments across a broad range of asset classes such as real estate, legal finance, marine finance, and commercial loans.
YieldStreet has created a community of more than 100,000 members who have invested more than USD600 million through its platform, with a 12 per cent IRR for their investors to date. The company has realised tremendous growth of over 3x year-over-year in revenue and investments originated on the platform. The company has been recognised by Forbes, Nasdaq, and others, as a top company disrupting the investment landscape.
“YieldStreet is democratising the next frontier of wealth management, giving retail investors access to institutional-grade investment products that were previously off limits to them. They have found a profitable and scalable high-growth model in a variety of investments, and are now broadening their offerings with additional products,” says Chris Sugden, Managing Partner, Edison Partners, who led the investment. “There’s an important financial services element to this business as well; the ability to source and underwrite investments. This requires a blend of domain and technology expertise. Milind and Michael bring the right mix of technology and specialty finance experience to drive deals to the platform while lowering the cost of entry to investors. I couldn’t be more excited to see them bring their brand to every investor looking for diversification and wealth creation.”
Sugden will join YieldStreet’s board.
The YieldStreet platform provides access to alternative investing to help individuals and originators exchange value. Initially geared to accredited investors, YieldStreet recently began to expand its platform to the mass and emerging affluent markets. For example, the company recently launched YieldStreet Wallet, an FDIC-insured savings account offering 2.2 per cent annual interest. Additional investment, banking and wealth management product offerings are planned for 2019.
“We saw an opening to create more efficient capital allocation and lower the barriers to entry, providing investors access to make their money work harder,” says Michael Weisz, founder and President of YieldStreet. “Edison’s expertise and commitment in fintech, specifically with wealth management, was very attractive to us. We are aligned on the vision and their partnership will enable us to accelerate our growth, launch new investment products, and bring our financial inclusion vision to millions of individuals,” says Milind Mehere, founder and CEO of YieldStreet.
