Mobile Hedge Fund Platform Titan Raises $12.5M Series A Led By General Catalyst

Titan, an asset manager for retail investors, announced Tuesday it raised a $12.5 million Series A round led by venture capital firm General Catalyst. To date, the company has raised $16 million.

What Happened: Titan is a holistic asset management solution that builds, manages, and explains investment strategies for retail investors.

As part of a vision to further personalize investing experiences, improve education, transparency, and trust, Titan looked to venture capital firm General Catalyst for a $12.5-million strategic investment. General Catalyst’s Katherine Boyle will also join Titan’s board

Additional Series A participants include Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures, Scribble VC, BoxGroup, Y Combinator, South Park Commons, Lee Fixel, Instagram founder Mike Krieger, Eventbrite founder Kevin Hartz, and others.

In a statement, the company said, “The menu problem is the elephant in the room in consumer finance. Technology has sent shockwaves throughout many consumer finance categories - from banking to brokerage - but investment management remains stubbornly behind. Despite over $500 billion in public market capitalization and the financial well-being of millions of Americans at stake, the industry is still ruled by legacy giants like Fidelity, BlackRock, and T. Rowe Price. No modern platform has yet to emerge.

“Titan is taking the torch and building the operating system that will power active investment management for future generations of investors. But this time, we can offer both sets of menus.”

Why It Matters: The development comes alongside the commission-free trading revolution and pandemic, which spurred record engagement in financial markets.

Titan itself saw assets under management grow 600%, last year, as the firm capitalized on pandemic disruptions through unparalleled investor communications and technology initiatives.

In March 2020, alone, the company experienced 99% client retention, while financial markets experienced one of their sharpest declines in history.

“We hope to take this industry out of the Stone Age. The status quo of active investment management platforms is a combination of exorbitant minimums and black-box experiences (e.g., a 90-page prospectus),” the statement said. “Even if you're ultra-wealthy, the best you can get is a quarterly call with an underlying investment manager. We've upended this entire experience.”

Going forward, the firm is looking to further expand on its community and launch new products that reshape the traditional investment experience.

“Americans have almost $30 trillion of assets in retirement accounts, but most of that money is allocated to instruments that simply match market performance. Titan was founded on the idea that everyday investors should have access to vehicles that have the potential to outperform,” Joe Percoco, co-founder at Titan, told Benzinga during an interview.