In preparation for the introduction of a virtual AI assistant to aid Gen Z women investors, fintech app Alinea Invest has raised $3.4 million in initial investment. The New York startup’s six-person staff can function economically after 225,000 app downloads and a $1.8 million revenue run rate.
Anam Lakhani, Eve Halimi, and CTO Daniel Nissenbaum, who were friends from Barnard College and Columbia University, founded Alinea during the COVID-19 epidemic. Former Wall Street interns Lakhani and Halimi, now co-CEOs, struggled with money and investing. While attending an entrepreneurship class, this notion inspired an app business strategy. Once COVID-19 struck, the creators worked full-time in investment banking and a growth-stage firm.
The company applied to Y Combinator in 2021 and was accepted when the epidemic freed up time for app development.
“We saw that young women, Gen Zs, and children of immigrants have no idea where to start. Lakhani says financial literacy is a major issue in the US. We wanted to create a tailored platform that taught you how to earn money and did it for you.
The “Wealthfront meets Robinhood” app targets Gen Z. With an emphasis on an approachable design, investment becomes less frightening. Attract users when they leave college and start working or obtaining their first income, then assist them in automating their portfolio. Other female-focused fintechs like Ellevest are not like Alinea.
Many users start with Alinea’s automatic investing methodology but eventually purchase and sell equities as they become more experienced.
Unlike Robinhood and others, Alinea is a $120-per-year membership service.
Alinea’s “playlists” distinguish it. This lets users create direct indexes, like Spotify’s music curation. Investors at Alinea have created ETFs on climate change, female leadership, AI, fashion, and abortion rights. Users make thousands of playlists daily and may share them.
Content marketing, notably on TikTok, where the founders discuss investment and their startup path, has earned the firm users. The founders told Eltrys that their hashtags had garnered over 100 million views on the short video platform.
With the $3.4 million seed round, Alinea plans to develop an AI financial advisor. The app already uses AI and experienced advisors to provide stock recommendations, but the new feature, coming later this year, will allow users to interactively request investment advice.
New subscriptions will include AI assistance.
Halimi says, “There will be an additional upscale tier, essentially, where it will be like a sort of AI copilot—an AI financial adviser that will answer all your very personalized questions.
While answering queries, the AI will analyze the user’s age, risk tolerance, prior history, and more. The functionality should come in Q2 or Q3, according to the team.
Alinea believes they can attract Gen Z investors, of which 80% are women, despite fierce fintech competition. The typical Alinea investor is 22–24 and makes $80,000.
Worklife Ventures (Bri Kimmel), FoundersX Fund, Gaingels, and Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi were all involved in the fundraising effort under the direction of F7 Ventures and GFR. Goodwater, Kima Ventures, Harvard, Diaspora, and ex-Robinhood workers gave Alinea $2.3 million in pre-seed. The founders want to invest the fresh funds in AI copilot, customization, and educational activities, not board expansion.
According to F7 general partner Kelly Graziadei, financial awareness and investment are essential for women and Gen Z to achieve financial security. Our investment in Eve and Anam as they construct AI-powered investing with Alinea makes it easier and more accessible than ever for people to invest according to their interests and principles. We couldn’t conceive of a finer team to launch a new wealth-generating venture,” she said.
