What Altruist does

Altruist is a self-clearing, digital-first custodian and wealth platform serving independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) in the United States. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Culver City, California, the company serves more than 6,000 advisors and ranks as the third-largest custodian by firm count behind Schwab and Fidelity. Its platform unifies clearing, custody, trading, billing, reporting, lending, alternatives, and the Hazel AI co-pilot into a single end-to-end workflow, replacing the fragmented legacy stacks used by incumbent custodians. Technical architecture is API-first and built on a self-clearing core with 25+ third-party integrations spanning CRM, financial planning, portfolio management, and compliance; proprietary components include Hazel AI (drawing on real-time custodial data, CRM, email, and notes), TaxIQ automated tax-loss harvesting, Personalized Indexing via Smartleaf + MSCI, an Alts Marketplace with anchor partners Blackstone, JPMorgan, KKR, and Pantheon, and FDIC-insured High-Yield Cash with up to $6M in coverage. Altruist has raised approximately $600 million in total capital across multiple rounds, most recently a $152 million Series F led by GIC in April 2025 at a $1.9 billion post-money valuation.

The business model combines asset-based fees on AUM, transactional revenue (per-contract options fees, margin interest spread, fully-paid lending share, bank sweep revenue share, and SBLOC via TriState Capital), and recurring subscriptions (Hazel AI at $60 per seat per month, Altruist One subscription). Go-to-market spans three coordinated channels: enterprise field sales targeting $1B+ RIAs (with named wins including Gerber Kawasaki, Ritholtz, Holistic Planning, Sowell, Bryn Mawr, and Lifeworks), inside sales for established mid-market RIAs, and self-serve / product-led growth for breakaway advisors, of whom roughly 1,500 are onboarded per year. Growth has been exceptional, with three consecutive years of 300%+ AUM growth, 550% revenue growth in 2023, and a 300% revenue jump in 2024, alongside a 10% staff reduction in January 2025 framed as a talent-quality reset. More recent strategic actions include the Thyme AI acquisition (June 2025), the Series F funding round, the Hazel AI Tax Planning launch (February 2026), and the Alts Marketplace and HolisticOS partnership launches in mid-2026, each of which extends the platform's surface area and addressable wallet per advisor.

The company is regulated by the SEC, FINRA, OCC, and 53 state regulatory bodies, with SOC 2 Type 2 certification and SIPC membership supplemented by Lloyd's of London excess coverage. The roadmap emphasizes quarterly AI agent releases through Hazel, deeper alternatives integration, margin and options expansion, and the launch of Altruist Advisors, a 1099 corporate-RIA offering that targets breakaway brokers who lack an existing firm shell. Together these moves position Altruist as the leading independent, technology-native challenger to the Schwab/Fidelity custody duopoly, with a multi-product monetization engine that increasingly competes on integrated AI capability rather than custody price alone.

Name

Altruist

Legal name

Altruist Corp

Website

https://altruist.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Altruist is a self-clearing digital custodian and AI-forward wealth platform serving more than 6,000 independent RIAs in the U.S. It unifies custody, trading, portfolio management, billing, reporting, alternatives, and the Hazel AI co-pilot in a single API-first workflow.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wealth Management Custody Platform

NAICS

Open-End Investment Funds (525910), Other Financial Vehicles (52599)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital/Hybrid RIAs (Robo-Enabled, Tech-Forward) (FSAAACAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Insurance-Integrated Wealth Managers (RIA + Insurance Solutions) (FSAAACAI), Digital Wealth Platforms for Advisors (TAMP/Advisor Tech) (FSAGAEAH), Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) Wealth Management (FSAEABAA)

Keywords

• RIA custody platform
• Self-clearing custodian
• Wealth management software
• Digital onboarding ACATs
• AI advisor platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Culver City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Bank Sweep Program Revenue Share: Altruist Financial receives payment from each Participating Bank (a portion of interest earned on deposits) in connection with its operation of the Bank Sweep Program for cash sweeps into FDIC-insured partner banks; currently advertised 3.20% APY to clients.
2. Alternative Investment / Shareholder Servicing Fees: Altruist Financial receives compensation from certain alternative marketplace funds, typically through shareholder servicing fees paid out of fund assets; creates a financial incentive to include/feature those funds.
3. Options Contract & Transaction Fees: $0.50 per-contract fee on online options trades plus a separate $0.04 per-contract regulatory and clearing fee; commission-free equity/ETF trading with revenue captured through other fee streams.
4. Custody Fees on Non-Marketplace Alts: Custody is $200 per position and capped at $400 per account for alternative funds held outside the marketplace; $0 custody fees on partner marketplace funds.
5. Hazel AI Subscription: Hazel AI Tax Planning is offered as a $60 per seat per month subscription available to any advisory firm regardless of custody arrangements; Hazel admin AI $125 per month per advisor per other reports.
6. Fully Paid Lending Income Share: Altruist earns revenue from its fully paid securities lending program; in negative-rate lending scenarios clients receive 25% of net rebate earned by Altruist, with Altruist retaining the remainder; in positive-rate scenarios Altruist retains interest spread on cash collateral.
7. Margin Lending Interest Spread: Altruist earns interest on margin balances, with rates structured as a spread over the federal funds upper rate; Altruist One subscribers receive discounted rates (4.0%-5.25% vs. 5.0%-6.25%).
8. Platform Subscription (Altruist One): Altruist One is a paid subscription offering margin interest discounts and additional features; subscription fees apply and are separate from margin interest, representing a recurring platform revenue stream.
9. Asset-Based Revenue via Broker-Dealer & RIA: Altruist earns revenue from financial advisors who use its software, from assets invested through its broker-dealer (Altruist Financial LLC), and from assets using services made available by its registered investment adviser (Altruist LLC) — typical custody + advisory fee structure on AUM.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion6 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Altruist is a self-clearing, fully digital custodian and wealth management platform built for independent registered investment advisors (RIAs). It combines clearing, custody, trading, portfolio management, billing, reporting, lending, alternatives, and the Hazel AI platform into a single end-to-end system serving 6,000+ independent advisors across breakaway, established, and enterprise RIA segments.

Product overview

Altruist is a unified wealth platform / AI-forward custodian built for independent RIAs, combining self-clearing custody with an integrated suite of modules: Client Onboarding, Trading (commission-free fractional equities/ETFs, digital fixed income, structured products), Portfolio Reporting, Fee Billing, Integrations, High-Yield Cash, Tax Management (TaxIQ), Personalized Indexing, Model Marketplace, Alternatives marketplace, Margin, SBLOC, Fully Paid Lending, and Options trading (Q3 2026). Layered on top of this platform is Hazel AI, an AI co-pilot featuring Tax Planning, Admin AI agents, and integrations with the advisor's CRM/email/notes; separate adjacent offerings include Altruist Advisors (a 1099 corporate RIA affiliation model launched in beta) and the Tax Center / Tax Form Center.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hazel: Altruist's AI platform for financial advisors that draws on real-time custodial data, CRM, email, and notes to power note-taking, meeting transcription, tax planning, and administrative workflows.
• Altruist Advisors
• TaxIQ
• Altruist Personalized Indexing

Products and services

• Altruist Wealth Platform (Self-Clearing Custodian) Unified AI-forward wealth platform and self-clearing custodian for independent RIAs that brings account opening, trading, portfolio management, billing, reporting, lending, alternatives, and Hazel AI together in one place.
• Client Onboarding Digital onboarding offering for RIA firms to open client accounts with paperless workflows, batch openings, and ACAT transfers in minutes.
• Trading Platform Commission-free fractional and whole-share trading platform for stocks/ETFs with smart order routing, plus fully digital fixed income trading across US Treasuries, Corporates, and Municipals.
• Options Trading Options trading offering for advisors priced at $0.50 per contract, supporting covered calls, cash-secured puts, and block trading across eligible accounts.
• Portfolio Reporting Custom performance reporting module that lets advisors create reports in a few clicks across all account types without a separate reporting system.
• Fee Billing Automated, customizable fee billing module integrated with custody and portfolio management for RIA firms.
• Margin Lending 100% digital margin lending for advisor clients with tiered rates of 5.0%-6.25% (4.0%-5.25% for Altruist One subscribers), $0 minimum loan amount, and same-day liquidity.
• Securities-Based Line of Credit (SBLOC) Securities-based line of credit offered in partnership with TriState Capital Bank with no setup or draw fees, SOFR + 2.00% illustrative rate, and a $250,000 minimum loan.
• Fully Paid Lending Fully paid securities lending program enabling clients to earn passive income by lending out fully paid stocks, collateralized at 102% of market value.
• High-Yield Cash Cash management program paying a variable APY (advertised at 3.20%) via FDIC-insured partner banks, with FDIC insurance up to $3M individual/trust/business and up to $6M joint.
• Tax Management (TaxIQ) Automated tax-loss harvesting, tax-aware rebalancing, custom tax rate settings, and tax management reporting for taxable client accounts, with up to 2% tax alpha annually.
• Model Marketplace Marketplace of 500+ turnkey portfolio models from third-party asset managers with built-in tax management and Personalized Indexing, positioned as a 3x cheaper alternative to the average TAMP.
• Personalized Indexing Direct indexing product letting advisors exclude industries, sectors, issues, or securities via Smartleaf + MSCI values screens, with real-time tracking error and active share analytics.
• Alts Marketplace (Alternatives) Digital marketplace for alternative investments (private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, multi-strategy) with digital subscription, e-signature, custody, redemption, and unified NAV reporting; $0 custody fees on partner funds.
• Hazel AI Platform AI platform for financial advisors that draws on real-time custodial data plus CRM, email, and notes to power note-taking, meeting transcription, scheduling, and client communication.
• Hazel AI Tax Planning AI-powered tax planning feature within Hazel that interprets 1040s, pay stubs, account statements, and other documents to produce personalized tax strategies with interactive what-if scenario modeling; $60 per seat per month.
• Altruist Advisors (1099 Corporate RIA) Corporate RIA affiliation model giving independent advisor representatives access to Altruist's compliance, custody, and operational infrastructure under 1099 contractor agreements; targets breakaway brokers with $25M to hundreds of millions in client assets.
• Altruist One Subscription Paid subscription offering margin rate discounts (4.0%-5.25% vs. 5.0%-6.25%) and additional platform features for advisors.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 91% faster client onboarding vs. prior custodian
• +13 more outcomes

Named customers26 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration35 records

AI capability12 records

Feature12 records

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Broad incumbents

• Charles Schwab: The largest US retail broker and a top-three RIA custodian by AUM. Directly competes with Altruist for independent advisor custody relationships and is the legacy incumbent Altruist most often replaces in transitions (e.g., Panoramic Financial, Windle Wealth). Comparable on core custody, trading, and advisor services but lacks Altruist's API-first, AI-forward positioning.
• Envestnet: Major US TAMP, portfolio management, and data analytics platform serving RIAs at scale. One of three named benchmark TAMP providers in Altruist's 3x-cheaper claim and a long-standing competitor for advisor technology spend.
• Pershing (BNY Mellon): Major US RIA custodian and clearing provider within BNY Mellon. Former home of the Shareholders Service Group book that Altruist acquired in 2023; Pershing is the legacy platform many Altruist breakaway and migrated advisors are leaving. Comparable on custody, clearing, and advisor services at much larger scale.
• AssetMark: Large US TAMP and wealth platform serving RIAs with model portfolios, custodial, and practice management services. Named as one of three benchmark TAMP providers (alongside Envestnet and Orion) whose ~0.45-0.50 bps pricing Altruist's Model Marketplace undercuts by 3x.
• Fidelity Investments: Top-three US RIA custodian and Altruist's named incumbent competitor alongside Schwab. Offers custody, clearing, trading, and advisor technology as part of a much broader retail and institutional franchise; Altruist explicitly benchmarks its margin and options pricing against Fidelity.

Emerging players

• Holistiplan: Tax-planning software purpose-built for RIAs that reads client 1040s and documents to surface planning opportunities. Most directly comparable to Hazel Tax Planning and a credible emerging alternative as Hazel expands from tax into admin and planning.
• Riskalyze (Nitrogen): Risk-tolerance and proposal-generation software used widely by RIAs and integrated into Altruist's 25+ integration ecosystem. Comparable as an advisor software point solution competing for the same RIA wallet and part of Altruist's TAMP/tech-stack displacement narrative.
• Range: Modern wealth management platform serving RIAs with client portal, planning, and AI-assisted workflows. Comparable to Altruist on AI-driven RIA workflows and competes for the same digitally native independent advisor segment.

Direct peers

• Addepar: Wealth management technology platform serving large RIAs, family offices, and institutions with portfolio analytics and reporting. Receives Altruist alternatives data for client reporting, evidencing direct ecosystem overlap on advisor technology for enterprise and breakaway segments.
• Orion (Orion Advisor Technology): Provider of portfolio management, reporting, and trading software to RIAs; part of the average TAMP pricing Altruist's Model Marketplace benchmarks itself against (Orion ~0.45-0.50 bps). Direct overlap on advisor technology, rebalancing, and reporting with integrations into Altruist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/altruist
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Altruist
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/altruistcorp
• Instagraminstagram.com/altruistcorp

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors15 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Altruist