Vanilla
Vanilla is an AI-powered estate planning software platform built for financial advisors, RIAs, and family offices, combining document analysis, scenario modeling, document creation, and a 100+ attorney network to serve mass-affluent through ultra-high-net-worth client households.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersSalt Lake City, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Vanilla does
Vanilla Technologies Inc. is a private, venture-backed software company founded in 2019 by Steve Lockshin and headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with an additional office in Bellevue, Washington. The company builds an AI-powered estate planning platform aimed at financial advisors, RIAs, family offices, and trust companies, serving end-clients that range from mass-affluent households to ultra-high-net-worth families with multi-entity and multi-generational wealth structures.
The core product is a modular platform combining the Vanilla Platform, the V/AI suite (Copilot, Automatic Profiles, and Estate Summaries), Vanilla Scenarios for advanced planning modeling (SLATs, GRATs, ILITs, IDGTs, CRUTs, CLATs), Vanilla Document Builder, Estate Health Check, the Vanilla Attorney Network (100+ attorneys across 50 states), and in-house Abstraction Services. Underlying technology includes a patent-protected event-based resource allocation system and a proprietary waterfall calculation engine validated across thousands of real-world estates, with daily ingestion of federal and state transfer-tax changes. The platform integrates deeply with the wealthtech stack — eMoney, Black Diamond, Orion, Addepar, Plaid, and Salesforce — and processes billions of API calls annually.
Vanilla operates a user-based SaaS subscription model with tiered pricing (Advanced, Expert, Enterprise on annual contracts, plus a Vanilla Starter tier at $99/month launched in October 2025), supplemented by professional services revenue from attorney-network engagements and in-house Abstraction Services. Go-to-market combines enterprise field sales to large wealth managers, inside sales for mid-market and solo RIAs, and channel partnerships with major RIA networks (Mariner, Carson Group, Cetera, Betterment Advisor Solutions, Wealth Engineering) plus strategic financial-services investors that double as customers (Vanguard, Edward Jones Ventures, Nationwide, Allianz). To date the company has raised approximately $46.7M+ across seed, Series A ($11.6M, 2021, Venrock), and Series B (~$35M, 2024, led by Insight Partners), and has reported nearly 300% YoY platform growth, ~22,000 estates modeled in 2025, $250B+ in connected client assets, and 15,000+ client estates on the platform.
Vanilla firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Vanilla
- Legal name
- Vanilla Technologies Inc.
- Website
- https://justvanilla.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Vanilla is an AI-powered estate planning software platform built for financial advisors, RIAs, and family offices, combining document analysis, scenario modeling, document creation, and a 100+ attorney network to serve mass-affluent through ultra-high-net-worth client households.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Vanilla industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Estate Planning Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Digital Wealth Platforms for Advisors (TAMP/Advisor Tech) (FSAGAEAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Digital/Hybrid Robo-Wealth & Retirement Advisory (FSAEABAK)
Keywords
Where Vanilla is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Salt Lake City
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Vanilla business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Subscription (SaaS): Vanilla operates on a user-based SaaS subscription model with tiered pricing (Advanced, Expert, Enterprise). Pricing scales with practice size, and subscription includes unlimited estate plans with no per-plan fees. Additional revenue comes from professional services like Abstraction Services and attorney network access.
- Professional Services (Attorney Network): Revenue from connecting clients to the Vanilla Attorney Network of 100+ attorneys across all 50 states, with flat-fee pricing. In-house Abstraction Services team available for complex document review.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Advanced - For advisors serving clients at all wealth levels |
| Subscription | Annual | Expert - For advisors and planners with deep estate planning expertise |
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise - Complete solution for advisors and central planning teams |
| Subscription | Monthly | Vanilla Starter - For boutique RIAs and solo practices |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Vanilla product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Vanilla is an AI-powered estate planning software platform built for financial advisors, RIAs, family offices, trust companies, and wealth management firms. It combines AI-driven document analysis, visual estate summaries, interactive scenario modeling (SLATs, GRATs, ILITs, IDGTs, CRUTs, CLATs), document creation, and access to a 100+ attorney network in one unified workflow. The platform is delivered via SaaS subscriptions (Advanced, Expert, Enterprise tiers) plus a Vanilla Starter offering at $99/month for solo advisors, with optional Abstraction Services for complex document review.
Product overview
Vanilla is a unified estate advisory platform with a modular architecture comprising the core Vanilla Platform, AI-powered V/AI suite (including Copilot and automatic profile generation), Vanilla Scenarios for advanced planning modeling, Vanilla Document Builder for document creation, Estate Health Check for client discovery, Vanilla Attorney Network and Abstraction Services for expert support, and tiered subscription plans (Advanced, Expert, Enterprise, and Starter). The platform is built specifically for financial advisors and wealth management firms, combining AI-driven document analysis, visual estate summaries, interactive scenario modeling, document creation, and access to expert legal support in one integrated workflow.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Vanilla Academy: Estate planning learning hub for advisors, attorneys, and planners offering courses, tips, and downloadable resources.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3x revenue growth at high-adopting firms
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Vanilla
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Vanilla technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration8 records
AI capability7 records
Feature5 records
Vanilla partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, major, minor and core.
- Carson GroupflagshipPartnership expanding Vanilla's platform to 600+ advisors across 165+ partner offices nationwide. Carson Group manages over $58 billion in AUM and serves more than 60,000 client families.
- Wealth Engineering Family of CompaniesmajorSelected as exclusive estate planning technology partner for The Wealth Engineering Expert Sourcing Consortium. Platform offered to WE's network of over 2,150 wealth management firms. Firms using Vanilla reported 50% increase in AUM.
- CeteraflagshipPartnership providing estate planning services to approximately 12,000 Cetera advisors. Cetera is a leading network of independent financial advisors.
- Elevation PointminorNamed preferred estate planning technology partner by Elevation Point, a growth accelerator for independent advisors. Enables Vanilla to reach Elevation Point's network of growth-oriented advisors.
- Betterment Advisor SolutionsmajorPartnership making Vanilla's estate planning platform available to Betterment's network of advisors for advanced estate planning technology.
- RobinhoodmajorPartnership for Robinhood's new concierge service targeting millionaire investors. Vanilla provides estate planning capabilities as part of bundled offering including tax preparation and CFP support.
- Mariner Wealth AdvisorsflagshipExpanded partnership giving all of Mariner's 700+ advisors access to Vanilla's estate planning platform. Mariner manages approximately $560 billion in client assets. Offices using Vanilla saw 200% increase in revenue growth rates.
- eMoneycoreDeep integration partnership enabling data sharing and integrated financial visualization tools. The eMoney integration allows advisors to connect client assets and see how estate plans interact with portfolios.
- Black DiamondcoreIntegration with Black Diamond portfolio management and reporting platform for wealth management firms.
- OrioncoreIntegration with Orion portfolio management platform enabling estate planning workflow integration.
- AddeparcoreIntegration with Addepar wealth management platform for comprehensive client data and estate planning workflows.
Scale indicators14 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Vanilla competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Wealth.com: Wealth.com is a direct competitor offering an estate planning platform for financial advisors with AI-powered document analysis, scenario modeling, and tax planning. Named alongside Vanilla as a Summiteer in the Oasis Group 2026 Peaks Report.
- Luminary: Luminary provides estate planning technology for financial advisors, featuring visualization, scenario analysis, and AI-powered workflows. Co-listed with Vanilla as a Summiteer-tier platform in the Oasis Group 2026 evaluation.
- Trust & Will: Trust & Will is an online estate planning platform, with a hybrid consumer/advisor offering that overlaps Vanilla's mass-affluent and document-builder capabilities. Most directly comparable in end-customer estate planning workflows.
Broad incumbents
- eMoney Advisor: eMoney is a leading financial planning platform for advisors and Vanilla's flagship integration partner. While not a direct estate planning competitor today, its scale and advisor footprint position it as the most likely incumbent to build native estate planning features.
- MoneyGuide (MoneyGuidePro): MoneyGuide is an established financial planning platform for advisors including estate planning components. Overlaps Vanilla's mass-affluent and HNW planning workflows but is a broader planning suite rather than estate-planning focused.
- Orion Advisor Solutions: Orion is a leading wealth management technology platform for advisors and a Vanilla integration partner. As a broad incumbent in portfolio management and reporting, it competes indirectly and could bundle estate planning features over time.
- Addepar: Addepar is a wealth management technology platform serving large RIAs and family offices, and a Vanilla integration partner. While focused on portfolio analytics and reporting, its enterprise footprint makes it a potential long-term competitor or acquirer in the estate planning category.
Emerging players
- RightCapital: RightCapital offers financial planning software for RIAs including estate and tax planning modules. Comparable in serving independent advisors with planning workflows, though Vanilla's estate planning depth is more specialized.
- Holistiplan: Holistiplan provides AI-powered tax planning software for financial advisors, increasingly expanding into estate planning adjacencies. Comparable in serving the same RIA buyer with AI-driven workflow automation.
- FP Alpha: FP Alpha offers AI-driven financial planning analytics for advisors, with tax and estate planning intelligence. Similar in using AI to enhance advisor workflows, with growing overlap in estate-adjacent tax planning.
Market position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Vanilla social profiles
Digital presenceVanilla compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Vanilla financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Vanilla leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles21 records
Vanilla funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors6 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Vanilla M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Vanilla
What does Vanilla do?
Vanilla is an AI-powered estate planning software platform built for financial advisors, RIAs, family offices, trust companies, and wealth management firms. It combines AI-driven document analysis, visual estate summaries, interactive scenario modeling (SLATs, GRATs, ILITs, IDGTs, CRUTs, CLATs), document creation, and access to a 100+ attorney network in one unified workflow. The platform is delivered via SaaS subscriptions (Advanced, Expert, Enterprise tiers) plus a Vanilla Starter offering at $99/month for solo advisors, with optional Abstraction Services for complex document review.
Is Vanilla a public or private company?
Vanilla is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Vanilla founded?
Vanilla was founded in 2019. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Vanilla based?
Vanilla is headquartered in Salt Lake City, United States, in the North America region.
How does Vanilla make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Software Subscription (SaaS) is the primary driver. The others are professional Services (Attorney Network).
Who are Vanilla's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Wealth.com, Luminary and Trust & Will. Broad incumbents are eMoney Advisor, MoneyGuide (MoneyGuidePro), Orion Advisor Solutions and Addepar. Emerging players are RightCapital, Holistiplan and FP Alpha.
Does Vanilla have an API?
Yes. Vanilla integrates with eMoney through a data-sharing partnership that enables integrated financial visualization tools. The platform processes billions of API calls annually and launched a new developer site during the 2025 eMoney Summit designed to streamline how financial firms and fintech providers discover, test, and integrate with the company's APIs. Eight API-based integrations were launched in the past year with partners including Tolerisk, YCharts, Vanilla, Wealth.com, Luminary, Zocks, Jump AI, and Black Diamond. Vanilla also offers API access for custom integrations for enterprise customers. Developer documentation is at www.justvanilla.com/integrations.
What industry is Vanilla in?
Vanilla's product category is Estate Planning Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGAEAH, Digital Wealth Platforms for Advisors (TAMP/Advisor Tech), with a secondary code of FSAEABAK, Digital/Hybrid Robo-Wealth & Retirement Advisory. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.