Acorns Raises $30M in Funding to Expand its Micro-investing Products, Services, and Partnerships

IRVINE, Calif., April 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Acorns, the fastest-growing micro-investing app in the world, today announced it has raised $30 million in financing, including strategic investments from PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Rakuten Fintech Fund. Through this investment, Acorns will expand its automated investment features to make gathering and growing funds easier than ever before.

"Acorns and PayPal share a vision of democratizing financial services and offering innovative solutions to help people build financial health," said Joanna Lambert, vice president of global consumer product and engineering at PayPal. "Technology is breaking down barriers to financial participation. PayPal is excited to support Acorns as they continue to use mobile technology to innovate in micro-investing, and empower millennials to take charge of their finances."

Acorns offers a simple way to start building a solid financial future, helping investors chart a path to financial wellness by eliminating the barriers that have traditionally made investing so daunting. Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, Managing Partner at the Rakuten FinTech Fund states, "We are very excited about Acorns' high growth model and the close alignment between Acorns' philosophy of financial empowerment of the millennial community and Rakuten's core values."

More than 850,000 people have opened investment accounts with Acorns since the app launched 20 months ago, taking advantage of features like Invest the Change,® which rounds up everyday purchases and invests the difference, and education initiatives like Grow, the first digital magazine dedicated to helping millennials navigate complex financial decisions. Nearly 75 percent of Acorns users are between the ages of 18 and 34. "Having PayPal and Rakuten as partners will make it possible to bring the benefits of micro-investing to more and more people around the world," said Acorns co-founder and CEO Walter Cruttenden, who is moving into the role of chairman. "We believe that micro-investing will ultimately comprise the majority of new investment dollars entering the markets."

"Investing was for the wealthy," said Noah Kerner, board director and incoming CEO. "Acorns is putting the tools of wealth-making in everyone's hands. With a focus on financial wellness, we'll continue tackling the big financial challenges this generation faces, and our new partnerships will significantly augment these efforts."

To date, Acorns has raised a total of $62 million.

About Acorns 
Acorns is the leading micro-investing app in the U.S. It allows users to round up their daily purchases and automatically Invest the Change® into a low-cost, diversified portfolio of exchange-traded funds offered by some of the world's top asset managers (including Vanguard and BlackRock). Founded in Newport Beach, Calif., by father and son team Walter and Jeff Cruttenden, Acorns provides a simple entry-point using the Acorns app on iPhone or Android. Customers accumulate fractional shares in one of five portfolios constructed by world-renowned Nobel Laureate economist Dr. Harry Markowitz. Acorns' smart portfolio algorithms automatically work in the background of life, helping users build wealth naturally, pennies at a time. From Acorns mighty oaks do grow.

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SOURCE Acorns

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