Wealthfront Hits $1 Billion Milestone

It’s official: Online investment service Wealthfront says it has amassed more than $1 billion in assets under management, a milestone as it battles Betterment, Personal Capital, and other “robo-advisers” for investor capital.

That’s rapid growth—Wealthfront’s chief executive, Adam Nash, says the startup had $100 million under management in early 2013, $500 million last December, and $800 million in March of this year. The company uses software, instead of pricey human advisers, to make investment decisions for customers. As I wrote in this week’s magazine, Wealthfront is now getting a boost from a product it calls the single-stock diversification service, which helps customers with large holdings of employer stock sell their stakes slowly. The service is currently available only to Twitter employees; Nash says more than 10 percent of the company’s 3,000 workers have signed up, creating investment plans valued at more than $300 million.