Allianz bets 7 mln $ on Italy’s Moneyfarm robot advisory business

Italian online financial advisory service MoneyFarm raised a new investment round by Allianz SE, which bet about 7 million dollars on the coompany as for  the Financial Times. Allianz SE acquires a minority stake and a seat in the Board (scarica qui il comunicato stampa).

Last November 2015 Moneyfarm had raised  16 million euros in a huge funding round for an Italian startup company. The round was led by the British venture capital firm Cabot Square Capital who was joined by Italy’s United Ventures. The latter was already a Moneyfarm’s shareholder owning a 35.35 % stake after Principia sgr, another venture capital firm, divested its 28% stake in April 2015 (see here a previous post by BeBeez).

As part of the deal, the two companies plan to distribute actively managed funds using robo-advice technology for the first time in Europe. Automated online investment services typically use passively managed exchange traded funds to build investment portfolios.

Giovanni Dapra, co-founder and ceo of MoneyFarm, which was launched in 2012 in Italy, said: “We are working together to launch a product that uses our digital and customer management capabilities and Allianz’s ability in actively managed funds.”

A spokesperson for Allianz said: “MoneyFarm and Allianzare jointly analysing the opportunities to launch a first offer in the UK, a market we both really value, which might take place in the first quarter of 2017.”

Paolo Galvani, co-founder and chairman of MoneyFarm, added that “tehcnology has more value if supported by an effective financial product”.