Lauren Kolodny, a partner at Acrew Capital, is one of the new generation venture capitalists shaking things up. She led a $20 million Series A investment in Alix, a hyperlocal startup that’s using artificial intelligence to replicate and automate the estate settlement process. Meet Alexandra Mysoor, founder of Alix, on a mission to transform the estate settlement process. The company’s proprietary technology is helping to automate the heavy lifting in this complex, time-consuming process.
Alix’s creative, new fee structure, meant to be accessible from the start, charges just 1% of an estate’s value. For inheritances less than $1 million in value, clients should expect to spend $9,000-$12,000. This model makes Alix a promising game changer among the financial services sector. More importantly, it aims to appeal directly to millennials and Gen Z, who are going to inherit trillions of dollars over the next two decades.
Kolodny is convinced that Alix is just the first of many such AI-powered startups that will help democratize financial services. Her faith in Alix stems from her own industry experiences. She’s been a champion for these kinds of transformative tech solutions her entire career. “How is it possible that there’s this messy problem that involves so much project management that there aren’t even meaningful services around?” she remarked, highlighting the need for innovation in this area.
Alix was determined to take action. She faced enormous obstacles as she assisted her best friend in navigating her late mother’s estate. “I was shocked that this process was so hard,” Mysoor stated. Dealing with the difficulty of settling an estate herself is what drove her to create a better experience for others going through the same thing.
Kolodny’s investment track record is noteworthy. In a room of 100 venture capitalists, she did something very radical in 2016. That made her the only investor to lead an investment round in Chime, leading $9 million of new funding into Chime’s extended Series A. Under her leadership, Chime has surged to a public valuation of $14.5 billion. Kolodny’s passion is to invest in technology-driven solutions that empower consumers and help them maximize the value of their resources.
The world of finance is changing every day. Kolodny’s strategic investments reflect a larger trend: utilizing technology to make complex processes more straightforward. Alix stands poised to play a pivotal role in this shift, particularly as younger generations prepare to manage substantial inherited wealth.