Ellevest Snags VC Investments, Offers Readers Their Own Investment Plans

Ellevest, one of our affiliates, announced some awesome news this week. The robo-advisor focused on building women’s wealth announced Thursday that it has raised $33 million in venture funding. 

It’s been a fantastic month (Women’s Month, of course!) for women in venture capital: Glossier and Rent the Runway, both of which are owned by women, surpassed $1 billion valuations, which means they achieved ~unicorn status~ in the VC world. 

Ellevest’s latest funding round was led by Rethink Impact, a gender lens impact investing firm, and PSP Growth, the growth equity arm of investment firm PSP Partners. 

“Today, we bring in a group of rock star investors deeply aligned with our mission,” Sallie Krawcheck, Ellevest’s founder, said in a statement. “And it’s no coincidence that many of them are unparalleled changemakers and advocates for women who understand that being under-invested can cost women a fortune over their lives,”

Other investors include Melinda Gates’ incubator Pivotal Ventures, Valerie Jarrett, who formerly served as a senior advisor to President Barack Obama, Gingerbread Capital, and Morningstar. Former chairman of Google and Alphabet, Eric Schmidt, Aspect Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Asia Angels, Creditease Fintech Investment Fund and Ulu Ventures also invested.

One name on the investor list stuck out: Elaine Wynn, the co-founder of Wynn Resorts, invested capital into Ellevest. 

Recall that Wynn Resorts was fined in February for how they handled sexual misconduct claims against founder Steve Wynn. Elaine and Steve divorced back in 2010. When the allegations against Steve came out in 2018, forcing him to resign, Elaine hustled to oust one of his cronies from the company’s board. Baller move, if you ask us. 

According to Krawcheck, investing can mean “life-changing money” for women. She called it “retire-like-an-Instagram-influencer money. Get-your-hand-off-my-leg money.”

Ellevest plans to use the investments to expand into new product categories, developing new, “non-boring” financial education and growing its community. 

And, to go along with that news, we have a super-special offer from Ellevest for you. If youcreate a free plan with Ellevest, we get a small payment ($3) in return. And, if you use thelink, you’ll get $25 from Ellevest to put toward your investment goals, as long as you start funding those goals. Pretty sweet deal, right? The deal only lasts through the end of this month, so be quick! 

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