Titan Global Capital Management Inc., a fintech startup whose “end goal” is to become this century’s answer to Fidelity Investments and BlackRock Inc., raised $58 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Existing investors General Catalyst, BoxGroup and Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures participated in the funding round, as did professional athletes Kevin Durant and Odell Beckham Jr. and actors Jared Leto and Will Smith. The transaction valued Titan at $450 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
“What BlackRock and Fidelity were for previous generations, Titan wants to be for millennials and Gen-Z,” Titan co-founder Joe Percoco said in an interview. Investing has become part of pop culture for today’s youth, he said.
Percoco, a native of Hillsborough, New Jersey, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and McKinsey & Co., said he felt compelled to start Titan because of the “problematic” and stark divergence in how the investment-management industry is accessed by everyday Americans compared to those who are wealthier. He said the company’s name was hatched after he and co-founders Clay Gardner and Max Bernardy read a news article about “Titans of the Industry.”
Those with modest or meager savings are often encouraged to “set it and forget it” in passive products such as exchange-traded funds, according to Percoco, who’s also the firm’s co-chief executive officer. But financial advisors are quick to usher those with $5 million or more into active strategies, including alternative assets such as hedge funds, private equity and venture capital, he said.
Assets under management at New York-based Titan have grown sixfold in the 12 months to June 30 and will cross $1 billion later this year, Percoco said. The company plans to spend fresh funding investing in technology and has ambitions to expand into new products such as giving clients access to initial public offerings and private asset classes.
Its roughly 30,000 members can currently invest in a “Flagship” fund comprising shares in large U.S. companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., an “Opportunities” fund of small and midsize U.S. stocks such as Roku Inc. and Cargurus Inc., and an “Offshore” fund featuring names like Ferrari NV and Adidas AG.
The startup will soon launch an actively managed cryptocurrency product that might include Ethereum, Cardano and Stellar.
“Crypto deserves a place in portfolios,” Percoco said, citing its uncorrelated nature to stocks and other assets.
Andreessen general partner Anish Acharya, who led the firm’s investment in Titan and is joining its board, said the rise of Robinhood “shows us active investing is back.” Unlike Robinhood, Titan’s offerings are like “riding shotgun,” as clients don’t have to pick individual securities, Acharya said.
Quick Videos
Percoco said Titan’s investment managers deliver via its app videos lasting 90 seconds or less — similar to Instagram stories — in part to educate clients and discourage panic selling during market turbulence. About 70% of users engage with the app weekly, he said, adding that the company is chasing a “high percentage” of wallet share rather than the “small change” approach taken by rivals such as Stash and Acorns.
The startup’s headcount was 30 as of June 30, up from seven a year earlier, Percoco said. Titan’s investment team includes staffers who previously worked at Wall Street institutions including Cerberus Capital Management, Farallon Capital Management and sovereign-wealth fund GIC, a spokesperson said.
