PlannerPal, the AI workflow for financial advice and wealth management firms, has raised $6m (£4.3m) in a round led by Mercia Ventures. Existing investor Ada Ventures, which led PlannerPal's pre-seed round in February 2024, is also taking part, alongside a group of strategic fintech investors and angels.
PlannerPal has grown rapidly as the sector looks beyond stand-alone AI tools towards technology that can work with the client data and systems they already have and is now used by over 250 UK advice firms, including 20% of the UK's top 20 wealth managers. PlannerPal is supporting firms responsible for around £150bn of client assets and customers include Canaccord Wealth, ValidPath and Amber River.
The funding will allow rapid expansion of PlannerPal's engineering and product teams, support customer rollout and accelerate development of its client intelligence capabilities.
From admin to client intelligence
PlannerPal started by removing the administration burden surrounding financial advice: capturing client meetings, producing documentation and updating the systems advisers use every day. Its growth has come as advice firms use PlannerPal to connect information held across client conversations, documents and core systems, helping advice firms to improve the quality of client data that can be used more effectively across their business.
The company's focus is now on unlocking even more value. The use of better data in UK advice businesses is having a huge impact on the quality of adviser and client experience, whilst keeping advisers firmly in control of every change, without compromising on data security.
That approach is reflected in PlannerPal's partnership with Iress. PlannerPal is the only AI partner chosen for the ‘Iress Partnership’ and is built into Xplan workflow, with advisers able to launch it directly from Xplan using single sign-on. PlannerPal also integrates with Intelliflo, Curo, Plannr, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and SharePoint.
Expanding into mortgages
PlannerPal has recently moved beyond wealth management into the UK mortgage market, with new client Charles Cameron, one of the UK's largest independent mortgage brokers. Mortgage firms face many of the same productivity and compliance challenges as wealth firms, with client information spread across conversations, documents and systems, and growing pressure to show consistency and suitability at scale.
PlannerPal is changing the economics of financial advice, enabling advisers to serve significantly more clients whilst delivering a more personalised and proactive service.
Mark Whitcroft, CEO and co-founder of PlannerPal, said:
"Financial advice firms are sitting on an extraordinary amount of valuable client information, but much of it is fragmented across conversations, documents and different systems. The first opportunity for AI was obvious: remove the manual work of capturing it. The bigger opportunity is making the client data firms already hold work better. We don't believe the answer is another disconnected AI tool sitting outside the core systems of the business. A firm’s AI and client data strategy need to work together. We've been deliberately focused on the UK market and this funding lets us accelerate the pace of growth and deliver the same opportunity to the mortgage market."
Adam Lovell, Investment Director at Mercia Ventures, said:
“Advice firms have spent the last two years experimenting with AI. Those now choosing a long-term AI partner want an experienced and trusted team, backed by technology that works with their existing systems and client data, not another standalone tool. We're delighted to back PlannerPal as they build the client intelligence layer for UK financial advice. PlannerPal clients regularly refer to them as ‘partners’; sharing their vision but ultimately delivering on promises, taking away key pain points at a pace of growth aligned with each firm’s business strategy. This level of trust that PlannerPal can deliver, has accelerated an appetite to turn fragmented information into higher-quality client data, meaning that advice firms will soon be able to understand and serve their clients in ways that simply weren't possible before.”
