New York-based digital wealth management tech company, AdvisorEngine, and its minority partner, WisdomTree, recently expanded their teams after AdvisorEngine made their second acquisition.

On April 27, the deal officially closed. AdvisorEngine and WisdomTree, the New York-based $43.8B publicly-traded asset management shop that specializes in ETFs, acquired Kredible. WisdomTree also provided AdvisorEngine with an additional $5 million investment on April 27.

Brad Shepard WisdomTree head of advisor innovation

Post acquisition, Kredible fully integrated into the AdvisorEngine platform. Therefore, five Kredible employees now work at AdvisorEngine, and two at now work at WisdomTree. In particular, Brad Shepard, CEO of Kredible, is now head of advisor innovation at WisdomTree.

The Atlanta-based Kredible is a digital research-based, practice management firm that aims to increase advisors' presence online.

Since AdvisorEngine not only provides traditional, robo-advisor services to individual investors, but also provides a full enterprise, B2B platform for advisors to use with their investors, this acquisition would "help advisors grow, and acquire new clients," Rich Cancro, Advisor Engine CEO, tells MFWire.

Thomas Skrobe, head of client solutions at WisdomTree, adds, "With this acquisition, now we can grow business at WidsomTree, enhance client exposure and be a big part in a world that is changing rapidly."

This rapidly changing 'world' that is mentioned alludes to the worldwide web, and the importance for an advisor to have a strong online presence.

"Kredible is for advisors that are moving forward, and it's important that they [advisors] show well online, because after a referral, it's the first place clients look," says Shepard.

Prior to the acquisition of Kredible, AdvisorEngine's first acquisition was Wealthminder, a "cloud-based offering that enables financial advisors to collaborate with clients to help them reach their financial goals."

Both of these acquisitions follow the partnership formed between AdvisorEngine and WisdomTree in November 2016. Then was when WisdomTree made the initial $20 million minority investment in Advisor Engine.

"We decided to parter with AdvisorEngine, because they stood out," Skrobe says. "They're an organization that shares the same values, and we saw a huge need for technology to be involved in investor acts." 

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