HelloWallet Raises $12 Million in Series B Funding from Morningstar, TD Fund, & Others to Accelerate Growth

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HelloWallet, a provider of personalized financial guidance, today announced it has secured $12 million in Series B funding. Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc. invested $6.75 million and DC-based TD Fund (TDF) invested $4 million. Existing investors and new investors also participated in the round.

“We have proved that workers can save more and improve their financial wellness if they have access to personalized guidance”

Morningstar is a leading provider of investment research, reaching more than 20 million workers with its retirement advisory services. HelloWallet offers personalized financial guidance to employees of Fortune 1000 companies. Initially, Morningstar and HelloWallet plan to co-market their services to employers and 401(k) providers and in the future expect to further integrate their services.

This investment and new agreement with Morningstar comes at a point of significant growth for HelloWallet. The company has sold more than 300,000 subscriptions since it launched its enterprise application in mid-2011, and is now working with some of the largest companies in the country. During this same period, HelloWallet’s personalized financial guidance has helped its average members increase their monthly savings contributions by more than 80 percent, creating about $350 in extra savings contributions every month per person.

HelloWallet engages diverse worker populations with a simple, yet powerful platform available online and on smartphones. Using behavioral psychology and advanced statistical modeling, HelloWallet nudges its members through personalized recommendations to take small steps toward improving their finances over time. Along the way, its members benefit from a holistic view of their financial lives, realistic savings recommendations, automated analyses of spending and goal tracking, and proactive alerts to financial health threats and opportunities. Through this secure and conflict-free experience, HelloWallet drives high engagement and quantifiable behavioral change to help people save money.

HelloWallet plans to use its Series B funding to expand its client base and help more workers build savings. “We have proved that workers can save more and improve their financial wellness if they have access to personalized guidance,” says HelloWallet founder & CEO Matt Fellowes. “We’ve also found HelloWallet is in demand from employers because it helps workers take more responsibility for their financial decisions. We are thrilled about our new investors, who will help us realize our dream of providing our wealth-building service to millions of workers.”

“Retirement planning is not just about goal setting; it’s also about the day-to-day prioritizing and saving that it takes to achieve financial objectives,” said Brock Johnson, president of retirement solutions for Morningstar’s Investment Management division. “HelloWallet offers a unique service, based on behavioral theory, that we haven’t seen anywhere else in the market. We share a common goal, which is to help investors make better decisions and help people save money for retirement. By working together, we can make an even more meaningful difference in the lives of investors.”

TD Fund General Partner Jim Pastoriza added, “HelloWallet’s financial guidance is based on a real understanding of what motivates people’s financial decisions, through its deep experience in behavioral economics.”

Brock Johnson, president of retirement solutions for Morningstar, and Jim Pastoriza, managing partner at TDF, will be joining HelloWallet’s board of directors. Other members include Carter McClelland, chairman of Union Square Advisors; Don Rainey, general partner at Grotech Ventures; Tige Savage, managing director at Revolution LLC; Revell Horsey, president at HelloWallet; and Matt Fellowes, chairman and CEO of HelloWallet.

To learn more about HelloWallet, please visit www.hellowallet.com; to join HelloWallet's growing team, check out - https://www.hellowallet.com/about-us/jobs/.

About HelloWallet

HelloWallet is a provider of technology-based, personalized financial guidance to employees of Fortune 1000 companies and other large institutions. It helps workers save money, improve their wellbeing, and manage their financial responsibilities through personalized, independent guidance and management services. Additionally, the company gives one membership to a family in need for every five subscriptions it sells. The company is led by former Brookings Institution Fellow Matt Fellowes.

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 330,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 5 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its registered investment advisor subsidiaries and has more than $167 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2011. The company has operations in 26 countries.

About TD Fund (TDF)

TDF is a Washington DC-based venture capital fund focused on the communications sector. The company partners with talented entrepreneurs and seeks to build competitive and innovative technology and services companies. Its focus is driven by investment themes that share several qualities: large and important problems in communications, an ability to add value through management's investing and operational experience, and the Fund's location and relationships in Washington DC.