Mical Jeanlys-White founded WealthMore out of frustration.
She spent years on Wall Street, developing products at American Express and serving as a managing director at JPMorgan Chase. She recognized that the financial industry had a long way to go when it came to helping consumers build and understand wealth.
“Seventy percent of Americans don’t have access to a wealth advisor due to high account minimums and fees, yet those with a wealth advisor double their wealth,” she told TechCrunch. “When I tried to find a wealth advisor, I had the same frustrating, disastrous experience.”
Their response was to create WealthMore, an investment platform that requires only a $5,000 minimum to connect clients with advisor-managed portfolios, licensed wealth advisors, and financial planning services.
Of course, the idea came to her while she was riding her Peloton.
“I like to say that WealthMore is Peloton meets wealth management,” she said. “Our goal is to normalize that for the 99%. When more people are better off financially, the social and multiplier effects are significant.”
After working for two years to quietly launch the beta in June, the company is officially announcing it here in TechCrunch today.
Developing this product was very personal for Jeanlys-White. Her grandmother immigrated to the United States from Haiti and was the family’s unofficial financial advisor. Like many immigrants, she was part of a savings club that helped her reach her goals and put a down payment on a house. She enjoyed talking about money and being around people who had similar interests.
“But her money was sitting in savings accounts and low-interest CDs,” Jeanlys-White continued. “She never made it onto a banker’s call list. With the help of a financial advisor, she could have become a millionaire and created generational wealth.”
The racial wealth gap is large. Federal data shows that while the median wealth of Black people increased from $27,970 to $44,890 between 2019 and 2022, the numbers still lag behind those of other racial groups. Hispanic households have a median wealth of $62,000, white household wealth is $295,000, and Asian American household wealth is $536,000. The 2021 U.S. Census found that white households own 80% of the wealth in this country, compared to 4.7% owned by Black families. This racial wealth gap has been difficult to close, and some experts believe it could take another hundred years to even come close.
Jeanlys-White points out that women can lose up to $1.2 million due to the gender pay gap, and only 49% of Black women have a 401k, compared to 62% of all adults. “The pay gap is a major factor in the retirement savings and wealth gap,” she said.
Surveying potential users and building the brand
Before Jeanlys-White began building the platform, she surveyed over 300 potential users to find out what they would be willing to pay. That helped her determine the company’s pricing – there are three tiers, starting at $25 a month with a minimum account size of $5,000 – and the website’s design. The company has partnered with Apex Clearing Corporation to offer brokerage services.
To build the brand, the company launched lifestyle products such as clothing and hosted wealth-building talks in hair salons, doctor’s offices and conferences. “People were willing to be honest and open with us.” Jeanlys-White also made sure to include a variety of wealth advisors on the platform, as wealth builders often felt unrepresented in the industry.
On the app, the company has created communities like #firstgenwealth and #newinvestors that people can join and organize activities and events. “We’ve created communities like #blkwomenhealth to address these unique factors and empower our community to use investing and solid financial planning to move forward,” Jeanlys-White told TechCrunch. (She said users can find them at #firstgenwealth, #blkwomenwealth and #womenwhowealth).
Despite a challenging funding environment for fintechs, Jeanlys-White began fundraising for her company in October 2023 and closed an oversubscribed pre-seed round of at least $1 million led by Emmeline Ventures in April 2024. Other investors include a16z TxO, BFM Fund and First Row Partners.
She recalled that early investors had raised concerns about previous fintechs that had struggled in this space, but she continued to work on the company’s story.
“Once investors could ‘see’ the product, our ability to raise funds changed dramatically,” she said.
Currently, the team is made up of 10 people. The first person to hire was the head of engineering because Jeanlys-White wasn’t a technical founder and needed someone to help get the product into users’ hands, she said.
She hopes the company will come out of beta mode towards the end of the year, in time to help people achieve their New Year’s financial resolutions. For now, Jeanlys-White is just happy that people are starting to engage with the platform and thinks back to her grandmother’s experience.
“She would have loved WealthMore,” she said, noting that she especially enjoyed the communities. “Our wealth advisors would have helped her overcome her fear of the stock market, and that would have been a huge win. She smiles down on WealthMore.”
