As seen in Philadelphia Business Journal: Berwyn Fintech Firm Archer snags LLR investment, Eyes International Growth

This article was originally featured in The Philadelphia Business Journal on June 8, 2021. Access the original article here. 

Berwyn fintech firm Archer has secured an investment from LLR Partners, as the company explores expansion into Canada and Europe in a move to build out its investment efficiency platform.

The growth capital from the Philadelphia private equity firm will be used by Archer to improve its back-end products that aim to help wealth and asset managers become more efficient when building client portfolios.

Both Archer and LLR Partners declined to disclose specific terms of the deal. LLR typically invests between $25 million and $200 million into firms. Archer CEO Bryan Dori said LLR took a “significant financial minority position" in the company.

Archer has previously received $12.5 million in funding led by Radnor private equity firm NewSpring in 2015.

While the fresh funding will be used to further develop Archer’s product suite, the company is also looking to hire — particularly for its sales and marketing team in Berwyn as well as for sales positions based in other geographies, like the West Coast or Canada, Dori said.

There's an opportunity for selling Archer’s product globally, he said. Though the company will remain focused on the U.S., Archer has seen an “appetite” in Canada and Europe, he said.

“We’ll sort of walk before we run,” Dori said.

Archer will use the investment to focus on institutional asset managers and wealth managers who are looking into customizing their clients’ portfolios, he said.

Asset and wealth managers are staring down intensifying competition as financial advisors cut their prices to stave off clients leaving for robo-advisors. Retail investors are increasingly looking to customize their portfolios as environmental, social and governance, or ESG, investing grows in popularity.

Archer sees opportunity in the asset managers who want to offer the custom portfolios that clients are looking for at a scale that’s cost-effective and more efficient, Dori said.

The company has posted significant growth in recent years. Archer was named to the Inc. 500 list of the country's fastest-growing private companies three years in a row, with its latest ranking coming in 2019 (No. 3,970) with an average three-year revenue growth of 82%.

That growth wasn’t stymied by Covid-19, Dori said, and has been “fantastic” even through the pandemic. Business picked up in some ways as asset managers look to outsource some parts of their work, and Archer was able to net clients without face-to-face interaction, he said.

Dori plans to keep Archer in the Philadelphia area as it grows, adding that the company will likely continue to expand in the region. However, the company may not have as much of a focus on geography when it comes to future hiring, he said.

“We look to get the best talent for the best role possible,” Dori said. “And geography may not be the No. 1 predictor of who you hire anymore, given the ability [of] people to work remote and in a hybrid perspective.”