Advicefront, a new bolt-on web proposition to help advisers reach Millennials with online advice, has received backing from Octopus Labs.
Octopus Labs, part of the Octopus Group, was set up to help create tech-enabled financial solutions fit for advisers to use with their clients.
As part of its new fintech accelerator programme, which kicks off in October, the firm invited applications from teams aiming to serve UK financial advisers, with a view to choosing five start-ups to back.
Out of more than 80 applications, Advicefront, a support platform for IFAs co-founded by Jose Supico, was one of the five selected to take part in Octopus Labs' 12-week programme.
Advicefront's online service can be white-labelled to fit the advisory firm's own brand, and has been designed to give advisers a competitive edge while allowing mass-affluent, often younger investors to get high-quality advice.
The five successful teams will be given workspace in Octopus’s central London headquarters, and supported with top level mentoring from financial industry experts and successful entrepreneurs such as Nicole Anderson, chief executive at FinTech Circle Innovate; Alan Chang, head of operations at Revolut and Adam Price, founder of adviser referral site VouchedFor.
The start-ups, which Octopus may later invest in if successful, could also gain access to the company’s extensive distribution channel of more than 3,500 financial advisers and 60,000 retail customers.
One of the panel of judges was Dan Cobley, managing partner, FinTech at Blenheim Chalcot, and former MD of Google UK.
He said: “The chosen start-ups stood out for their experienced, talented and ambitious teams, and for their simple yet powerful products, which hold the potential to add huge value in the marketplace."
Advicefront’s portal will be a standalone piece of technology sitting alongside a firm’s existing back-office software, and will offer a hybrid model of advice.
According to Mr Supico, there will be a real, named adviser behind the service with whom the client could engage online, while the client will be responsible for completing the investment proposition, risk tolerance surveys and fact-finds online.
Mr Supico said: “Advicefront aims to help advisers find their clients of the future, keeping their pipeline healthy, as well as being suitable for legacy clients who might need advice but not necessarily face-to-face advice.”
He added: "Octopus is the perfect partner for those trying to innovate in the financial advice space. Its ethos of trying to 'fix' the financial services sector is perfectly aligned with Advicefront's mission - giving everyone access to the best financial advisers in the UK and globally."
