Lauren Kolodny, a partner at Acrew Capital, has always championed technology’s power to democratize access to financial services for everyday people.
When the fledgling neobank Chime struggled to convince investors in 2016 that it could build a large business serving the working class, Kolodny was the only VC out of a 100 Chime pitched who agreed to back the company, stepping in with a $9 million Series A extension when it was nearly out of money.
That bet paid off big time. Last month, Chime went public at a $14.5 billion valuation.
Kolodny, who appeared on the Forbes Midas list three years in a row, is still passionate about investing in tech solutions that help consumers maximize their resources.
She recently led a $20 million Series A investment in Alix, a startup that leverages AI to automate the estate settlement process.
Alix’s founder, Alexandra Mysoor, realized the burden of executing a family estate after she offered to help her best friend settle her late mother’s affairs. Mysoor told TechCrunch that it took her 900 hours and 18 months to complete tasks such as calling the bank to transfer assets, locating all the 401Ks, cancelling accounts, and distributing assets among family members.
“I was shocked that this process was so hard,” Mysoor said. “It’s paper-driven. It’s archaic. You’re googling to-do lists that are not helpful. You’re calling attorneys who might do a sliver of the work, and they cost thousands and thousands of dollars.”
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That experience gave Mysoor the idea that some of the most labor-intensive aspects of trust administration, including scanning and extracting data from documents, pre-populating complex forms, and communications with banks, can now be handled by AI agents.
When Kolodny met Mysoor and learned about the problem Alix was addressing, the issue resonated so deeply with the Midas List investor that she couldn’t get it out of her mind.
Kolodny realized that even though economists are estimating that trillions of dollars will transfer to millennial and Gen Z generations over the next two decades, the paperwork surrounding estate settlement largely remains a burden on those grieving the loss of their parents.
While some startups like Empathy provide assistance with closing accounts as part of their bereavement support, Kolodny discovered that no companies offered comprehensive, start-to-finish estate settlement services.
“How is it possible that there’s this messy problem that involves so much project management that there aren’t even meaningful services around?” Kolodny told TechCrunch. “It was this real aha moment for me. This is exactly the kind of problem that AI should be solving.”
Kolodny said that she believes Alix is among the first of many startups powered by AI that will democratize financial services and administrative processes, which were historically available only to the ultra-wealthy.
Alix’s fee structure is 1% of an estate’s value. However, for inheritances under $1 million, customers can expect to pay between $9,000 and $12,000, with the exact cost determined by the complexity of the estate.
