Redefining Wealth Management: Our investment in Ramify
We’re excited to announce our investment into Ramify’s €11m Series A funding alongside 13books who led the round and prior investors NewFund, Crédit Agricole and AG2R. Ramify is looking to establish themselves as the go-to wealth management and advisory solution serving the next generation of affluent investors in France.
The Ramify story
Ramify was founded in 2021 by Olivier Herbout and Samy Ouardini. The duo met in 2014 while both undertaking an engineering degree at CentraleSupélec. After graduation, Olivier headed to New York, joining Goldman Sachs Asset Management as a portfolio manager, where he developed quantitative and systematic investment strategies. Meanwhile, Samy worked as a consultant at Oliver Wyman in Paris, advising clients in the financial sector on finance, strategy, and operational management.
Despite their different career paths, Olivier and Samy both observed significant gaps in financial education and wealth management services in France. Inspired by the more advanced financial offerings in the US and UK, they decided to take action. This led to the creation of Ramify, a platform designed to offer French retail investors better financial guidance and investment solutions.
What is Ramify?
Ramify is a direct-to-customer (D2C) advice and wealth management platform targeting French individuals with €100k+ to €5m in liquid assets, known as the mass affluent. Since its launch in early 2022, Ramify has demonstrated impressive growth, with assets under management growing 20 fold in 18 months. The platform caters to modern investor preferences for digital access, a broad product offering and low fees. Ramify particularly stands out by providing an all-in-one wealth platform combining a wide range of financial products with hybrid advisory services.
Our Investment Thesis:
Market dynamics: Why now for Ramify?
Dissatisfaction with current providers:
Within the French wealth management market, Ramify primarily targets the mass affluent, a segment encompassing over €500m in liquid assets. This group has traditionally been underserved by banks and insurance companies, which dominate over 80% of the market. Increasing dissatisfaction arises as these providers tend to lack expertise in navigating complex financial products and frequently prioritise their interests over those of their clients, often promoting their own financial products over what is best for the customer. This growing discontent presents an opportunity for Ramify to gain market share by providing a better alternative that is trustworthy and customer-focused.
The Great Wealth Transfer:
We are also witnessing the largest wealth transfer in history, with Baby Boomers set to pass over €10 trillion to the next generation over the next two decades in Europe. Surveys indicate that over 70% of these inheritors are likely to switch from their current wealth managers post-inheritance. This next generation of investors seeks a holistic, tech-enabled offering. Traditional wealth management solutions (banks, insurers, and IFAs) have historically been dominated by human-led services, lacking the technological infrastructure to efficiently cater to the mass affluent at scale. While online players like neobanks, robo-advisors, and trading platforms are increasingly capturing investor interest, they still account for less than 5% of the current market share. These disruptive digital platforms offer a wider range of investing and savings options, appealing to a tech-savvy and financially literate audience. However, they often fail to fully meet the needs of wealthier clients with less financial knowledge or more complex financial situations. These individuals typically still require guidance from a financial advisor—a ‘human in the loop"—to navigate their options effectively.
This moment presents a rare opportunity to shape a market leader and Ramify stands ready with its comprehensive wealth management platform and hybrid advisor model.
A scalable platform for the modern investor
Ramify has built a compelling product with automation at its core, enabling it to provide customers with a premium experience without the cost usually associated with it.
Comprehensive wealth management solution:
The company aims to redefine wealth building for France's modern investor. It has built a platform that combines a marketplace of financial products such as retirement and savings accounts (Assurance Vie, PER), cash accounts, private equity (60+ PE funds) and real estate (70+ funds) with proprietary algorithms to create personalised investment strategies for its clients. For their more premium customers (€100k+ investable wealth), Ramify offers access to financial advisors and exclusive financial products such as Lombard lending, Luxembourg life insurance or art investments. The company leverages the latest technologies, such as AI, to make financial advice more accessible. Today, its large offerings not only match but often exceed those of traditional wealth managers, who currently dominate the market.
Core automation:
A key aspect of Ramify's strategy is its focus on automation to reduce service costs. By automating the back office and streamlining operations, Ramify has scaled its ability to manage a growing customer base with minimal manual effort. This applies across customer support, sales, and day-to-day management, leading to a highly efficient process workflow. By also utilising modern, open-source technology, the company ensures its operations are up-to-date, maintaining a competitive edge in the industry.
Ramify's platform delivers a premium yet affordable investment experience, setting new standards in customer service and operational efficiency in the industry. With AI and other technologies revolutionising financial advice and wealth management, we believe the company will be well positioned to establish itself as a pan-European digital wealth manager in the long term.
The Ramify team:
Ramify's rapid progress is fuelled by a data-centric, product-first approach from a management team with robust engineering and financial expertise.
A complementary founding team:
The founding team stands out with their rich and complementary backgrounds in financial services. Samy, drawing from his extensive experience at Oliver Wyman, has gained deep insights into the French asset management market and the challenges faced by established players. Olivier, with his expertise honed at Goldman Sachs in quantitative trading, excels at developing sophisticated wealth investment strategies. Together, they have translated their vision into reality, creating what Ramify is today.
In just two years, they have developed a comprehensive and robust platform that has gained significant market traction. Remarkably, they've achieved this with a lean team of just 11 full-time employees, showcasing their ability to rapidly develop their product while maintaining capital efficiency.
Data at its core:
Central to Ramify's strategy is a rigorous, data-driven approach. Both founders, with their engineering backgrounds, adhere to the principle that "we only improve what we measure." They systematically analyse and collect data across all aspects of their operations, from website traffic and user engagement to financial transactions and customer interactions. This meticulous data collection not only drives continuous platform refinement but also allows Ramify to respond dynamically to the evolving needs of its customers.
As we support Ramify through its next growth phase, we are excited about its future and the innovation it brings to the wealth management industry.
If you are a founder or operator in the wealth tech space, then please reach out to one of the team!
