Plenty’s new wealth-building app is aimed at couples who mix finances

Image credit: Plenty / Channing Allen and Emily Luk, co-founders of Plenty

Relationships are complicated — but thanks to some fintech companies, blending the finances of these modern couples can be easy.

Plenty, a one-year-old company that helps couples discuss, manage and invest their money together, is the latest to launch its platform, focused on millennials who want access to wealth-building opportunities that take into account their relationship status.

Co-founders Emily Luk and Channing Allen met while working together at Even, which was acquired by One in 2022. They got engaged in late 2021, and came up with the idea for Plenty when they were looking for products to help them plan the economy. together, Luk told TechCrunch.

Luk remembers finding options to increase wealth when you’re already rich, but when it came to people who weren’t in that category, she said options were limited for products that didn’t have high upfront fees or those that offered potentially predatory advice.

After leaving One last year, they set out to build Plenty as an SEC-registered investment advisor with a goals-based approach to investing. There’s also automated forecasting so couples can plan for milestones they want to achieve together, like paying off student debt, buying a house or having children.

How it works: The wealth-building platform enables users to join as individuals or couples. Users link their financial accounts and can then choose which accounts to share with their partner. It is also a cash management product – a portfolio backed by money market funds that currently offers 4.83% annual percentage return. In addition, users get an AI-powered direct indexing strategy that Luk said has historically required a minimum investment of $500,000.

Plenty requires an initial deposit of $100 and charges an annual membership fee of $150 for individuals or $200 per couple, where both get their own Plenty account.

Display of measurements on Plenty. Image credit: A lot

The company is among a crowded space at the moment that includes companies like Honeydue, Zeta, Ivella and Ensemble, which are tailored for divorced people who are co-parents.

Luk said many of Plenty’s competitors tailor their offerings to “a much younger, less mature relationship” and are more focused on budgeting and transaction sharing.

“Where we play is a focus on a median household making over $90,000 or even in the low $100,000 a year,” Luk said. “For most of these people, it’s thinking about why we have these really big milestones in life. Buying a house or a building towards retirement requires more medium and long-term planning, and is much more analogous to what financial planners can support someone with instead of the budget solutions of other platforms.”

Zeta, Ivella and Ensemble launched in the past three years, and Plenty is joining them in attracting venture capital. The company today announced $2.75 million in pre-seed capital from an investor group that includes Phenomenal Ventures, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s 35V, former Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash, Xtripe Angels and Inovia Capital.

Much of the new capital will be used for hiring and product development.

Much is still early, but is already generating revenue. Luk and Allen have been using the product themselves since January and have a waiting list that is growing, although Luk declined to elaborate on how long it is. With the announcement of the increase, Plenty is also announcing its “early access” period for users.

Next, the goal is to roll out some new savings offerings, such as treasury bills and to help 1 million households add $1 million to their retirement savings.

“We still have a lot more building to do before we get to that point,” Lux said. “It’s about bringing more people into the product and thinking about some of the other goals people have right now, like getting a pet, freezing eggs, in vitro and other things that are relevant to our generation.”