Latest news with #EveHalimi
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Alinea is helping Gen Z get started on their investing journey
Alinea, an investment platform geared toward younger Gen Z investors, has secured $10.4 million in April in its Series A funding round led by Play Ventures. Alinea Invest Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi sit down in studio with Wealth's Allie Canal to talk about their experiences interning on Wall Street and their platform's tools in educating and guiding their peers in investing within their means. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. Gen Z focused wealth management platform Alinea secured more than $10 million in its latest funding round. Co-founded by former city and Goldman Sachs employees, the app aims to make investing accessible and understandable for Gen Z. Joining me now are co-founders Anum Lakhani and Eve Halimi. Guys, thank you so much for being here. I love what you've built. You guys met in college. You're friends. What inspired you to create this app catered specifically for Gen Z? Eve and I both interned on Wall Street and we saw how so many of our friends just had no idea how to invest or how to get started. So we knew we wanted to build a platform that made wealth building more accessible. And Eve with over a million users now, average age of 22, 92% women, 70% Gen Z, what trends are you seeing on how this generation thinks about investing? So first, we talk to this user base in a way that they understand. So when we get on Tik Tok, uh, we're like, hey girlies, like this is how you should be investing your money. And what really resonates with them is our playlist feature, investing playlists that are based on themes or sectors that they really love. And how does this differ from some of the more traditional institutional investors that we see out there? So, not to be all buzz worthy, but with the advent of AI, our users and Gen Z want to be told exactly what to do that's personalized for them. Every single person has a different financial profile, and our vision with Alinea is to make sure that we're giving personalized advice to everyone based on their goals and their individual financial profiles. So is that the main difference on how this differs from platforms like Robinhood and other types of retail investing apps out there? Yes. We've basically built an AI coach called AI Allie, and she's like your financial bestie, and she guides you on what to invest in, how much to invest every month, uh, what to, yeah, put your money in and, and that personalization doesn't exist anywhere else. AI Allie. I love that name. I'm curious how AI, it's accelerated very rapidly. How do you balance the risk reward there to not lose that personal human touch? Yeah, our goal with Alinea is to make sure that you are understanding exactly what is happening with your money. And I think the biggest gap right now with Gen Z and new investors is the lack of financial literacy, knowledge, and confidence. And that's really where AI Allie comes in to teach you and explain to you how your money's working for you. What are the biggest questions that you hear from Gen Z investors that are just starting this journey? What do I invest in? How much do I invest? Uh, where do I put my money? Uh, this is how much I make. This is where I'm living. Like, give me a plan, a personalized plan for me and, and help me manage it. You guys both have backgrounds at the big banks out there. How did that help shape this app and the creation of it? I think it was a huge realization. We saw that everyone that worked on Wall Street tended to follow a similar profile when it came to demographics and everyone else just didn't understand all this jargon and the linguistics that come with the world of finance. And so we really wanted to break it down and make wealth building accessible to people like us and everyone around us. Eve, how about you? Yeah, I mean, I think we, on Wall Street, you see a lot of the rich getting wealthier and we wanted to give that, those tools to the masses, to people like us, and that's what Alinea's doing today. Looking ahead, what is your vision for this app and how you hope to really continue to embrace this Gen Z catered investing approach? Our vision is to make sure that every Gen Z in the US has a way to build wealth and to really live out their dreams. Alinea isn't just a financial app. We really say it's a way to live your dreams and have the freedom you want to have, and wealth is the way to get there. Do you see this app maybe expanding into other financial services? Absolutely. The goal is to build more financial tools to help, um, these Gen Z users, average age of 22, kind of grow their financial journey with us. And what common misconceptions or fears, I guess, do you hear from Gen Z investors? Yeah, how do I best set up my, my life so that I retire a millionaire? Like, what do I do so that when I retire, I have enough money or a million dollars in my bank account. Do you find that Gen Z investors, they're more curious about how to play their money. I, I feel like I look at my younger brother and everyone just seems so more in tune, and I don't know if it's social media, if it's Tik Tok, Instagram. Are you seeing that within your own cohort? Yeah, so what's really interesting is after GameStop, everyone knows they have to invest their money. They just don't know what's the right way to do it or how to do it. And that's really where Alinea comes in to guide you every step of the way and really personalize it to your financial profile. That's interesting. The GameStop, the meme stock frenzy, that really was a turning point, you think? Yeah. Yeah, I think if you go back 10 years ago, a lot of young people didn't even know that they should be investing. I think now that's really top of mind, especially with FinTalk, which is like financial TikTok, and all the memes. And so people are aware and now they need that knowledge, the plan, and the guidance, and that's what Alinea is really delivering on. Well, this is amazing, guys. Congrats on all the success and can't wait to check it out. Amazing. Thanks for having us. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Alinea is helping Gen Z get started on their investing journey
Alinea, an investment platform geared toward younger Gen Z investors, has secured $10.4 million in April in its Series A funding round led by Play Ventures. Alinea Invest Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi sit down in studio with Wealth's Allie Canal to talk about their experiences interning on Wall Street and their platform's tools in educating and guiding their peers in investing within their means. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Fintech Alinea Invest Raises $10.4 Million For Gen Z Wealth Platform
Co-Founders and Co-CEOs Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi of Alinea Invest In a crowded fintech market dominated by legacy names and VC-fueled scale plays, two Gen Z founders just reminded the industry of one critical truth: connection beats convention. Today, Alinea Invest—a Gen Z-focused wealth management platform—announced a $10.4 million Series A round led by Play Ventures, with participation from GFR Fund, Y Combinator, Gaingels, FoundersX, F7, and Visible Ventures. The app, founded by Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi, now serves over 1 million users, 92% of whom are women and 70% of whom are Gen Z. With an average user age of just 22, Alinea has quickly built one of the most loyal—and overlooked—investor audiences in fintech. That's not by accident. The co-founders met at Barnard College and started building Alinea in 2021 after stints at Goldman Sachs and Citi. But they didn't just build for a demographic—they built as it. That's part of what makes Alinea stand out. 'We are the customer,' says Lakhani. 'From day one, we were designing for ourselves—and our friends. What we realized is that beginner investors want both guidance and freedom. They want to be told what to do, but they also want autonomy. At Alinea, we call it the salad and the fries.' That design philosophy has paid off. Alinea achieved 6x year-over-year revenue growth in 2024, reaching a $6 million net revenue run rate with a team of just 10. 'Eve and Anam have cracked the code on what Gen Zs and millennials actually want from an investing platform,' said Phylicia Koh, Partner at Play Ventures. 'This audience is searching for financial tools that speaks to them without talking down to them. Alinea is what I wished existed years ago for young women like myself." And unlike traditional firms that rely on expensive paid acquisition, Alinea's growth has been powered by a simple, often underestimated strategy: founder-led storytelling. Instead of funneling millions into ads, Lakhani and Halimi built their user base by showing up where their audience actually lives—on TikTok, Instagram, and in real-world community events. Their TikTok presence alone has garnered over 550 million views under the #alineaapp tag. 'Our marketing is really about telling a story,' says Halimi. 'It resonates deeply because it's authentic. We're not just selling a product—we're building a brand, and people—especially young women—see themselves in us.' This strategy isn't just about aesthetics or relatability. It's a savvy business move that unlocks acquisition, retention, and brand trust in one of fintech's most elusive segments: young, first-time investors. This strategy is also well-timed. We're in the early stages of what's being called the 'Great Wealth Transfer'—a historic shift of over $84 trillion in assets from Baby Boomers to younger generations over the next two decades, according to Cerulli Associates. Women and Gen Z are poised to inherit a significant portion of that capital, yet remain largely underserved by traditional financial institutions. Capturing their trust now isn't just a growth strategy—it's a long game for market leadership in wealth management. Alinea's latest evolution takes this even further. With fresh capital in hand, the team is rolling out AI Allie, an AI-powered financial coach that acts like a 'money best friend,' according to Lakhani. Designed to remove friction from the investing journey, the founders told me Allie can recommend next best actions, align users with cause-based investments, and personalize guidance based on a user's income, goals, and experience level. 'The question shouldn't be: Can I open a brokerage account and trade?' Lakhani says. 'It should be: I have $5,000—how do I actually grow that, sustainably and confidently, from where I am right now?' For a generation raised on personalization, instant feedback, and values-driven choices, AI Allie represents more than tech. It's a new user experience model for wealth-building—one that reflects how Gen Z actually navigates financial life. Despite volatility in markets, the co-founders said that Alinea has seen record activity among its users—especially in recent downturns. Lakhani points out that today's Gen Z investors are more informed and more resilient than previous generations. 'Retail investors used to panic in a downturn. Now they lean in,' she says. 'We're seeing that mindset shift, and we want to be the platform that supports that new kind of investor.' Still, raising capital wasn't easy. 'We're female founders in consumer fintech,' Lakhani adds. 'That's a double whammy in this market. But we knew our numbers. We knew our community. And we knew that our time was now.'
