Wealthfront files for IPO, joining wave of fintechs going public

Wealthfront, the startup that helped popularize the robo-advisor style of automated investing, filed for a U.S. initial public offering Monday, making it the latest in a wave of fintech firms going public this year including Chime and Klarna.

The company in June filed confidentially for an IPO, but waited until now to make that filing public. That signals that Wealthfront is planning on kicking off its roadshow to pitch shares to investors; an IPO typically follows weeks after the S-1 filing is made public. The company intends to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “WLTH.”

Wealthfront, led by CEO David Fortunato, had $88.2 billion in assets on its platform and served 1.3 million customers as of July 31, according to the filing. It generated $194.4 million in net income on $308.9 million in revenue during in fiscal 2025 which ended on Jan. 31, per the filing.

“Our clients are primarily digital-native high earners who prioritize savings and wealth accumulation,” the company said. “Digital natives typically have large liquid savings with long time horizons ahead, and they are undeterred by corrections and bear markets.”

The company, founded in 2008, has had a long and winding journey to the public markets.

Along with rival Betterment, Wealthfront helped define the robo-advisor category, which uses algorithms to automate investment decisions for customers.

Within years, big banks including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America unveiled their own robo offerings to complement their large armies of human financial advisors.

In 2022, the Zurich-based global bank UBS said it was buying Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in cash, but the deal collapsed as the market turned suddenly skeptical on fintech firms amid rising interest rates.

It’s taken years for the market for fintechs to recover, leading to a rebound in listings this year.

Founded in 2007 and based in Palo Alto, California, Wealthfront employed 359 people as of July 31, according to the filing.

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.