We stand at the precipice of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer that humanity has ever seen. According to Cerulli Associates, $84 trillion in assets – including cash savings, real estate holdings, personal property, stocks and art – is about to exchange hands in the United States alone. Over the next 25 years, the estates of nearly 70 million baby boomers will be settled, as they pass along their wealth with a desire to ensure the economic wellbeing and prosperity of future generations.
Unfortunately, the outdated estate transfer system most people are forced to deal with today proves both stressful and time-consuming. It involves a mix of analog and digital demands, forcing family members to dig up dozens of different online passwords and even to hire CPAs, trust administrators and attorneys. There is no holistic solution.
Alix, the world’s first seamless wealth transfer platform, is here to revolutionize the process. The platform combines both empathetic AI and live support from experts to guide people through every step of the estate settlement journey.
The new fintech venture recently announced an over-subscribed $5.5M seed round of financing led by San Francisco-based Initialized Capital, with support from Magnify, Scribble, American Family Ventures and Alumni Ventures. In less than six months, Alix already has gotten up and running with paying customers and distribution partners, including life insurance carriers and funeral homes.
“Alix gives every family the tools needed to compound wealth across generations, starting with estate settlement,” says Jen Wolf, managing partner at Initialized Capital, who led the seed round. “What I appreciate most about Alix is how it not only brings modernization and simplification to the weighty work of wealth transfer, but does so with compassion at a time when you need it most.”
In an exclusive interview, Alix Cofounder and CEO Alexandra Mysoor revealed that the funding will allow the company to continue to expand their technology platform, hire and accelerate partnerships. A CPG and ecommerce serial entrepreneur with deep international experience, she also serves on the board of directors for Security National Financial Corporation.
Mysoor teamed up with veteran fintech executive Hugh Tamassia, the former CTO of JP Morgan Chase and Acorns, to co-found Alix. He pointed out that “transferring wealth between generations is one of the most important financial wellness endeavors families will ever undertake. It’s how we endeavor to make our love for, and protection of, our families outlast us. But that work is time consuming and burdensome, assuming they even know where to start.”
Modernizing a Broken System
Only one-third of Americans do any estate planning – and even if they do, it doesn’t guarantee family members an easy outcome. According to Estate Exec research, the average American spends tens of thousands of dollars, nearly 600 hours and 16 months settling even a simple estate, such as the inheritance of a small home. At its best, this process results in an onerous burden in terms of both time and money. At its worst, it creates rifts between family members.
“Most people who have a trust or will in place think that upon their deaths there is a magical button that will transfer their assets to the next generation. It does not exist – and that’s where Alix comes in,” Mysoor says. “The dusty plastic binder that modern trusts reside in resemble paper maps that your loved ones have to use to go on a digital scavenger hunt when you pass away. At Alix, we’re creating an actual magical button, enabling people to seamlessly transfer estates from one family member to the next.”
To be clear, Alix is not an estate planning business. The platform is focused on modernizing estate settlement. This, according to Mysoor, is an as yet untapped space with immense potential. “Until now, no one has had the audacity to touch estatement settlement due to its complexity and the powerful human emotions involved,” she says. “We’re here to change all that.”
People-First, AI-Supported
Powered by AI as well as a trained human support team and estate-settlement specialists, Alix is an intuitive app designed to automate, simplify and streamline the estate settlement journey in a holistic way. Alix’s platform and human-powered concierge services guide you through the settling of an estate no matter where or when you start your journey.
Mysoor and Tamassia have a people-first view on AI and technology in general. With Alix, they seek an affirmative answer to the question: “In the right hands, can AI be used for good?” The innovations offered by Alix, which incorporates an empathetic design with a human team, are engineered to help families at a vulnerable moment – shortly after they’ve lost a loved one.
“Like all areas of our financial lives that have been successfully transformed by fintech startups, estate settlement is rife with friction and inefficiency,” says Mysoor. “Alix will do for the estate settlement process what turbotax did for taxes.”
Mysoor was inspired to co-found Alix after witnessing family friends endure the trauma of settling their parents’ estate in 2022. “We set out to create a more positive experience for everyday people during a difficult time in their lives,” she says. “The mission of Alix is to facilitate wealth transfer across generations. We’re harnessing AI with a human touch to solve a fundamental human problem.”
Alix removes much of the stress of settling a loved one’s estate, which lets families get back to focusing on what is most important – each other. “We are excited to continue growing the world’s first empathetic, family centric AI-driven financial services company,” says Mysoor.
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