It’s not clear whether anybody involved in the deal will be able to retire after Acorns’ acquisition of Vault Monday, but the two companies plan to combine their mobile investment expertise.
Vault is a Portland-based startup that released a mobile investing app earlier this year focused on helping millennials put down that avocado toast and save for retirement when they don’t have access to traditional 401k savings programs at work. Acorns offers a similar mobile-oriented investing experience but is focused more on building near-term wealth.
“Through this acquisition, Vault can seamlessly extend our services to Acorns customers, and introduce our customers to automated investing, earning and growing with Acorns,” said Vault CEO Randy Fernando and Acorns CEO Noah Kerner in a jointly written blog post Monday.
Vault told GeekWire in June that it had raised $1.6 million in venture-capital funding, and terms of the deal were not disclosed. When asked to name Vault’s smartest move to date, Fernando said “to build and keep our company in the Pacific Northwest, a community that was built by entrepreneurs, small businesses, and creators, the true engine of America.”
His new employer is based in Orange County, Calif., a place that is a little different than the Pacific Northwest, but Fernando told Portland Business Journal that Acorns plans to keep its Portland office and hire as many as 12 new engineers for that location.
