Lauren Kolodny, a partner at Acrew Capital, has always championed technology’s power to democratize access to financial services for everyday people. When the fledgling neobank Chime struggled to convince investors in 2016 that it could build a large business serving the working class, Kolodny was the only VC out of 100 that Chime pitched who agreed to back the company. She stepped in with a $9 million Series A extension when the company was nearly out of money.
That bet paid off big time. Last month, Chime went public at a $14.5 billion valuation. Kolodny, who appeared on the Forbes Midas list three years in a row, remains passionate about investing in tech solutions that help consumers maximize their resources.
She recently led a $20 million Series A investment in Alix, a startup that leverages AI to automate the estate settlement process. Alix’s founder, Alexandra Mysoor, realized the burden of executing a family estate after she helped her best friend settle her late mother’s affairs. Mysoor shared that it took her 900 hours and 18 months to complete tasks like calling banks to transfer assets, locating 401Ks, canceling accounts, and distributing assets among family members.
“I was shocked that this process was so hard,” Mysoor said. “It’s paper-driven. It’s archaic. You’re googling to-do lists that aren’t helpful. You’re calling attorneys who might do a sliver of the work, and they cost thousands and thousands of dollars.”
That experience gave Mysoor the idea that AI could handle the most labor-intensive aspects of trust administration, including scanning documents, pre-populating forms, and communicating with banks. When Kolodny met Mysoor and learned about the problem Alix was addressing, the issue resonated deeply with her.
Kolodny realized that while economists estimate trillions of dollars will transfer to millennial and Gen Z generations over the next two decades, the paperwork surrounding estate settlement remains a burden on grieving families. While some startups provide partial assistance with closing accounts, Kolodny found no companies offering comprehensive, start-to-finish estate settlement services.
“How is it possible that there’s this messy problem that involves so much project management, yet there aren’t even meaningful services around?” Kolodny said. “It was this real aha moment for me. This is exactly the kind of problem that AI should be solving.”
She believes Alix is among the first of many AI-powered startups that will democratize financial services and administrative processes historically available only to the ultra-wealthy. Alix’s fee structure is 1% of an estate’s value, but for inheritances under $1 million, customers can expect to pay between $9,000 and $12,000, depending on the estate’s complexity.