Timeline and Betafolio founder Abraham Okusanya talks funding success, bridging the advice gap, and giving advised clients what matters most – more time with their financial advisers.
Abraham, with a whopping £6m ($8m) raised in this funding round, what’s next for Timeline?
Growth, growth and more growth. Since Timeline launched in 2018, we’ve grown at an incredible rate. With the addition of our MPS, Betafolio, which has amassed almost £1bn in AUM in just over 2 years, now the big numbers are truly in sight. We’re on a mission to help 10 million people face their financial future with confidence. And we’re doing that by tearing up the dusty old tech stack IFAs have been lumped with for decades, and replacing it with something far better.
Will Timeline and Betafolio make an adviser-free future possible?
Quite the opposite, frankly. Robo-advisers and the like have one missing ingredient – that human relationship. That’s what makes advisers so important. Timeline and Betafolio could never replace the adviser-client relationship – and we don’t want to. But what we can do is clear a path through all the outdated tech, unfriendly user interfaces, and time-intensive day to day tasks that drain the advisers’ time. We’re clearing the way for our IFA partners to build unrivalled customer service levels for their clients. And, of course, service more clients too.
How will Timeline improve the lives of IFAs?
We already have. Timeline puts the likes of digital fact finds, risk profiling, cashflow modelling, and investment analytics at an IFA’s fingertips. Tasks that take hours, and bog client meetings down in admin, are reduced to a few mouse clicks. And with our range of low-cost model portfolios, advised clients can enjoy secure, long term investment returns. Plus, we’re helping adviser to keep the costs low for themselves and their clients through great tech across the board. We’re already closing in on £1billion in invested assets since our 2020 launch. That tells me we’re doing something right.
With investment from the likes of MTech Capital, and influential players like FNZ and Darren Carter from Peel Hunt, do you think this is a tipping point for Timeline?
The big names are really noticing us now, and putting their money where their mouth is. FNZ were actually one of the first to invest in us eighteen months ago. They can’t believe the progress we’ve made since then. They see the huge potential for penetrating this under-served market that comes when you offer a far better customer experience, alongside lower costs. We’re all on the same page too – we want to open up wealth management, make it more accessible to more people.
Talking about opening up access, do you think the advice gap can be tackled by technology?
Put it this way, in the UK, only 7% of people engage a financial adviser, for reasons like cost, and lack of access. We can’t bridge that gap alone, but in partnership with IFAs, we’re going to change the game for everyone. Our tech enables advisers to service more clients, lower cost barriers, and boost client engagement through clear graphs and projections. Timeline is the perfect tool for IFAs to tackle the advice gap head on, and it’s going to be an exciting few years for clients and advisers alike.
Any final words?
To any advisers reading this, we made Timeline and Betafolio specifically for you. These aren’t direct to client applications. For all our tech talk and digital innovation, we couldn’t exist without you. And we know that by the end of your free Timeline trial, you’ll feel the same about us.
Abraham Okusanya is the founder and CEO of Timeline.
