A note from Trust & Will's CEO: Cody Barbo.
Today, we are thrilled to announce our $15 million Series B round of financing. The round was led by San Francisco based Jackson Square Ventures (one of Docusign’s biggest venture investors), with new investors, Fifth Third Capital Holdings, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, AARP, Rosecliff Ventures, Hack VC, Actium Partners, and Noah Kerner (CEO at Acorns) & Jeff Cruttenden (Cofounder at Say and Acorns).
Returning investors include fund Link Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Western Technology Investments (WTI), Halogen Ventures, Luma Launch, and Techstars Ventures.
The investment brings Trust & Will’s total funding since launching our fully digital estate planning platform to over $23 million. The new funding will help us aggressively expand our sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate our product development.
The Investors
Victor Echevarria, Partner at Jackson Square Ventures (Lead Investor) - “Estate planning is the single most impactful thing you can do to protect your loved ones from the unexpected. But, for most families, it’s become little more than an afterthought,” said Victor Echevarria, Partner at Jackson Square Ventures. “Trust & Will is a modern fully digital solution that makes it easy to securely create and manage an estate plan online, eliminating barriers and obstacles that have left countless families unprepared for decades. We couldn’t be more proud to partner with Cody and team on their mission to help every family in America protect their legacy.”
Patricia Felts, Vice President, Strategic Investments at Fifth Third Bank - “Fifth Third has always been in the business of helping our customers reach their long-term financial goals, and creating an estate plan is an important step in achieving those goals. Trust & Will’s digital platform provides an easy and affordable solution to protect your family’s future. We are proud to work with the Trust & Will team to accelerate the vision of making estate planning accessible to all consumers."
Craig Schedler, Managing Director at Northwestern Mutual Future Venture - “Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures is committed to changing how consumers experience financial security. One of the most important yet overlooked aspects of financial security is having an estate plan in place. The current estate planning process needs to be made more accessible to all Americans and the team at Trust & Will is positioned to achieve that goal, and we are thrilled to now be part of the Trust & Will family. ”
Michael Murphy, Founder and Managing Partner at Rosecliff - “The Great Wealth Transfer is here. Americans currently pass down more than $1 trillion each year—and an estimated $68 trillion will move between generations over the next 25 years. We’re incredibly excited to be a part of Trust & Will’s journey, facilitating this Great Wealth Transfer and making estate planning simple, affordable, and accessible for every American.”
The Journey
We started Trust & Will a little over three years ago to bring much needed innovation to the estate planning industry, and are proud to share that over 160,000+ members have started the estate planning process with us.
When we think about the future of Trust & Will, and building a category leading company, we are investing in our team, product, partnerships, acquisitions, and education. We are arguably the fastest moving company in the estate planning vertical, while also being the youngest, at just over 3 years old. We are driven by our mission to provide families a better way to plan for their future.
It is an honor for Trust & Will to be joining the Jackson Square Ventures portfolio which includes Docusign, Seismic and many more iconic companies. There are so many reasons to celebrate a new partnership, and we are incredibly grateful to be working with the JSV team, who has an exceptional background as former operators and investors.
Trust & Will for Advisors + Attorney Support
Earlier this year we launched a free product for financial advisors to welcome their clients to Trust & Will, and are thrilled to have over 1,000+ advisors actively using the platform. We currently have a team leading advisor onboarding for individuals and for firms. If you’d like to learn more about working with us, click here.
We are also happy to share that we’ve rolled out attorney support to several states, with most states to be covered in the coming months. Experienced estate planning attorneys are available to review your documents and decisions as well as answer any legal questions like funding advice or tax implications.
Team Trust & Will
We would not have made it this far without our incredible team from the last few years. So I wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our team members for being on this journey with us. We’ve built a very family oriented and inclusive culture, and are growing the team even more. All jobs can be found on our company careers page.
So ‘Why’ Trust & Will?
I think the ‘WHY’ is essential in ‘why you do what you do.’ For me, that was becoming a father this year and it has changed me in all the ways for the better. I love being a parent with my wife, along with many of our team members at Trust & Will. We started this company for families, across generations, and inclusive for all.
Founders Pledge
The last thing I want to share with you is social impact. While there is no guarantee for success, I do hope that we can have an impact far beyond just Trust & Will and the families we help. I’m excited to be a member of Founders Pledge. Every member, including myself, has made a legally binding commitment to donate a portion of personal proceeds on liquidity to social causes. I would encourage other founders to consider the same, so please drop me a message if you would like to be put in touch.
I am grateful for what’s ahead in life, and if you’ve read this far, a sincere thank you.
I can’t wait to see what we achieve in 2021 and beyond.
- Cody Barbo
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