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WEBSITE
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SECTOR
Financial Technology and Services
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INVESTMENT YEAR
2020
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STATUS
Current
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LOCATION
Los Angeles, CA
Docupace
Leading platform delivering the wealth management industry an ecosystem of solutions for automating a range of back–office functions.
Investment Theme
Tremendous growth opportunities in back-office digitization and workflow automation for the wealth management industry, which currently relies heavily on inefficient manual, paper-based workflows.
The digital back-office for the wealth management industry: an end-to-end ecosystem that connects clients, advisors and operations
“FTV has been an invaluable partner to not only the growth and success of our business, but to me personally. From providing strategic planning and advice to helping with business optimization and daily operations, our partners at FTV are regular and invited contributors to the evolution of Docupace. We’ve relied on FTV resources to identify and acquire businesses, attract and retain C-level talent, advise and propel our technology transformation, reimagine and coach our sales organization and more. Just as importantly, we benefit from FTV’s broader ecosystem – our executive team engages with their portfolio company peers and our sales organization engages with FTV’s Global Partner Network. Our rapid growth and transformation would not be possible without FTV’s partnership.”
Docupace focuses on digitizing and automating back-office operations in the financial advice and investment industry. Since 2002, financial services firms have used Docupace’s cloud-based, integrated software platform to reduce back-office expenses, improve efficiency, strengthen recruiting and enhance the experience of advisors and their clients.
The race for back-office execution is on, and Docupace is setting the pace
Over the past decade, the wealth management industry has made significant strides in leveraging technology to democratize investment advice, encourage saving, empower the consumer, lower costs, and modernize the experience for clients and the financial advisors who serve them. Today, the majority of advisory firms, large and small, have integrated CRM software, portfolio management systems and tech-enabled financial planning tools into their core operations.
With an 18-year track record of creating groundbreaking digital innovations for top wealth management firms, Docupace enables broker-dealers, RIAs, banks, trust companies, insurance companies and financial advisors to digitize back-office operations, thus improving efficiency, increasing profits and ensuring compliance. Docupace’s highly-configurable low code development platform delivers solutions that include client and advisor onboarding, document management, standardized workflows, robust approval processes, digital signature, advisor compensation, trade surveillance, compliant storage and more all as an integrated platform that eliminates the need for multiple vendors.
Docupace’s leadership and innovation have received considerable attention. The company was named to the 2021 Inc. 5000 list and to Cramer+Associates Top 100 FinTech Firms for 2021, and it also won the 2021 Gold Globee® Award for “Hot Technology of the Year.” In addition, Docupace CEO David Knoch was named to the inaugural class of wealth management LUMINARIES by ThinkAdvisor in 2021. Knoch was previously recognized by the publication as one of the 25 most influential people in the investment advisory industry in 2018 and 2019.
Today, Docupace is the only digital operations platform with wealth management built into its DNA. Docupace supports more than 80,000 active users and processes more than 11 million work items on an annual basis, saving its clients more than 386 million minutes of time each year.
At FTV we are passionate about the future of digitization across the financial services landscape and thrilled to work alongside Docupace to empower financial advice providers and the firms that serve them.
FTV Value Add
C-level Talent Recruitment
By tapping into our robust network across financial services, FTV sourced and placed Docupace’s new CEO and industry veteran, David Knoch, assisted with a critical CRO search, and helped bring in other experienced industry executives to key roles, including Docupace’s CMO and general counsel. FTV’s chief talent officer has regularly advised the company on compensation and incentive strategies to attract and retain talent as people continue to be central to Docupace’s commitment to delivering leading solutions and support to its customers.
Commerical and Strategic Introductions
FTV opened doors directly to more than 50 potential customers and partners in our Global Partner Network®, including tier-one banks, top asset management firms and other financial advisory firms.
Operational Support
As Docupace was looking to enhance its sales organization and place a new CRO, FTV Propel’s chief revenue advisor stepped in as interim CRO and has provided ongoing guidance on optimizing the go to market across sales, marketing and account management. FTV also helped the management team improve financial reporting and identify enhancements to its technology organization. In addition, FTV Propel’s chief technology advisor regularly consults with the management team and CEO, bringing outside perspective to the company’s technology transformation and acquisition due diligence.
M&A Opportunities
FTV regularly provides guidance and support on the product development roadmap, and potential acquisitions are evaluated through this same lens. We assisted Docupace in mapping out potential M&A targets through four key product areas to expand the company’s product suite and better serve and support Docupace’s clients. Within the first 18 months of our investment, FTV provided introductions to several acquisition targets and helped close two strategic acquisitions: Jaccomo, a compliance and advisor compensation system and PreciseFP, an award-winning client onboarding provider.