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Betterment

Fintech/robo-advisorUSA
New to Unitard
βœ‚οΈ Markdown
PeakΒ $1.3 BillionToday
~-47%
from peak
  1. πŸ¦„
    Became a unicorn
    2017
  2. πŸ“ˆ
    Peak valuation
    $1.3 Billion ’21
  3. πŸ’”
    Became a Unitard
    ~2022
  4. πŸ’Έ
    Last valuation
    ~$689M
Current status
PitchBook est. $692M (Dec 2025)

The rise & fall

7 moments Β· 2008–2022

The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.

2008
Founded in New York
Jon Stein sets out to automate investing for people who don't want to pick stocks.
Wikipedia
2017
Joins the unicorn club
The robo-advisor pioneer crosses the $1B line as automated investing goes mainstream.
PitchBook
2021
The peak: ~$1.3B in the fintech boom$1.3B
Betterment tops out just as fintech valuations do.
PitchBook
2022
Fintech winter arrives
The 2022 valuation reset hits robo-advisors along with the rest of the sector.
CNBC
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2022–23
Glassdoor reviews from the 2022-23 downturn described a pivot toward profitability β€” layoff rounds, thinning perks, lower starting pay and geography-based pay tiers β€” plus frequent reorganizations that left some staff unsure of direction, even as reviewers kept praising the engineering talent and the mission.
2022
Marked down β€” slips out of the club
PitchBook's model puts the valuation at about $692M (end of 2025), 47% below peak; Betterment keeps operating as a private company.
PitchBook
Today
Still private β€” the funds keep marking
Calamos Aksia Alternative Credit & Income Fund marks it at $9.36/share Β· as of Jun 2026
SEC NPORT-P

πŸ’¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β†—; dated facts carry their source.

How it happened

Betterment is a U.S. robo-advisor that pioneered automated investing and reached unicorn status around 2017, peaking near $1.3B in 2021. Amid the 2022 downturn in fintech valuations, third-party estimates (PitchBook) put the company at about $692M at the end of 2025, roughly 47% below peak, classifying it as a fallen unicorn while it remained a private going concern.

Mutual-fund markdowns

1 fund Β· SEC NPORT-P

How U.S. mutual funds fair-value this still-private company in their quarterly SEC filings.

Per-share mark from peak
+0%
Calamos Aksia Alternative Credit & Income Fund
$9.36 β†’ $9.36
as of Jun 2026

Source: SEC EDGAR Form NPORT-P (Level-3 fair-value marks). Per-share marks reflect the fund’s own valuation of a specific share class and aren’t a company-wide valuation. Last refreshed Oct 2026.

Source: PitchBook model estimate as of Dec 31, 2025 (CNBC's fallen-unicorn table, Jun 2026), not a priced round

Founder

  • Jon Stein
    founder & former CEO (chairman)
    Still there β€” Founder and Board MemberLinkedIn β†—

Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.

Disclosed investors (29)

Historical funding participation; lists may be incomplete and do not establish current ownership or investor losses.

* Lead in a funding round Β· Crunchbase β†— Β· 2026-10-13 Β· Methodology Β· Leaderboard

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