00:00:01 Speaker A

Gen Z focused wealth management platform Alinea secured more than $10 million in its latest funding round. Co-founded by former city and Goldman Sachs employees, the app aims to make investing accessible and understandable for Gen Z. Joining me now are co-founders Anum Lakhani and Eve Halimi. Guys, thank you so much for being here. I love what you’ve built. You guys met in college. You’re friends. What inspired you to create this app catered specifically for Gen Z?

00:01:05 Anum Lakhani

Eve and I both interned on Wall Street and we saw how so many of our friends just had no idea how to invest or how to get started. So we knew we wanted to build a platform that made wealth building more accessible.

00:01:42 Speaker A

And Eve with over a million users now, average age of 22, 92% women, 70% Gen Z, what trends are you seeing on how this generation thinks about investing?

00:02:01 Eve Halimi

So first, we talk to this user base in a way that they understand. So when we get on Tik Tok, uh, we’re like, hey girlies, like this is how you should be investing your money. And what really resonates with them is our playlist feature, investing playlists that are based on themes or sectors that they really love.

00:02:42 Speaker A

And how does this differ from some of the more traditional institutional investors that we see out there?

00:02:56 Anum Lakhani

So, not to be all buzz worthy, but with the advent of AI, our users and Gen Z want to be told exactly what to do that’s personalized for them. Every single person has a different financial profile, and our vision with Alinea is to make sure that we’re giving personalized advice to everyone based on their goals and their individual financial profiles.

00:03:37 Speaker A

So is that the main difference on how this differs from platforms like Robinhood and other types of retail investing apps out there?

00:04:06 Eve Halimi

Yes. We’ve basically built an AI coach called AI Allie, and she’s like your financial bestie, and she guides you on what to invest in, how much to invest every month, uh, what to, yeah, put your money in and, and that personalization doesn’t exist anywhere else.

00:04:49 Speaker A

AI Allie. I love that name. I’m curious how AI, it’s accelerated very rapidly. How do you balance the risk reward there to not lose that personal human touch?

00:05:17 Anum Lakhani

Yeah, our goal with Alinea is to make sure that you are understanding exactly what is happening with your money. And I think the biggest gap right now with Gen Z and new investors is the lack of financial literacy, knowledge, and confidence. And that’s really where AI Allie comes in to teach you and explain to you how your money’s working for you.

00:05:55 Speaker A

What are the biggest questions that you hear from Gen Z investors that are just starting this journey?

00:06:09 Eve Halimi

What do I invest in? How much do I invest? Uh, where do I put my money? Uh, this is how much I make. This is where I’m living. Like, give me a plan, a personalized plan for me and, and help me manage it.

00:06:48 Speaker A

You guys both have backgrounds at the big banks out there. How did that help shape this app and the creation of it?

00:07:01 Anum Lakhani

I think it was a huge realization. We saw that everyone that worked on Wall Street tended to follow a similar profile when it came to demographics and everyone else just didn’t understand all this jargon and the linguistics that come with the world of finance. And so we really wanted to break it down and make wealth building accessible to people like us and everyone around us.

00:07:42 Speaker A

Eve, how about you?

00:07:49 Eve Halimi

Yeah, I mean, I think we, on Wall Street, you see a lot of the rich getting wealthier and we wanted to give that, those tools to the masses, to people like us, and that’s what Alinea’s doing today.

00:08:12 Speaker A

Looking ahead, what is your vision for this app and how you hope to really continue to embrace this Gen Z catered investing approach?

00:08:33 Anum Lakhani

Our vision is to make sure that every Gen Z in the US has a way to build wealth and to really live out their dreams. Alinea isn’t just a financial app. We really say it’s a way to live your dreams and have the freedom you want to have, and wealth is the way to get there.

00:09:03 Speaker A

Do you see this app maybe expanding into other financial services?

00:09:13 Eve Halimi

Absolutely. The goal is to build more financial tools to help, um, these Gen Z users, average age of 22, kind of grow their financial journey with us.

00:09:32 Speaker A

And what common misconceptions or fears, I guess, do you hear from Gen Z investors?

00:09:55 Eve Halimi

Yeah, how do I best set up my, my life so that I retire a millionaire? Like, what do I do so that when I retire, I have enough money or a million dollars in my bank account.

00:10:19 Speaker A

Do you find that Gen Z investors, they’re more curious about how to play their money. I, I feel like I look at my younger brother and everyone just seems so more in tune, and I don’t know if it’s social media, if it’s Tik Tok, Instagram. Are you seeing that within your own cohort?

00:11:00 Anum Lakhani

Yeah, so what’s really interesting is after GameStop, everyone knows they have to invest their money. They just don’t know what’s the right way to do it or how to do it. And that’s really where Alinea comes in to guide you every step of the way and really personalize it to your financial profile.

00:11:28 Speaker A

That’s interesting. The GameStop, the meme stock frenzy, that really was a turning point, you think?

00:11:50 Anum Lakhani

Yeah. Yeah, I think if you go back 10 years ago, a lot of young people didn’t even know that they should be investing. I think now that’s really top of mind, especially with FinTalk, which is like financial TikTok, and all the memes. And so people are aware and now they need that knowledge, the plan, and the guidance, and that’s what Alinea is really delivering on.

00:12:22 Speaker A

Well, this is amazing, guys. Congrats on all the success and can’t wait to check it out.

00:12:33 Anum Lakhani

Amazing.

00:12:34 Eve Halimi

Thanks for having us.

00:12:34 Anum Lakhani

Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.