Product Owner - AI

WealthStack roundup: Docupace launches next, an agentic AI foundation. In other advisor tech-related news, Focus Financial partners with AI provider Nevis, Deepvest rolls out financial planning suite and Acorns has acquired a social investing app. Davis Janowski, Senior Technology Editor, Wealth Management October 16, 2026 Want a quick summary? Docupace, the back-office automation provider to many RIA firms, has announced the availability of Docupace Next 1.0, the next generation of its wealth operations platform hosted on AWS and built using modern cloud infrastructure. With Next, the company has introduced a new data architecture and user experience meant to provide advisory firms using it a foundation for new agentic capabilities, in addition to efficiency improvements and scalability. A central tenet of the Next platform is client data, which, according to the company, has been built around reusable contact records and structured relationships. Firms enter or synchronize information once and use it as a universal client master across custodians, accounts, workflows, documents and connected systems. "We have built a modern enterprise foundation with client data at its core, which brings together everything we have learned over nearly 25 years of serving wealth management firms. It improves how information moves through wealth operations today and gives us a strong foundation to build on," wrote Brian Filanowski, CEO of Docupace, who joined the company in February. Among the new capabilities are the ability to associate a contact or relationship across multiple accounts, consolidated e-signature (documents associated with multiple work items can be combined into a single signing packet), guided account opening (for custodians Pershing, NFS and Axos), expanded integration capabilities (a public GraphQL API for developers), as well as surveillance and compliance oversight to assist firms in meeting regulatory obligations and maintain record of oversight activity. For existing customers, Docupace Next is designed as an evolution of the platform rather than a rip-and-replace experience, meaning that existing workflows, document history, surveillance and compliance controls and established operational processes carry forward to the new platform, according to the company. Focus Financial, Nevis partner. Focus Financial Partners and the advisory AI technology company Nevis have announced a strategic partnership, making the latter its enterprise AI platform across the firm and its subsidiaries. Focus has undergone a multi-year transformation and is deploying AI at scale as part of its growth strategy, making an undisclosed but "significant investment" in Nevis' wealth management technology. "Our partnership with Nevis is about more than adopting a new tool. It's a fundamental step in building the technology foundation we need for the AI era, and it required a level of capability, security and strategic alignment that few providers could help us build," said Adam Birenbaum, CEO of Focus Financial Partners. Focus has more than $500 billion in advised assets on its platforms, according to the firm, and thousands of advisors working across its various business units. Nevis is part of an increasingly competitive landscape of AI providers to the wealth industry. The company has raised more than $40 million and completed a $35 million Series A capital round led by Sequoia, Iconiq and Ribbit Capital in December 2025. Also, in December, it acquired Ledra AI, a startup specializing in conversation and voice AI. DeepVest launches planning hub. DeepVest, which describes itself as an agentic front office for financial advisors, has announced the launch of AI-driven financial planning. Called PlanLab, it's meant to enable advisors to visualize their clients' financial life across retirement, taxes, investments, estate planning, insurance, risk, goals, behavioral factors, household details and business ownership. PlanLab employs deterministic planning calculators for Social Security claiming strategies features, Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, required minimum distributions, estate taxes, annual gifting, among others. Advisors can upload client documents, including tax returns, statements, trusts or existing financial plans, have PlanLab suggest updates for advisor approval and measure how far the plan has drifted since last reviewed, according to the company. Deepvest also has support for connections with CRM and custodial accounts as well. The company rolled out an AI planning assistant in May, which allows advisors to ask questions, explore scenarios and identify potential planning opportunities. Acorns acquires frich money. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. In addition to earlier seed rounds, the micro-investing robo advisor Acorns has proceeded through venture capital rounds A through F over the years since its founding in 2014. It appears to have raised more than $500 million between its venture capital and private equity financing. Over the last few years, it has grown AUM from $1.15 billion in mid-2019 to more than $13 billion, according to its latest Form ADV. Advisors have been struggling for years with how to reach and best connect with the younger generations that will inherit the wealth of clients. For Acorns, the acquisition will bring more than 1.6 million subscribers to the social app into close proximity to the services of Acorns. Frich was co-founded in 2021 by Katrin Kaurov and Aleksandra Medina, and was designed to help Gen Z and millennials build wealth through community-driven engagement. It has received backing from Restive Ventures, TruStage and Antler, among others. Senior Technology Editor, Wealth Management Davis Janowski is a New York-based technology journalist whose work spans consumer, business and the FinTech sectors. Prior to his six years with WM, Janowski worked for Forrester Research as an analyst covering Digital Wealth Management. In edition, he has worked for two FinTech startups, Wealthfront and New York-based FeeX, Inc. (now Pontera). His work covering the advisor tech space began in 2007 when he joined InvestmentNews as the advisor industry's first dedicated technology reporter. His start in tech journalism began as an editor with PC Magazine in 1999 where he later served as an analyst and reviewer. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wealth Management., Financial Planning, RIABiz, InvestmentNews, PC Magazine, numerous blogs and several books, including Technology Tools for Today's High Margin Practice. He has also been a speaker and moderator at numerous industry conferences. Outside his day-to-day he is a senior guide for Manhattan Kayak Company in New York City.

AlTi Global to deploy Nevis AI platform across global adviser base. The system will be used by advisers and support staff to handle meetings, administrative work and other operational tasks. AlTi Global has disclosed plans to introduce the Nevis artificial intelligence platform to advisers across its international network. The wealth manager, which oversees $90bn in assets, said the system will be used by advisers and support staff to handle meetings, administrative work and other operational tasks. AlTi selected Nevis after reviewing the market, pointing to the platform's ability to work with existing internal systems and its support during setup and later use. The the move is intended to reduce the time spent on routine processes and allow advisers to devote more attention to client work. AlTi CEO Nancy Curtin said: "The wealth manager of the future will be able to pair emotional intelligence and investment expertise with the operational agility that AI provides. "Our partnership with Nevis reflects our conviction that responsible use of technology is critical to meeting the needs of our advisors and our UHNW client base as they navigate the growing complexities of wealth in today's world." Nevis is designed for wealth management firms and is used for tasks such as preparing for meetings, following up with clients and opening custodian accounts. The platform includes security and privacy controls for large organisations, along with engineering support for clients during deployment. Nevis was founded in 2024 and has raised $40m from investors including Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ and Ribbit Capital. Nevis CEO and co-founder Mark Swan commented: "Private Banker International believe AI should enhance how advisors work by freeing them from manual processes so they can maximise their focus on relationships and growth. "AlTi is exactly the kind of partner we designed Nevis for: global in scope, uncompromising in its standards, and committed to equipping its advisors with a modern, intelligent operating platform. The cultural alignment between our two organizations has been the foundation of this partnership." Give your business an edge with its leading industry insights.