Kansas City-based Sherpas has closed a $3.2 million seed funding round to modernize how financial advice is structured and delivered. The round was led by 1248, the family office of Mariner Wealth Advisors founder Marty Bicknell, with participation from AUA Private Equity Capital and GoHub Ventures.
The big picture: Wealth management is facing a structural shift where client expectations for personalization are rising faster than advisor capacity. Sherpas functions as an AI-native operating layer rather than a standalone application, automating the analytical burden of investor intake, scenario modeling, and recommendation drafting to deliver insights in minutes rather than days.
How it works:
- Standardized Analysis: Creates a consistent analytical foundation across an entire firm to reduce variability in advice.
- Explainable Insights: Produces structured recommendations that maintain human-in-the-loop oversight for compliance and strategy.
- Feedback Loops: Learns from how advisors refine recommendations to compound institutional knowledge over time.
The catch: While Sherpas aims to “amplify” advisor judgment, its value proposition rests on its ability to integrate with deeply entrenched legacy systems. As seen in the recent rise of wealth management agents, the “AI-native operating layer” space is becoming increasingly crowded. If Sherpas cannot secure deep, native integrations with the primary custodians and CRM systems that advisors already live in, it risks becoming just another fragmented tool in an already over-encumbered tech stack. Furthermore, the push for “standardized advice” may inadvertently strip away the unique, idiosyncratic value that boutique firms use to differentiate themselves from automated robo-advisors.
Key Details
- Funding: $3.2M (Seed)
- Lead: 1248
- CEO: Borja Edo
- Sector: FinTech / WealthTech
