In preparation for its IPO, Acorns investing and saving application has hired a former Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) executive to run its daily operations, according to the firm’s CEO, Noah Kerner, who spoke with CNBC.
David Hijirida, who had worked as a strategy consultant for traditional banks on top of spending 12 years at Amazon handling worldwide payments and advertising, is set to be announced by the firm on Wednesday.
During a phone conversation, Kerner noted that David had a wealth of expertise in both financial services, operations, and product development skills combined to make him a valuable asset.
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Hijirada’s hiring will allow the CEO to focus on the company’s future products and branding and implement his vision for the fintech firm. Currently, Acorns has more than 4 million paying customers and wants to achieve 10 million subscribers by 2025, Kerner added.
Acorns gets set for IPO
As it prepares for its projected public offering later this year, Acorns is hiring experienced management rapidly; recently, it appointed Rich Sullivan from Twitter as its new Chief Financial Officer. Acorns announced in May that they were merging with Pioneer Merger Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company, for an estimated $2.2 billion value.
For a monthly fee of $1 to $5, Acorns’ automatic investing service allows clients to deposit leftover change from card purchases into a managed portfolio of ETFs.
Kerner stated:
“Everything Acorns does is about long-term saving and investing for the everyday consumer.”
Acorns to diversify portfolios with equities and crypto
As for investing and saving strategies, the company aims to add equities and cryptocurrency to its portfolios in the near future. Acorns was initially more conservative than its fintech rivals, who pushed for rapid development by adding new features, such as purchasing Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
According to Acorns’ website, cryptocurrencies are presently unavailable to customers since “the value of cryptocurrency can fluctuate dramatically in a day, it’s a speculative investment, and we don’t want to gamble with your money.”
However, the CEO has changed the company’s stance as he stated that Acorns would soon allow customers to invest in crypto across diverse portfolios, which is the latest indicator that the young asset class will continue to gain traction in the financial industry.
The CEO revealed:
“We are going to let people customize their portfolios and add individual equities and crypto into a slice of their diversified portfolios, much the way a money manager would advise you to behave.”
A launch date hasn’t been announced yet, Kerner added, “but it’s coming,” confirming that it would be part of a larger effort to educate customers about the benefits of asset diversification.
Watch: Acorns CEO on going public via SPAC
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