Placemark Investments Closes New Round of Funding to Accelerate Growth, Expand Market Share in Managed Accounts Industry

- RBC Technology Ventures, Ascent Venture Partners and North Hill Ventures Lead Latest Round for Pioneering Overlay Portfolio Management Firm -

DALLAS, May, 4 – Placemark Investments, the leading overlay manager to financial services companies offering unified managed accounts (UMAs), today announced it has secured a new round of venture capital led by RBC Technology Ventures, Ascent Venture Partners and North Hill Ventures. The new financing further strengthens the company as it continues to experience rapid growth in employee hiring, establishes new UMA programs with leading sponsors and expands assets under management. The financial terms and amount were not disclosed.

UMAs are becoming a popular wealth management solution with firms looking to grow their fee-based investment programs. UMAs allow advisors to offer their clients a single account that combines multiple investment products, including separately-managed accounts, exchange traded funds and mutual funds for minimums as low as $100,000. Tower Group forecasts managed account assets to grow to over $1 trillion by 2007, with UMAs being a significant driver of that growth. Placemark acts as the overlay manager for all its sponsor's UMA programs, having discretionary control over portfolio trades and implementing advanced program features such as tax management and automated rebalancing.

“In the last year, Placemark has announced new UMA programs with RBC Dain Rauscher, Piper Jaffray & Co. and Janney Montgomery Scott, and we have signed additional deals with leading multinational banks and brokerage firms, ” said Lee Chertavian, CEO of Placemark Investments. “We are pleased that a client as important as RBC Dain Rauscher was so impressed with our services it encouraged RBC Technology Ventures to invest in our company.”

“By providing North American wealth management companies with unique advisory services that fuel UMA programs, Placemark is poised to take advantage of the sector's tremendous future growth potential, ” said Robert Antoniades of RBC Technology Ventures, who has joined the Placemark board of directors."