Acorns Hires a Hedge Fund Founder to Help Customers Add Stocks, Crypto

(Bloomberg) -- Acorns Grow Inc. hired Seth Wunder as its first chief investment officer, as the savings and investing startup seeks to broaden the investments available to its customers ahead of its public listing.

Wunder will help the Irvine, California-based firm develop new investment opportunities including those allowing customers to add individual stocks and cryptocurrencies to their portfolios, according to a statement. Wunder joins from Los Angeles-based hedge fund Black-and-White Capital, which he founded in 2016 and was its sole portfolio manager.

“Seth will fuel our ability to offer new and more customized investment offerings that will let everyday Americans be more engaged in their financial futures,” Acorns Chief Executive Officer Noah Kerner said.

Wunder is expected to assume leadership of the management and operational responsibilities of Acorns’ registered investment adviser and broker-dealer subsidiaries, following completion of the licensing process. Wunder will also work on educational resources such as in-app Q&As and interactive learning tools for the investing platform. 

“The opportunity today is that we’re coming out of a pandemic and investors are getting returns,” Wunder said in a phone interview. “We want to continue to educate passive investors, help them have the best tools so that they have power over a piece of their investment.”

The firm, which has counted celebrities including Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Lopez among its investors, agreed in May to go public by combining with blank-check firm Pioneer Merger Corp. in a deal that values Acorns at $2.2 billion. The startup is expecting to complete the merger by the end of the year. The company hired David Hijirida in September as president and announced the appointment Rich Sullivan as chief financial officer in August.

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