Betterment
Fintech/robo-advisorUSA
New to Unitard
βοΈ Markdown
PeakΒ $1.3 BillionToday
~-47%
from peak
- π¦Became a unicorn2017
- πPeak valuation$1.3 Billion β21
- πBecame a Unitard~2022
- πΈLast valuation~$689M
Current status
PitchBook est. $692M (Dec 2025)
The rise & fall
7 moments Β· 2008β2022The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2008
2008
Founded in New York
Jon Stein sets out to automate investing for people who don't want to pick stocks.
Wikipedia
2017
2017
Joins the unicorn club
The robo-advisor pioneer crosses the $1B line as automated investing goes mainstream.
PitchBook
2021
2021
The peak: ~$1.3B in the fintech boom$1.3B
Betterment tops out just as fintech valuations do.
PitchBook
2022
2022
Fintech winter arrives
The 2022 valuation reset hits robo-advisors along with the rest of the sector.
CNBC
2022β23
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2022β23
Glassdoor reviews from the 2022-23 downturn described a pivot toward profitability β layoff rounds, thinning perks, lower starting pay and geography-based pay tiers β plus frequent reorganizations that left some staff unsure of direction, even as reviewers kept praising the engineering talent and the mission.
2022
2022
Marked down β slips out of the club
PitchBook's model puts the valuation at about $692M (end of 2025), 47% below peak; Betterment keeps operating as a private company.
PitchBook
π¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Betterment is a U.S. robo-advisor that pioneered automated investing and reached unicorn status around 2017, peaking near $1.3B in 2021. Amid the 2022 downturn in fintech valuations, third-party estimates (PitchBook) put the company at about $692M at the end of 2025, roughly 47% below peak, classifying it as a fallen unicorn while it remained a private going concern.
Source: PitchBook model estimate as of Dec 31, 2025 (CNBC's fallen-unicorn table, Jun 2026), not a priced round
Founder
Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.
