Invest Blue invests $2m in Lumiant’s digital platform



Invest Blue has announced a strategic partnership with Lumiant to build a cloud-based platform that would boost advice clients’ engagement and satisfaction.
Its managing director, David Stephen, would join the Lumiant board and the firm would provide $2 million in seed capital towards developing Lumiant’s digital platform.
The platform was expected to assist over 100 financial advisers across 30 locations, according to Invest Blue.
“Our mission is to become Australia’s trusted home of great advice, and we believe a platform that facilitates more meaningful client conversations and generates deeper client insights will help build trust,” Stephen said.
“Technology enables the efficient, consistent and scalable delivery of high quality advice, and we are excited about partnering with Lumiant to develop the platform and embed it in our business.”
The $2 million investment would follow Invest Blue’s strategic partnership with outsourcing company Virtual Business Partners in August last year.
According to Santiago Burridge, founder and chief executive of Lumiant, its client-centric design brought together a client’s financial position, goals, and values under one roof.
“Our advice delivery modules support advisers in visualising their advice and engaging clients around important trade-off conversations that increase their comprehension and motivation,” Burridge said.
“It brings everything that is important to the client together in one place, enabling advisers to deliver a tailored experience.”
Invest Blue considered the partnership a “competitive advantage” towards its ambitious goals.
Stephen explained: “Our investment in key components of the advice process will help ensure that Invest Blue can deliver advice at scale. With the banks out of personal advice, we want to help fill the void, not only in terms of making advice affordable and accessible to more Australians but in terms of employing and training the next generation of advice professionals.”
In March, the advice firm announced it would adopt a nine-day fortnight pilot to support employee wellbeing and productivity, at a cost of $1.9 million annually.
This would further signal to the market that Invest Blue was an “innovative and progressive firm”, Stephen added.
“We believe people are attracted to progressive, client-focused businesses,” he said.
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Is it ethical to partner with Virtual Business Partners to outsource Australian jobs overseas? I purposely avoid businesses that have this business model.