Acorns

Acorns runs a subscription app that invests spare change from card purchases and recurring deposits into diversified portfolios, and has added retirement accounts, checking, and children's accounts. It was founded in 2012 by Walter Cruttenden and his son Jeff Cruttenden, launched its app in 2014, and is based in Irvine, California. Noah Kerner, an early investor, became chief executive in 2014. The company says it has served more than 16 million customers in total and that over $33 billion has been invested through it since inception, as of August 2026.

Acorns Grow Inc filed Form D notices reporting about $1.1 million sold in 2013, $6.2 million in 2014, $23 million in 2015, $30 million in 2016 and $180 million in an offering filed in February 2019. The $23 million Series C in April 2015 was co-led by Greycroft Partners and e.ventures, with Sound Ventures, Garland Capital and MATH Venture Partners participating, bringing funding to $32 million. In January 2019 Acorns announced a $105 million Series E at an $860 million valuation, with NBCUniversal, Comcast Ventures, DST Global and MSD Capital joining existing investors TPG's The Rise Fund, BlackRock and Bain Capital Ventures. PayPal Ventures has also invested.

In May 2021 Acorns agreed to go public by merging with Pioneer Merger Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, at a valuation of about $2.2 billion, with Wellington Management, Greycroft, TPG and BlackRock funds committing to a private placement. At the time it reported 4 million subscribers. The deal was canceled in January 2022, citing market conditions, and Acorns remains private. It has since acquired Pillar, a student loan management startup, and in 2023 the UK children's banking company GoHenry with its European unit Pixpay. Its SEC Form ADV reported more than $6.2 billion in regulatory assets under management in 2022.

Acorns illustrates the 2021 SPAC route for venture-backed fintech and the risk that a signed merger does not close. Early backers such as Greycroft and e.ventures entered when funding totaled under $35 million; the SPAC price was about two and a half times the 2019 private valuation, but its termination left investors without a listing more than a decade after founding, with growth since then coming through subscriptions and acquisitions.