Savings Platform UNest Finds Momentum And Growth With Funding From Real All-Star Investor

Access to financial experts and sophisticated investment tools have long been a hallmark resource for wealthy and high-income families. Households that sit on other parts of the income spectrum are often forced to be more hands-on, relying on complex and less intuitive systems.

Particularly during periods of economic turbulence like the ones experienced throughout this year, resource discrepancies like this can create real and long-term financial challenges for the average family.

One financial technology company has emerged as a solution to help parents and families become financially astute and save more easily for important events like attending college.

UNest is a financial technology platform that helps parents save and invest in their children’s futures. The company simplifies the process of opening and managing savings accounts like a 529 Plan, which is a college savings plan that many parents navigate for their children’s long-term education.

Think of it as a modern and millennial alternative to what’s being offered by companies like Vanguard or Fidelity. Ease-of-use and simplicity are core parts of the value proposition of the UNest mobile app.

Recently, I had an opportunity to interview Ksenia Yudina, the company’s founder, and one of its recent investors, former NBA All-Star Baron Davis, whose name is well known among sports fans. 

Yudina, founder and CEO of UNest, is not like most traditional tech founders. From what I gathered, she doesn’t spend much time in Silicon Valley, she’s not trying to build something that’s simply following a trend, and she’s taking a lot of action at a time when others are demonstrating more reluctance.

When asked why she started the company, it’s clear that the idea stemmed from a real need in the market.

“What inspired me to start UNest was the high cost of college. No one is helping parents understand when is the right time to start saving. The student debt is nearly $1.7 trillion. I came to this problem from two dimensions, one personal and one professional. On the personal front, I graduated from UCLA with an MBA and had a huge student loan bill. Professionally, I spent four years working at Capital Group, which is the number one provider of 529 Plan solutions,” said Yudina.

“I would get questions from my friends about the best ways to save and I would provide them with these long documents from my company. They would be shocked because they are used to easy tools like Robinhood, Acorns, and things like that. I realized there was an opportunity to solve this problem with technology and it can be a mission-driven process. We aren’t just trying to build technology.”

Her prior work at the investment company Capital Group provided an opportunity to gain deep domain expertise in the financial space. Her transition from a corporate environment to startup founder has already gained her industry acclaim, with a recent highlight of being named on the ‘Investment News 40 Under 40’ list.

As UNest began establishing a foothold in the space, Yudina recognized that she could benefit from additional funding, network connections, and visibility. 

Former NBA superstar and broadcaster Baron Davis was the perfect fit. 

He joined as an investor and brand ambassador during the company’s recent $9 million funding round in June of this year. This brings the total amount that UNest raised to $12.8 million. 

While he’s had an extremely successful professional sports career with multiple all-star appearances and countless accolades, Davis has continued his momentum off-the-court with a strong portfolio of investments, which now includes UNest. 

“For me, it’s about changing the brand ambassador name to a champion. The [UNest] platform has all the healthy financial fruits, vegetables, and vitamins you need. The role is about finding other champions who are equally passionate about this…This is a company that the community can rally around,” said Davis.

The two were introduced by a mutual friend who is also an investor in UNest. They immediately found that they have a lot of similarities. 

In addition to both being parents, they also each had strong connections to UCLA, where they both did some schooling, and they both share a strong interest in the mission of UNest.

Davis explained that his passion for financial literacy stems from his belief that it can be a tool to learn and grow, especially for kids growing up in the inner city, just as he did. 

He reflected on his childhood and how he was taught the importance of saving early on.

“When I was young…my grandfather would take the change out of his pocket and put it on the desk before he went to sleep. I would sit there and line up the pennies, nickels, and dimes. I remember him telling me that if I can count it, I could keep it and put it in my piggy bank. I still do that to this day,” said Davis. 

Ksenia and Baron’s passion for empowering consumers to be smarter about money was very clear to me during the interview. Their tone and body language demonstrated a clear and unique sincerity to the cause.

This energy and passion could serve the company well as the financial space continues to heat up. The recent growth and adoption of design-centric platforms like Robinhood, Chime, and others make the broader financial technology market very appealing to new investors and entrepreneurs alike.

To address the complementary opportunities in the market, UNest recently announced they acquired the child gifting and savings company Littlefund. While specific financial details of the acquisition weren’t disclosed, it’s reported that the move will double UNest’s user base to an estimated 60,000. 

So what’s next for UNest? It appears Yudina has some ambitious plans for the future.

“We want to continue our mission in helping kids and parents prepare for the future while establishing a leadership position in the market…We are now launching a new type of account that will help parents to properly save not only for education but also for other milestones and financial goals like buying your first house or car or saving for the wedding date, with tax benefits and no penalties for early withdrawals,” she said.

For the parents and families that remain steadfast about their financial goals, it’s likely that they will become increasingly more familiar with companies like UNest.

The full video interview can be found here.