Docupace, the back-office automation provider to many RIA firms, has announced the availability of Docupace Next 1.0, the next generation of its wealth operations platform hosted on AWS and built using modern cloud infrastructure.
With Next, the company has introduced a new data architecture and user experience meant to provide advisory firms using it a foundation for new agentic capabilities, in addition to efficiency improvements and scalability.
A central tenet of the Next platform is client data, which, according to the company, has been built around reusable contact records and structured relationships. Firms enter or synchronize information once and use it as a universal client master across custodians, accounts, workflows, documents and connected systems.
“We have built a modern enterprise foundation with client data at its core, which brings together everything we have learned over nearly 25 years of serving wealth management firms. It improves how information moves through wealth operations today and gives us a strong foundation to build on,” wrote Brian Filanowski, CEO of Docupace, who joined the company in February.
Among the new capabilities are the ability to associate a contact or relationship across multiple accounts, consolidated e-signature (documents associated with multiple work items can be combined into a single signing packet), guided account opening (for custodians Pershing, NFS and Axos), expanded integration capabilities (a public GraphQL API for developers), as well as surveillance and compliance oversight to assist firms in meeting regulatory obligations and maintain record of oversight activity.
For existing customers, Docupace Next is designed as an evolution of the platform rather than a rip-and-replace experience, meaning that existing workflows, document history, surveillance and compliance controls and established operational processes carry forward to the new platform, according to the company.
Focus Financial, Nevis Partner
Focus Financial Partners and the advisory AI technology company Nevis have announced a strategic partnership, making the latter its enterprise AI platform across the firm and its subsidiaries.
Focus has undergone a multi-year transformation and is deploying AI at scale as part of its growth strategy, making an undisclosed but “significant investment” in Nevis’ wealth management technology.
“Our partnership with Nevis is about more than adopting a new tool. It’s a fundamental step in building the technology foundation we need for the AI era, and it required a level of capability, security and strategic alignment that few providers could help us build,” said Adam Birenbaum, CEO of Focus Financial Partners.
Focus has more than $500 billion in advised assets on its platforms, according to the firm, and thousands of advisors working across its various business units.
Nevis is part of an increasingly competitive landscape of AI providers to the wealth industry. The company has raised more than $40 million and completed a $35 million Series A capital round led by Sequoia, Iconiq and Ribbit Capital in December 2025. Also, in December, it acquired Ledra AI, a startup specializing in conversation and voice AI.
DeepVest Launches Planning Hub
DeepVest, which describes itself as an agentic front office for financial advisors, has announced the launch of AI-driven financial planning.
Called PlanLab, it’s meant to enable advisors to visualize their clients’ financial life across retirement, taxes, investments, estate planning, insurance, risk, goals, behavioral factors, household details and business ownership.
PlanLab employs deterministic planning calculators for Social Security claiming strategies features, Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, required minimum distributions, estate taxes, annual gifting, among others.
Advisors can upload client documents, including tax returns, statements, trusts or existing financial plans, have PlanLab suggest updates for advisor approval and measure how far the plan has drifted since last reviewed, according to the company. Deepvest also has support for connections with CRM and custodial accounts as well.
The company rolled out an AI planning assistant in May, which allows advisors to ask questions, explore scenarios and identify potential planning opportunities.
In May, DeepVest announced two portfolio personalization capabilities, Advisor Hierarchy and Behavioral Investment Suitability Analysis, to enable financial advisors to deliver personalized, context-aware portfolio analysis at scale.
Acorns Acquires Frich Money
Acorns has announced its acquisition of social finance app Frich Money.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
In addition to earlier seed rounds, the micro-investing robo advisor Acorns has proceeded through venture capital rounds A through F over the years since its founding in 2014. It appears to have raised more than $500 million between its venture capital and private equity financing. Over the last few years, it has grown AUM from $1.15 billion in mid-2019 to more than $13 billion, according to its latest Form ADV.
Advisors have been struggling for years with how to reach and best connect with the younger generations that will inherit the wealth of clients. For Acorns, the acquisition will bring more than 1.6 million subscribers to the social app into close proximity to the services of Acorns.
Frich was co-founded in 2021 by Katrin Kaurov and Aleksandra Medina, and was designed to help Gen Z and millennials build wealth through community-driven engagement. It has received backing from Restive Ventures, TruStage and Antler, among others.