What happens to investors money in Smartly, the Robo-advisor that closed down in March 2020?

I can actually give some insight into this, because we had a recent Robo-Wars episode with 5 CEOs of the robo-advisor comapnies locally. I've found the exact timestamp for you here.

I asked the question quite blatantly: "What happened to Smartly"

To summarise this is what happened:

• Smartly got sold to VCG parnters (vietnam private equity company)

• Not able to become profitable company

• Closed down because not viable any more

• If you were a customer of Smartly you would have gotten an email to move your funds over to Stashaway and get a discount

• Customers were forced to liquidate their holdings and sell at their positions (because it was too small and didn't make sense to move over)

• And therefore re-invest in a new robo-advisor if they want to (many liquidated at a loss)

Conclusion:

• Size does matter in this Robo advisor business

• Need to ensure that your robo advisor platform has enough funds to survive through whatever downturn