Dive Brief:
- Fintech app Acorns, which focuses on saving and investing capabilities, on Wednesday announced the appointment of Rich Sullivan, former head of corporate finance and FP&A at Twitter, as CFO.
- Upon Sullivan’s start date on Monday, Jasmine Lee, who has served as Acorns’ CFO-COO, moved into the standalone COO role.
- In May, Acorns, which has more than 4 million users, shared plans to go public through a merger with Pioneer Merger Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021, Pioneer said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filling.
Dive Insight:
Prior to Twitter, Sullivan served as CFO at STX Entertainment and deputy CFO at DreamWorks Animation, roles in which he led FP&A, M&A strategy, treasury and investor relations. He also spent three years as vice president of investor relations at AT&T.
“Rich brings a unique combination of expertise, vision, and commitment to mission,” CEO Noah Kerner said in a statement. “Our next [growth phase] will only be fueled by his leadership.”
Sullivan's experience with subscription-based revenue models was part of the draw, Kerner told TechCrunch. That and his experience at a high-growth tech company whose products are family-focused "are obviously all really relevant to what we're doing," he said.
Acorns sits at the cross-section of technology, financial services, and social responsibility, Sullivan told CFO Dive. “Because of their mission focus, they can be one of the most impactful companies in the space."
Sullivan’s priority in the role will be to help guide Acorns through the SPAC process. “Beyond that, it's really just about helping Acorns execute,” he said.
The transaction with Pioneer Merger assigns Acorns an expected $2.2 billion valuation, the SEC filing said.
Acorns, as a public company, will have “multiple avenues” of future growth, Sullivan said. “We have a large addressable market, with over 4 million subscribers, but I think there's over 200 million potential investors in the United States that are underserved by financial services today and can benefit from having access to responsible tools that make investing easy and accessible.”
Sullivan envisions the company will continue accelerating into higher premium tiers, and delivering a suite of new features products. “Those are going to be the key drivers for us as we start to penetrate the large addressable market,” he said. “The company will probably be continuing activity, or strategic acquisitions, and even expanding outside the United States at some point. So there's a big growth trajectory ahead."
