Close Menu
TechBrunchTechBrunch
  • Home
  • AI
  • Apps
  • Crypto
  • Security
  • Startups
  • TechCrunch
  • Venture

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news

Subscribe my Newsletter for New Posts & tips Let's stay updated!

What's Hot

Jack Dorsey says his “safe” new bitchat app hasn't been tested for security

July 9, 2025

Hallucinations about soundslice on chatgpt music app frequently, founders have made to lie

July 9, 2025

David George on the Future to be released in 2025

July 9, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
TechBrunchTechBrunch
  • Home
  • AI

    OpenAI seeks to extend human lifespans with the help of longevity startups

    January 17, 2025

    Farewell to the $200 million woolly mammoth and TikTok

    January 17, 2025

    Nord Security founder launches Nexos.ai to help enterprises move AI projects from pilot to production

    January 17, 2025

    Data proves it remains difficult for startups to raise capital, even though VCs invested $75 billion in the fourth quarter

    January 16, 2025

    Apple suspends AI notification summaries for news after generating false alerts

    January 16, 2025
  • Apps

    Hallucinations about soundslice on chatgpt music app frequently, founders have made to lie

    July 9, 2025

    Google brings gemini to wear OS watches and adds AI modes to circles to search

    July 9, 2025

    Gmail's new “Manage Subscriptions” tool helps you organize your inbox

    July 8, 2025

    OneText raises $4.5 million from Khosla's Y Combinator and reinvents textual shopping

    July 8, 2025

    The ordinance reports that it will release a US-specific version of Capcut

    July 8, 2025
  • Crypto

    Vitalik Buterin reserves for Sam Altman's global project

    June 28, 2025

    Calci will close a $185 million round as rival Polymeruk reportedly seeks $200 million

    June 25, 2025

    Stablecoin Evangelist: Katie Haun's Battle of Digital Dollars

    June 22, 2025

    Hackers steal and destroy millions of Iran's biggest crypto exchanges

    June 18, 2025

    Unique, a new social media app

    June 17, 2025
  • Security

    Jack Dorsey says his “safe” new bitchat app hasn't been tested for security

    July 9, 2025

    Get the exhibition tables on TechCrunch Confuse 2025

    July 9, 2025

    How to protect your mobile number from SIM swap attacks

    July 9, 2025

    The US government has confirmed Covid research and arrests of Chinese citizens accused of stealing mass hacking email servers

    July 8, 2025

    After PC player was hacked, Activision defeated the Call of Duty game, sources say

    July 8, 2025
  • Startups

    7 days left: Founders and VCs save over $300 on all stage passes

    March 24, 2025

    AI chip startup Furiosaai reportedly rejecting $800 million acquisition offer from Meta

    March 24, 2025

    20 Hottest Open Source Startups of 2024

    March 22, 2025

    Andrill may build a weapons factory in the UK

    March 21, 2025

    Startup Weekly: Wiz bets paid off at M&A Rich Week

    March 21, 2025
  • TechCrunch

    OpenSea takes a long-term view with a focus on UX despite NFT sales remaining low

    February 8, 2024

    AI will save software companies' growth dreams

    February 8, 2024

    B2B and B2C are not about who buys, but how you sell

    February 5, 2024

    It's time for venture capital to break away from fast fashion

    February 3, 2024

    a16z's Chris Dixon believes it's time to focus on blockchain use cases rather than speculation

    February 2, 2024
  • Venture

    David George on the Future to be released in 2025

    July 9, 2025

    Edo Liberty explores missed links for Enterprise AI in 2025

    July 9, 2025

    Avoid the pitfalls that stall startup funding with TC at every stage

    July 9, 2025

    TC starts all stages in Boston, six days until the end of savings up to $475

    July 9, 2025

    European VCs break taboos by investing in pure defense technology from the Ukrainian war zone

    July 9, 2025
TechBrunchTechBrunch

Aster's “community” approach to financial advice aims to make women more confident about investing.

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchJuly 16, 20245 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Telegram LinkedIn Tumblr WhatsApp Email
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Telegram Email


Among my friends, Lindsay Dorff is the individual investor's superpower when it comes to understanding investments, and she has become the go-to person for advice.

“I had a lot of friends asking me for investment advice,” Dolph told TechCrunch. “What I really saw was two things: One, the people I was around were smart, but they didn't have the confidence to invest. And two, what I was figuring out on the institutional side from my time at BlackRock wasn't translating to the retail sector.”

She started thinking about building her own tool to help her friends, especially her female friends, feel more confident about investing. Thus, Aster was born, a free personal finance platform for women that blends community and investing in an approachable way. Through community, women feel more comfortable asking if they're making the right decisions, Dolph said.

After downloading Astor, users input all of their bank and brokerage information into the app to understand their current financial situation. Users will then be able to see a network of available funds, including emergency funds, savings goals, retirement investment accounts, and personal investment accounts.

This is similar to what the previous financial planning app Mint did to show individuals' net worth, Dolph said, though Aster is not a brokerage and users cannot currently trade on the platform.

Astor also provides a breakdown of investments showing annual returns and users' investment strategies against markets such as the S&P 500. Holdings are categorized by performance, asset class, and returns.

There's also a gamified feature called Path to Wealth that takes a user's money strategy and uses its insights as a sort of “game of life” to simplify their financial journey, like setting up an emergency fund, and show them what new savings goals are achievable and easy to tackle, once they're ready.

“We'll help you on your journey to understand where you are and what you're ready for,” Dolph said.

This is where the community aspect comes in: Investing allows users to compare their returns and portfolio breakdowns with others. To emphasize privacy, Dolf says users only see their allocation percentages, not the amount they invested.

“After they see their investment risk and return, they can look at my profile and see their own risk and return,” she said. “For example, compared to my investments, maybe my risk is high but my return is low. Then they can go into the app and start a conversation about why that is. It's empowering for users by learning why they made that strategy.”

Aster, an investment appAn example of Astor's social and wealth dashboard. Image courtesy of Astor

Why focus on women? Aster research found that women are three times more likely to invest with confidence when they know what people similar to them are doing with their money. But women don't find that trend on other social investing platforms, such as eToro, where most users are male, Dolf said.

The female-focused fintech space is already pretty crowded, with Dolf seeing companies like Frich, Alinea, Ellevest, Your Juno and Clever Girl Finance as competitors.

But Dolph said Astor is different in a few ways. One is that many apps are in typical finance-intensive areas like budgeting, whereas Astor is focused on investing. Another is its community feature, helping people feel more confident in the strategies they choose and learning from similar people in the community and those with similar goals about what works best for them in the short and long term.

“Rather than Aster giving you advice, it's about you getting on the platform, understanding your situation and leveraging the community to make the decisions you want to make,” Dolph said.

Plus, Dolph's background gives her an advantage: A decade ago, her first job out of college was at BlackRock's fintech platform, Aladdin, building products for portfolio managers. She continued her top-tier career education at Google, where she learned how to build tools for consumers and how to improve them together with users.

When Dolph was ready to start building Aster in 2021, she applied to Harvard's two-year MS/MBA program, a joint program between the School of Engineering and the School of Business, which she described as “kind of like an incubator, where you do the engineering part of actually building the product, and the business part of taking it to market.”

While at Harvard, Dolph competed in and won several business plan competitions, and seed funding from NFX and the MBA Fund enabled Aster to hire an engineering team and begin building during the second half of the program’s second year.

The company closed funding in March from Stellation Capital, TMV, NFX, MBA Fund, and a group of angel investors totaling $1.4 million, which enabled the company to hire additional engineering, design, and marketing employees, start a waitlist in April, and welcome more than 2,000 users to the platform by the end of May.

Earlier this month, the company did away with its waitlist and now has more than 3,000 users, most of whom are women between the ages of 20 and 35. With hundreds of conversations starting on the platform every week, Aster has hired certified financial planners to provide coaching to users.

Dolf declined to go into details about how the company makes money at this time, saying, “We are currently learning from our audience and will be introducing new features and services in the coming months.”

Going forward, the company's focus will shift to product development and building its user base and community.

“We want our users to think of their financial wellness as part of their overall health,” Dolph said. “When people stress about money, it can be a huge source of anxiety. Over the coming months, we'll be building out the pillars of financial wellness as well as new features our users have asked for.”



Source link

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

7 days left: Founders and VCs save over $300 on all stage passes

March 24, 2025

AI chip startup Furiosaai reportedly rejecting $800 million acquisition offer from Meta

March 24, 2025

20 Hottest Open Source Startups of 2024

March 22, 2025

Andrill may build a weapons factory in the UK

March 21, 2025

Startup Weekly: Wiz bets paid off at M&A Rich Week

March 21, 2025

Wayve CEO shares his key elements for scaling autonomous driving technology

March 21, 2025

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Top Reviews
Editors Picks

7 days left: Founders and VCs save over $300 on all stage passes

March 24, 2025

AI chip startup Furiosaai reportedly rejecting $800 million acquisition offer from Meta

March 24, 2025

20 Hottest Open Source Startups of 2024

March 22, 2025

Andrill may build a weapons factory in the UK

March 21, 2025
About Us
About Us

Welcome to Tech Brunch, your go-to destination for cutting-edge insights, news, and analysis in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cryptocurrency, Technology, and Startups. At Tech Brunch, we are passionate about exploring the latest trends, innovations, and developments shaping the future of these dynamic industries.

Our Picks

Jack Dorsey says his “safe” new bitchat app hasn't been tested for security

July 9, 2025

Hallucinations about soundslice on chatgpt music app frequently, founders have made to lie

July 9, 2025

David George on the Future to be released in 2025

July 9, 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss our latest news

Subscribe my Newsletter for New Posts & tips Let's stay updated!

© 2025 TechBrunch. Designed by TechBrunch.
  • Home
  • About Tech Brunch
  • Advertise with Tech Brunch
  • Contact us
  • DMCA Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.