Robo Advisors – Which Asset Managers Win?

By Caleb Gibbons, CFA, FRM,– Originally at IBankCoin. Reposted with permission

There are more than 140 private tech start ups with valuations of > $1bln, the metric for “Unicorn” status. The typical exit for start ups, regardless of the number of funding rounds they have successfully completed, has traditionally been via Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Q1 2016 IPO market has been as dry as a popcorn fart. No issues in January (1st time since September 2011) and the quietest quarter logged since awful 2009.

As the following chart form the venerable JP Morgan brilliantly shows, unicorns are more shy than we would have guessed, preferring the relative comfort of the private markets (with only a couple of...