Shares of digital wealth management platform Wealthfront closed at $14.19 on Friday, up just 1%, indicating lukewarm demand for its public market debut.

The Palo Alto, California-based fintech filed for an initial public offering on Dec. 2, the latest in a flurry of U.S. Fintech IPOs this year that included Klarna and Chime, among others.

In an S-1 amendment filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Wealthfront had said it planned to raise nearly $485 million in the IPO by selling 34.6 million shares, including stock offered by existing shareholders, at a price range of $12 to $14 each. Then on December 11, it announced the pricing of its IPO at $14 — the top of its marketed range. 

It had filed confidentially for a U.S. initial public offering in June. 

The offering raised about $484.6 million for the company, whose shares are trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker WLTH. It set an initial valuation of around $2.05 billion.

It’s difficult to pinpoint any one factor for Wealthfront’s relatively flat debut. It is likely reflective of the choppy markets as we head towards year’s end, as well as muted investor appetite after several fintech IPOs this year started strong only to sputter as time went on. The fact that Wealthfront sees significant revenue from interest on cash accounts rather than purely investment fees may have also dampened investor enthusiasm.

Wealthfront helps people invest and manage their money without needing a traditional human financial advisor. Its model has evolved over the years, with the company recently branching out into home lending, putting it in competition with Rocket Mortgage and Better Mortgage.

In a blog post on Friday, CEO David Fortunato wrote that becoming a public company would not change Wealthfront’s business model, or its “focus on low fees.”

“What we intend to change is our pace of product expansion and ecosystem improvement,” he wrote. “We can do more to serve your needs, and I believe this step will accelerate our progress.”

Looking ahead, Fortunato said that the company plans to launch improved self-directed investing, better joint finance management, and expanded access and features for Wealthfront Home Lending, its new technology-driven mortgage experience.  

Wealthfront had 359 employees as of July 31, 2025.

Wealthfront is profitable, according to its filings. As of July 31, it reported net income of $123 million on 26% higher year-over-year revenue growth of $339 million. It also had over 1.3 million funded clients who on average, reported earning approximately $165,000 per year. Interestingly, according to its filings, about 77% of its individual-funded clients were born after 1980, and the average age of its individual-funded clients was about 38 years old.

“Gen Z has increasingly contributed to more of our client base over time,” the company said in its filings.

Other investment platforms that have been growing as they cater to Gen Z include Robinhood and Public, among others.

"We’ve seen younger generations have greater financial literacy earlier in their lives than previous generations. Therefore they tend to want control over their portfolios even if they’re managed," said Leif Abraham, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Public, "AI will play a massive role how younger generations construct their portfolios, blending control and automated management."

Wealthfront has raised more than $274 million in funding since its 2008 inception, per Crunchbase data. Investors include Slow Ventures, Index Ventures, Benchmark, Spark Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Tiger Global Management, among others. Wealthfront was set to be acquired by UBS as part of the Swiss bank’s strategy to expand its digital and U.S. wealth-management business. But that $1.4 billion deal fell apart in September 2022.

It’s been a busier-than-usual year for fintech IPOs, at least compared to recent years. Since the beginning of 2025, several companies in the fintech space have either gone public or filed to do so, including Chime, Circle, Klarna, Navan, and Figure. Although many had impressive debuts, shares have since settled down somewhat.