Market Data · Last updated: October 25, 2026
PrivateWealthTech.com Market Data
Wealth firms now spend millions a year on technology per firm, and the market estimates for the sector disagree with each other by a factor of three. Both facts matter.
Ask a room of wealth executives what their technology stack costs and you will get a precise answer. Ask the research industry how big wealth technology is and you will get a spread: $5.21 billion for 2024 from one firm, $18.32 billion from another. The gap is scope. Narrow definitions count platforms and software; broad ones sweep in services, advice delivery, and adjacent fintech revenue. This page shows both, labeled, because hiding the disagreement would be worse than reporting it.
The spending figures inside firms are less contested. Cerulli Associates, surveying large RIAs, found average technology spending projected at $3.3 million per firm, up from $2.9 million, with AI-specific spending set to more than double to $494,000 per firm from $237,000. The firms surveyed averaged $18 billion in assets under management — large firms, in other words, spending real money to keep advisors productive rather than to replace them.
That last point shows up in the hiring data too. Nearly three-quarters of surveyed RIAs expected to add junior advisors over the next two years. Technology, in this market, is a recruiting tool as much as an efficiency tool: 57% of advisors who recently joined a broker-dealer said technology influenced the move.
Key figures
Trend column: each figure is compared with its prior period from the same source, with the prior figure shown. Where no prior-period figure from the same source was available, the figure is labeled Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh.
| Figure | Value | Source | Trend vs prior period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wealthtech solutions market, 2024 (narrow scope) | $5.21 billion | Market Research Future, public summary | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| Wealthtech solutions market forecast, 2035; CAGR 2025–2035 | $21.85 billion; 13.92% | Market Research Future, public summary | ▲ Projected growth vs 2024: $5.21 billion (same Market Research Future series) |
| WealthTech market, 2024 (broad scope) | $18.32 billion | Next Move Strategy Consulting, public summary | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| WealthTech market forecast, 2030; CAGR 2025–2030 | $71.59 billion; 25.5% | Next Move Strategy Consulting, public summary | ▲ Projected growth vs 2024: $18.32 billion (same Next Move series) |
| Average RIA technology spending per firm, projected (from prior year) | $3.3 million (from $2.9 million) | Cerulli Associates via Barron's | ▲ Up vs prior year: $2.9 million |
| Average RIA AI-specific spending per firm, projected (from 2025) | $494,000 (from $237,000) | Cerulli Associates via Barron's | ▲ Up vs 2025: $237,000 |
| Advisors saying technology influenced a recent broker-dealer move | 57% | Cerulli via Connect Money | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
| U.S. WealthTech funding, 2024 (from prior year) | $8.2 billion (from $23.1 billion, down 65%) | FinTech Global research, public summary | ▼ Down vs prior year: $23.1 billion (down 65%) |
| Independent RIA channel assets (retail subsegment) | $3.5 trillion | Cerulli via WealthManagement.com | Baseline (October 2026) — trend tracking starts with the next refresh |
Reading the numbers
The funding collapse and the spending growth are not a contradiction. Venture funding into WealthTech fell 65% in the U.S. in 2024 while incumbent firms raised their own technology budgets — a rotation from startup bets to in-house build and vendor consolidation, not a retreat from technology.
Read the two market-size series as bookends, not as a trend line. They come from different firms with different definitions, and joining them into one growth curve would manufacture a precision neither source claims.
Methodology
Included: public research summaries of market size (two scopes, both labeled), Cerulli survey spending figures as reported by Barron's and Connect Money, and FinTech Global funding totals. Excluded: paywalled Cerulli report detail, vendor press-release revenue claims that could not be cross-checked, and any figure behind a login or paywall. Figures were chosen to show both the market's size and what firms actually spend.
Disclaimer. Public figures change as new reports are published, and estimates from different firms are built on different definitions, so a single headline total should never be read as a precise count. Figures on this page are aggregated public estimates compiled for information only. They are not investment, legal, tax, or professional advice, and they do not predict future results. Where sources disagree, both figures are shown and the difference is explained rather than averaged away.
Sources
- Market Research Future — Wealthtech Solutions market $5.21B (2024) to $21.85B (2035)
- Next Move Strategy Consulting — WealthTech market $18.32B (2024) to $71.59B (2030)
- Barron's — Cerulli RIA technology and AI spending survey
- Connect Money — Cerulli: 57% of advisors influenced by technology in a move
- FinTech Global — U.S. WealthTech funding $23.1B to $8.2B in 2024
- WealthManagement.com — Cerulli independent RIA channel $3.5 trillion
Changelog
- October 2026: Initial edition — market size (narrow and broad scopes), forecasts, RIA technology and AI spending, WealthTech funding, and channel assets established; trend indicators added to every figure (prior-period figures shown where the same source publishes them; all other figures labeled Baseline (October 2026)).