Ridgeline, which sells cloud software for running investment management firms, announced on September 16, 2026 that it had raised $250m in a Series E round that valued the company at $1.425bn.
The round was led by Dave Duffield, Ridgeline's founder and chairman, who previously founded PeopleSoft and Workday. It was invitation-only and drew in several customers and people connected to the company, including Motley Fool Ventures, associates of Smead Capital Management and Patrick O'Shaughnessy, chief executive of Positive Sum and host of the Invest Like the Best podcast.
The announcement was datelined Incline Village, Nevada.
“Great enterprise software starts with a team willing to rethink how an industry works. That's what the team at Ridgeline is doing for investment management—building a platform designed not just for where the industry is today, but where it's going. The opportunity ahead is tremendous.”Dave Duffield, Founder and Chairman, Ridgeline
What Ridgeline does
Ridgeline aims to replace the patchwork of older, often on-premise systems that asset and wealth managers use. Its platform combines trading, portfolio accounting, compliance, reporting and client servicing on one data model. The company said a customer typically replaces six to nine older systems when it moves onto Ridgeline.
Ridgeline describes itself as AI-native. It argues that because all of a firm's data sits in one place, AI agents can be given enough permissioned context to carry out tasks such as preparing for client meetings, reconciling accounts and running pre- and post-trade compliance checks, with audit trails built in. It pairs that with managed services in which its own staff handle some operational work.
The company said more than $750bn in assets under management or administration has been committed to the platform. Wealth Management reported that Ridgeline expects that figure to reach $1tn in early 2027, and named Cabot Wealth Management and Tower Bridge Advisors among its clients. Ridgeline has teams in New York, the Bay Area, Reno and Dublin. Forbes has listed it as a "Best Startup Employer", and Global Financial Market Review gave it an award for "Best Use of AI in Finance".
Who invested
Duffield has backed Ridgeline since it started. Wealth Management reported that he co-founded the company in 2017, that it is the sixth company he has launched, and that, according to Bloomberg, he has put more than $400m into it.
Ridgeline highlighted the role of customers in the round. Brendan Mathews, managing partner at Motley Fool Ventures, said his firm had been able to hear directly from colleagues who use the platform every day. Cole Smead, chief executive of Smead Capital Management, said he had used Ridgeline as both a customer and a personal investor.
Ridgeline did not disclose how much it had raised in total before this round.
What the money is for
The company said it would use the money mainly to extend its AI capabilities, expand its managed services, build a customer base in Canada and Europe and fund further product work.
Chief executive Dave Blair said investment managers had historically grown by adding people, systems and costs roughly in line with revenue, and that Ridgeline wanted to let firms grow assets and client numbers without costs rising at the same rate.
Ridgeline did not disclose its headcount or revenue.
Company website: ridgeline.ai