Micro-investment service Acorns has raised pricing on its lowest subscription tier from $1 to $3.
What's happening: Acorns Lite members will be automatically upgraded to Acorns Personal accounts and billed $3 per month, instead of $1. The change will be applied September 21.
Acorns subscribers recently received emails alerting them to the upcoming changes.
For some, the news wasn't taken so well. People were bothered by the tripling of fees for a micro-investing service used to round up small dollar purchases. With $4.7 billion AUM and 4 million customers, the average Acorn investment account has just over $1000. For these accounts, $36 a year to invest in low cost ETFs is quite costly.
Others disliked the automatic opt-in approach the firm took with customers. "You do not need to take any action," read the email the firm sent out. Customers "experiencing economic hardship" can request to stick with the $1 subscription option
This might make the fintech top 10 sleazy moves of this cycle.@acorns tripling the cost of their service unless you opt out.
— Meb Faber (@MebFaber) July 23, 2021
"You will be upgraded"....
Quick way to ramp your ARR when going public!
So gross.
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 https://t.co/s7I2IlBWZP
In May, Acorns announced plans to go public via a merger with a SPAC. The deal values the fintech at $2.2 billion.
- After the deal is closed, the company will operate as Acorns Holdings, trade under the ticker OAKS, and will continue to be led by CEO Noah Kerner.
- Kerner plans to contribute 10% of his personal ownership in Acorns to fund a program giving shares to eligible customers.