18. Personal Capital

A 360-degree view of your finances

Bill Harris, co-founder and CEO, Personal Capital
Source: Personal Capital
Bill Harris, co-founder and CEO, Personal Capital

Founders: Bill Harris, Rob Foregger
Date launched: 2009
Funding: $104.3 million
Industries disrupted: Traditional financial advisors, online financial advisors

Personal Capital, a Redwood City, California-based online financial services and wealth management firm, believes combining technology and people is the new model for investing. The company has no branch offices, but it offers human advisors as well as automated investing and online account-tracking tools.

Read MoreFULL LIST: 2015 DISRUPTOR 50

It can link a customer's accounts—bank, brokerage, 401(k), mortgage, credit cards and loan statements—together. Customers can then easily view the whole picture online or through the company's mobile app "dashboard" with crisp graphics, including a pie chart that categorizes spending.

Before co-founder and CEO Bill Harris started the company in 2009, he was CEO of PayPal and Intuit. He figured that folks saving for retirement wanted more transparency—and control—over their financial lives and that by combining the ever-growing power of technology with the wisdom of seasoned advisors, he could offer that.

Personal Capital's fees range depending on the size of the account, sliding from 0.89 percent of assets down to 0.49 percent. Earlier this year, it hit the $1 billion assets-under-management mark, with 700,000 registered users. The minimum investment for wealth management is $100,000 (that includes a complimentary session with an advisor), but the online dashboard is free.

At press time the company had raised $104.3 million in venture capital from such firms as Jump Capital, Venrock, Institutional Venture Partners and BlackRock.

"The biggest problem in the financial lives of most American families is managing their investments and retirement savings. We knew there was a better way, and we became the first digital wealth-management company offering state-of-the-art tools and an unbiased advisory service." -Bill Harris, co-founder and CEO, Personal Capital

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