Snappy Kraken Delays JOLT Conference: Tech Roundup

What You Need to Know

Snappy Kraken is the latest firm to delay a conference until 2022 due to the pandemic.
New UBS funding will be used by the Lynk AI-driven platform to expand its offerings and global reach.
Adhesion Wealth has partnered with Addepar to offer customizable investment management solutions for RIAs.

Snappy Kraken is the latest firm to delay a conference until 2022 due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

The company has moved its JOLT! conference, originally scheduled for Oct. 20-22, to May 4-6 at the Aria in Las Vegas, it said.

“As the financial services industry grapples with whether to proceed with in-person conferences, let alone how to implement safety protocols at a time when substance and enforceability varies by state, moving the event seven months out is a decision arrived at after careful consideration and discussion with Snappy Kraken stakeholders,” Snappy Kraken said in a statement.

“This is a decision we at Snappy Kraken chose after extensive deliberation and is one which feels right for us. We are hopeful that by the time JOLT! kicks off next Spring, the COVID-19 delta variant’s spread will be better contained…. When we finally convene, we want to do so at ease with our choice, and we want our attendees to revel in the first-ever marketing conference for advisors.”

UBS Investment Bank Boosts Funding of AI Platform

Lynk, an artificial intelligence-driven knowledge-as-a-service platform, received new funding from UBS’ Investment Bank division as part of a Series B funding round, the companies said in a joint announcement on Wednesday.

The UBS funding boosts Lynk’s total funding to date to $35 million and the funds will be used to expand Lynk’s offerings and global reach.

“Led by the Principal Investments team within the UBS Investment Bank business division, this latest funding will further strengthen the collaboration between UBS and Lynk around the shared objective of helping customers make better, more informed investment and business decisions,” the firms said.

Adhesion Partners With Addepar

Adhesion Wealth, a managed account provider for RIAs, entered into a partnership with the Addepar technology platform for wealth management to offer customizable investment management solutions for RIAs, the companies said.

With the partnership, RIAs “can benefit from greater reporting flexibility and recoup costly administrative time,” the firms said.

Adhesion advisors will gain access to Addepar’s portfolio reporting and analytics platform that will enable them to “deliver robust analysis and actionable insights to clients at a higher level of detail,” the companies said.

The Addepar platform aggregates data from over 250 proprietary data feeds and seamlessly integrates with advisory firms’ existing software via modern application programming interfaces (APIs), enabling them to deliver a “tailored and differentiated client experience,” according to the company.

Addepar clients who seek unified managed account and separately managed account capabilities benefit from a seamless data integration with Adhesion, they said.