Founded & Exited

    Pritle

    Europe's pioneering independent online wealth manager, a robo-advisor that made investing accessible, transparent, and affordable for thousands of Europeans. Founded by Thomas Bunnik in 2014 and acquired by BinckBank for €12.5 million in 2017, marking the first robo-advisory acquisition in continental Europe.

    Pritle online wealth management platform displayed on MacBook

    6,500

    Customers

    €60M

    Assets Under Management

    4

    European Countries

    €5M

    Funding Raised

    The Platform

    Pritle Experience

    Pritle website homepage showing online wealth management interface
    Pritle robo-advisor platform on tablet device
    Pritle mobile app on iPhone showing investment portfolio
    Pritle team working at the Amsterdam office

    Democratizing Wealth Management

    Pritle was born from Thomas Bunnik's conviction that millions of Europeans deserved better, more accessible investment services. After eight years in banking at ABN AMRO (2006–2014), he saw firsthand how traditional wealth management excluded ordinary people with high fees, opaque structures, and inaccessible minimums. View Pritle on Crunchbase.

    In 2014, Thomas began developing Pritle, a fully online, automated wealth management platform. Becoming a client took only a few minutes: you created a profile, set a financial goal, and determined your time horizon. Pritle's technology automatically created a customized portfolio of cost-efficient, mostly index funds. Portfolios were systematically optimized quarterly, with investment risk gradually reduced as goals neared completion.

    Clients invested for goals like supplementing their pension, funding their children's education, or realizing long-cherished dreams. Goals could be changed and adjusted at any time, free of charge.

    As Thomas said at the time: "In 2014 we started with the development of our online wealth management service because we saw an opportunity to create a more accessible and user friendly wealth management alternative with the use of technology for millions of people across Europe."

    The Acquisition

    On March 17, 2017, BinckBank announced the acquisition of Pritle for €12.5 million (€7.5 million in cash and €5 million in BinckBank shares). At the time, Pritle had 6,500 customers with approximately €60 million in assets under management and a team of 28 employees across 10 nationalities.

    Vincent Germyns, Chairman of BinckBank, stated: "Together with Pritle, we bring a state-of-the-art online portfolio management platform and a driven entrepreneurial team in-house. With the acquisition, BinckBank becomes one of the front runners in the wealth management industry in Europe."

    The deal was notably the first acquisition of a retail robo-advisor in continental Europe, following similar acquisitions in the US by BlackRock, Invesco, Northwestern Mutual, and Goldman Sachs.

    The Journey

    Key Milestones

    2014

    Founded

    Thomas Bunnik founded Pritle after leaving ABN AMRO, seeing an opportunity to democratize wealth management using technology.

    2015

    Acquisition of Fundix N.V.

    Pritle acquired the financially licensed investment firm Fundix N.V. to kickstart the business development process. The existing software was replaced with a newly developed platform for Pritle. Fundix was subsequently split up and partially resold to another financial firm to maintain the customers suiting the digital wealth management vision.

    2015–2016

    European Expansion

    Expanded operations to Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland, building one of the first pan-European robo-advisors.

    2017

    Acquired by BinckBank for €12.5M

    BinckBank acquired Pritle for €12.5 million (€7.5M cash + €5M in shares), the first robo-advisory acquisition in continental Europe.

    2018

    Thomas Departs BinckBank

    After overseeing the integration, Thomas resigned from BinckBank to travel Latin America and prepare his next venture.