Signature Estate & Investment Advisors has partnered with data and technology platform Invent to consolidate its enterprise data from multiple custodians, business lines and technology platforms into a single, governed data foundation. The firm manages more than $36 billion in assets and previously managed data across several different systems, including its advisory and broker/dealer businesses and an in-house turnkey asset management platform. This massive consolidation effort allows the firm to streamline operations and ensure that critical information is accessible across the entire organization without duplication or error.
Connecting the Dots
Advait Kulkarni, senior vice president of technology operations at SEIA, said the firm had been using a homegrown system of data architecture that required difficult upkeep and depended on legacy connectors with their own challenges. “Before I joined, a lot of our work was distributed across four or five different systems, some homegrown, some off the shelf, with a few connectors between some of it,” Kulkarni said. “Basically, we had a very fragmented tech stack with multiple layers being shoe-horned to do specific things.”
SEIA has been making do with this fragmented environment for reporting, but the collaboration with Invent has improved the firm’s capabilities and reduced reliance on legacy software. The firm previously managed data across multiple custodians, its advisory and broker/dealer businesses and its in-house turnkey asset management platform, requiring significant manual work to clean, reconcile and prepare for reporting. The unified data environment from Invent provides the foundation for “SEIA Brain,” the firm’s proprietary AI framework designed to help employees across marketing, sales, finance, operations and compliance securely access information, automate routine workflows and uncover insights using natural-language interactions.
While many all-in-one agentic platforms promise a single solution, Invent positions itself as an independent ecosystem that remains agnostic, allowing firms to use whatever existing technology they prefer from third-party vendors. “Data is the biggest challenge,” said Oleg Tishkevich, founder and CEO of Invent, which was launched in 2019. “Having an independent ecosystem means we are completely agnostic, allowing the firms to use whatever [existing technology] they want to use [from third-party vendors], and that is the key difference between what we do and many of the all-in-one agentic AI systems on the market,” he said.
Scalable Infrastructure
Many registered investment advisors rely on deterministic technology that provides consistent, repeatable answers because they are SEC-registered firms. In contrast, AI platforms often remain probabilistic. Both Kulkarni and Tishkevich declined to discuss the cost of the buildout, noting that it varies based on how many data sources and third-party providers a firm relies on. “The starting point is pretty low, especially for smaller firms,” Tishkevich said, adding that the company works with firms under $1 billion in assets under management and provides a growth platform and ability to scale.
Davis Janowski, a senior technology editor at Wealth Management, covers technology trends across consumer, business, and financial sectors from New York. Before joining the publication six years ago, he analyzed digital wealth management at Forrester Research. He also worked at two FinTech companies: Wealthfront and FeeX, Inc., which later became Pontera. His career in advisor technology began in 2007 when he became InvestmentNews’ first dedicated reporter on the topic.
Janowski’s journalism roots trace back to 1999, when he started as an editor at PC Magazine and later served as an analyst and product reviewer. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Wealth Management, Financial Planning, RIABiz, InvestmentNews, PC Magazine, various industry blogs, and books, including Technology Tools for Today’s High Margin Practice. Beyond writing, he has spoken and moderated at numerous conferences. Outside work, he leads kayaking tours with Manhattan Kayak Company in New York City.
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