Give every RIA the same quality of information the people negotiating with them already have.
One platform for the firms, the buyers, and the vendors, built around the advisor.
Why we built it
An advisor deciding whether to go independent, replace a CRM, hire a partner, or sell a practice is usually working from a mix of conference hallway talk, a vendor’s own marketing, and whatever a broker tells them their firm is worth. The data exists. It is just fragmented across regulatory filings, private conversations, and a dozen closed systems that do not talk to each other.
We put it in one place: public filing data on every registered firm in the country, a structured directory of the technology and service providers who serve them, and a scoring and valuation layer built from what firms actually report about how they operate, not from industry averages.
What we do
RIA Ascent puts the RIA industry, the firms, the buyers, and the vendors, in one place, with the data behind every decision. It is one platform where registered investment advisors, the firms that want to buy them, and the vendors that serve them come together. The core tools are free for advisors. Buyers and vendors pay to reach them.
How it works
A picture of where your firm stands: a benchmarked score, a valuation range that improves as you share more, and vendor and partner matches based on your firm’s actual shape rather than a sponsored listing. You control what you disclose, and to whom.
Subscription access to the marketplace and the intelligence layer: real firms, opted in, with the diligence work already partly done.
What we believe
- Advisors should not have to pay to understand their own business.
- A valuation is only as good as its inputs, so we show our methodology and label our confidence.
- Nobody buys a listing on this platform. Placement follows fit.
- Firms own their data. Sharing is opt-in, at the level of detail the firm chooses.
Who’s behind it
I have spent nearly 30 years in this industry: first inside wealth firms, then inside the technology companies building for them, and for the last eleven consulting to both. The whole time I watched the same things repeat. Firms picking technology off a conference recommendation. Owners taking a valuation number from the person who benefits from that number. Advisors going independent with no map. I solved those one firm at a time, until it was clear that one firm at a time does not scale. The answer was infrastructure, not another engagement.
RIA Ascent started at a conference, watching vendors spend a fortune for a few minutes of attention, advisors sit through demos of products they did not need, and acquirers work the room. I built the first prototype between sessions, coding in my room until the sun came up. A year later, here we are helping you take your first step on your ascent.
RIA Ascent is built by Ascent Growth Platforms Inc.
RIA Ascent helps advisors run, grow, value, and eventually transition their firms with real numbers instead of guesswork. We are pre-launch: the public firm lookup and your firm’s score and valuation open at Future Proof in September 2026, and buyer, vendor, and marketplace access follow.