In its second acquisition of this year, Fintech Acorns has acquired Pillar, a startup whose toolset functions like a robo-adviser that helps clients pay down their student loan debts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Why should we care?
Acorns, founded in 2012, has expanded the capabilities of its platform to encompass banking, savings, investing, and retirement. With Pillar, Acorns’ capabilities move further toward a comprehensive financial life ecosystem. Pillar, which launched in 2019, and raised $5.5M in seed funding, connects with a customer’s student loan servicer and bank. It makes personalized suggestions based on debt, income and spending. The Pillar offering, which will fold into Acorns’ group of subscription-based products, will become “an essential part of [the Acorns] financial wellness system,” CEO and founder Noah Kerner said. The intellectual property and technology from Pillar will help Acorns evolve its Smart Deposit feature. The first quarter of 2021 was Acorns’ biggest growth quarter on record, and the company crossed $4.3B in dollars in assets under management. Irvine, California-based Acorns has more than 350 employees.