Lauren Kolodny invests $20 million in AI startup aiming to simplify estate settlement for millions

Lauren Kolodny, a partner at Acrew Capital, has long believed in the potential of technology to make financial services more accessible to everyday people. Her conviction was put to the test in 2016 when she was the only venture capitalist among 100 to back Chime, a nascent digital bank aiming to serve the working class. At the time, Chime was on the verge of running out of funds, but Kolodny stepped in with a $9 million Series A extension, a decision that would later prove to be highly profitable. Last month, Chime went public at a valuation of $14.5 billion. Kolodny, who has been featured on the Forbes Midas list for three consecutive years, continues to focus on investments that empower consumers to better manage their financial resources. Recently, she led a $20 million Series A investment in Alix, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to streamline the estate settlement process. Alix was founded by Alexandra Mysoor, who came up with the idea after helping her best friend settle the affairs of her late mother. Mysoor spent 900 hours over 18 months handling tasks like contacting banks, tracking down 401K accounts, canceling financial accounts, and distributing assets among family members. She described the process as overly complicated, outdated, and frustrating. “I was shocked that this process was so hard,” Mysoor said. “It’s paper-driven. It’s archaic. You’re googling to-do lists that aren’t helpful. You’re calling attorneys who only handle a small part of the work, and they charge thousands of dollars.” Inspired by this experience, Mysoor saw an opportunity to use AI to tackle the most time-consuming aspects of estate administration, such as scanning and extracting data from documents, pre-filling forms, and communicating with financial institutions. When Kolodny met Mysoor and learned about the problem Alix was solving, it struck a deep chord with her. She was particularly moved by the fact that, despite estimates suggesting that trillions of dollars will be passed on to millennials and Gen Z in the coming years, the estate settlement process remains largely unchanged and burdensome for those dealing with grief. While some startups, like Empathy, offer assistance with closing accounts as part of bereavement support, Kolodny noticed a gap in the market for a company that provides end-to-end estate settlement services. “How is it possible that there’s this messy problem that involves so much project management and no meaningful services around it?” Kolodny asked. “It was a real aha moment for me. This is exactly the kind of problem that AI should be solving.” Kolodny believes that Alix is one of the first startups using AI to bring greater accessibility to financial and administrative services that were once reserved for the ultra-wealthy. Alix charges a 1% fee based on the value of the estate. For inheritances under $1 million, the cost typically ranges from $9,000 to $12,000, depending on the complexity of the case.