Nerd Wallet
NASDAQ: NRDSSan Francisco, US · Founded 2009 · Delaware corporation · 2,895 employees on LinkedIn · Public · 8 known investors
NerdWallet provides educational content and resources about investing, including articles, product reviews, and guidance on investment accounts and portfolio construction.
Also known as NerdWallet · NerdWallet, Inc. · NRDS
Founders & leadership
Nerd Wallet was founded in 2009 by Tim Chen.
Board
Investors · 8
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$117.3M disclosed across 2 of 3 rounds · 2015–2020
▶$54.3MraisedDec 2020 · 7 investors · OtherRule 506(b)
- Tim ChenExecutive Officer, Director
- Robert LattugaExecutive Officer
- Jennifer CeranDirector
- James D. Robertson IIIDirector
- Simon WilliamsDirector
- Tom LoverroDirector
- Kelly GilleaseExecutive Officer
- Lynne LaubeDirector
- Offering amount
- $54.3M
- Amount sold
- $54.3M
- First sale
- Nov 2020
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$63MraisedJun 2015 · 36 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Tim ChenExecutive Officer, Director
- Jules MaltzDirector
- Thomas LoverroDirector
- Offering amount
- $63.5M
- Amount sold
- $63M
- First sale
- Jan 2015
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Valuation · disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed — follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026NerdWallet, Inc. is an American personal finance company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Its website and mobile app publish comparison content, reviews, ratings and calculators across credit cards, banking and savings accounts, mortgages and refinancing, personal loans, small-business financing, insurance, investing, student loans, financial advisors and travel. The company states it maintains more than 15,000 in-depth financial resources and over 100 experts reviewing thousands of products, and reports that more than 10 million financial decisions have been made through the platform.
The consumer app lets users link and track cash, investments, credit cards, loans and property, monitor recurring bills and subscriptions, check a free credit score with personalized improvement tips, and access third-party products including a cash account and Treasury and automated investing accounts offered through Atomic Brokerage and Atomic Invest, for which NerdWallet receives compensation. Beyond media, the company has moved into regulated advice: NerdWallet Advisors, a subscription-based RIA launched in 2024 that refers users to third-party RIAs without managing assets, and NerdWallet Wealth Partners, a fee-only RIA formed from the 2025 acquisition of Future You Wealth that serves mass affluent clients with a maximum all-in fee of 0.9% of assets managed, using Charles Schwab as custodian.
Founding story
NerdWallet was founded in August 2009 by Tim Chen and Jacob Gibson with an initial capital investment of $800, after Chen had been laid off. Its first product was a web application providing comparative information about credit cards.
Business model
NerdWallet operates a free consumer-facing content and comparison platform monetized through affiliate marketing, advertising and lead generation for partnered financial institutions. It also earns referral compensation from third-party providers such as Atomic Invest and Atomic Brokerage (disclosed as 0% to 0.85% of assets under management annualized plus a share of cash sweep fees) and, since 2025, advisory fees through its own RIA, NerdWallet Wealth Partners, which charges a maximum all-in fee of 0.9% of assets managed.
Affiliate marketing, advertising and lead generation fees from financial institution partners, referral compensation from investment product providers, and asset-based advisory fees from its RIA businesses. Reported revenue was $836.6 million for 2025, with $209 million in Q1 2025 revenue led by insurance and banking, a 29% year-over-year increase.
Traction
Reported metrics include an average of 23 million monthly users (2023), approximately 24.5 million monthly website visits, over 10 million financial decisions made via the site, more than 15,000 financial resources, 2025 revenue of $836.6 million with $65.2 million operating income and $48.7 million net income, and a 4.8 average rating across roughly 125,000 iOS App Store ratings.
Latest developments
In June 2025 NerdWallet acquired New York-based RIA Future You Wealth, which reported nearly $178 million in assets under management in its April 2025 Form ADV, forming the fee-only advisory NerdWallet Wealth Partners led by Future You Wealth founder Ryan Sterling as CEO, with Charles Schwab as custodian. This followed the 2024 launch of NerdWallet Advisors, which reported serving 4,640 clients and manages no assets, instead collecting referral fees. The company reported $209 million of Q1 2025 revenue, up 29% year over year, and full-year 2025 revenue of $836.6 million with 650 employees as of January 2026.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
One of the larger US personal finance comparison publishers, with an average of 23 million monthly platform users reported in 2023 and roughly 24.5 million monthly website visits. It competes with comparison and personal finance media firms such as Bankrate, Credit Karma, LendingTree, WalletHub, SmartAsset and Finder, and its 2025 move into advice has been characterized by outside commentators as turning it from a referral source for advisors into a competitor to them.
The company combines a large editorial and review operation — an editorial team of over 100 staff and more than 15,000 financial resources — with product comparison tools and a free tracking app, and has extended from lead generation into owning the advice relationship through its own registered investment advisers.
Technology
A consumer web platform and free iOS/Android app combining editorial and comparison content with account aggregation for tracking cash, investments, credit cards, loans and property, bill and subscription monitoring with one-click cancellation, free credit score monitoring, and rate comparison tools benchmarked against FDIC and Zillow average rates. Investment features are delivered through integrations with Atomic Invest and Atomic Brokerage.
Go-to-market
Distribution centers on organic search: the company generated large volumes of comparison content to boost search engine results, driving rapid traffic growth from 2010 onward. It is complemented by its mobile app, social media channels on Instagram and TikTok, and syndication of its personal finance articles across media outlets. Acquisitions have been used to enter adjacent product categories and geographies.
US consumers making personal finance decisions — credit card, banking, mortgage, loan, insurance, student loan and investing shoppers — plus small-business owners seeking financing, and, through NerdWallet Wealth Partners, mass affluent investors typically holding at least $100,000 in investable assets. Since 2020 it has also served UK consumers.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, with a primarily US consumer focus. The company expanded into the United Kingdom in August 2020 through the acquisition of Norwich-based Know Your Money, and its wealth management arm is anchored by New York City-based Future You Wealth.
History
After launching in 2009 with a credit card comparison tool, NerdWallet scaled content production to grow search traffic, reaching up to 30 million users by March 2014. It raised $64 million in its first round of funding in 2015 at an estimated $500 million valuation and was valued at $520 million in 2016, the year it acquired retirement planning firm AboutLife. In August 2020 it entered the UK by acquiring Norwich-based comparison site Know Your Money, and in November 2020 acquired small-business loan marketplace Fundera. The company listed on Nasdaq in November 2021 and was valued at $1.5 billion in its market debut. It acquired consumer debt robo-advisor platform On the Barrelhead for $120 million in 2022, mortgage broker Next Door Lending in October 2024, and RIA Future You Wealth in June 2025. Staffing history includes 200 employees in 2015, restructurings with layoffs in December 2013 and April 2017, a staff of 110 in 2014, and 650 employees as of January 2026.
Risks & controversies
Consumer reviews aggregated by Google (3.6 average across 3,269 reviews, with 22% one-star) include complaints that the site requires extensive personal and financial information, shares user data with lenders and other companies, and presents link titles or offers that reviewers found misleading. Commentators have noted that as NerdWallet moves from referring consumers to advisors toward managing money itself, it must manage conflicts between its media role and its advisory business; its own disclosures acknowledge that compensation from Atomic Invest and Atomic Brokerage creates a conflict of interest. Historically the company has also undergone repeated restructurings and layoffs (11 employees in December 2013; more than 40 in April 2017).
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Nerd Wallet went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 8
by search overlap
Companies competing with Nerd Wallet for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 11
launches, deals, and filingsNerdWallet acquired New York City-based RIA Future You Wealth, which reported nearly $178 million in assets under management in its April 2025 Form ADV. The firm became NerdWallet Wealth Partners, a fee-only RIA for mass affluent investors with a maximum all-in fee of 0.9% of assets managed and Charles Schwab as custodian; Future You Wealth founder Ryan Sterling became CEO.
Acquisition of mid-sized mortgage broker Next Door Lending marked NerdWallet's entry into the mortgage brokerage business.
Subscription-based RIA that does not manage assets and instead collects fees to refer users to third-party RIAs; a May 2025 Form ADV reported 4,640 clients over the prior year.
NerdWallet acquired consumer debt robo-advisor platform On the Barrelhead; the deal was announced in June 2022 at $120 million and closed in July 2022.
$120M source ↗
NerdWallet went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange under ticker NRDS and was valued at $1.5 billion in its market debut.
Acquisition of Norwich-based Know Your Money expanded NerdWallet outside the US into the United Kingdom.
The company laid off more than 40 employees, including its VP of growth, following an earlier restructuring after 11 dismissals in December 2013.
NerdWallet acquired AboutLife to expand into retirement planning services; the company was valued at $520 million that year.
Eight NerdWallet managers took part in the TNDC Celebrity Pool Toss in San Francisco, raising $13,000 for neighborhood after-school programs, with five staff tutors committing two hours a week for six months to the Tenderloin After-School Program.
$13K source ↗
Founded in August 2009 with an initial capital investment of $800; first product was a web application comparing credit cards.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structure▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- Nerd Walletnerdwallet.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Nerd Wallet do?
- NerdWallet is a US personal finance company whose website and app compare financial products and earn referral and ad revenue.
- Who founded Nerd Wallet?
- Nerd Wallet was founded by Tim Chen in 2009.
- Who are Nerd Wallet's investors?
- Nerd Wallet's investors include BAM Ventures, Core Venture Capital, iGlobe Partners, Innovius Capital, IVP (Institutional Venture Partners), Placeholder VC, RRE Ventures, TTV.
- How much funding has Nerd Wallet raised?
- Nerd Wallet has disclosed $117.3M raised across 2 of its 3 known rounds.
- Is Nerd Wallet publicly traded?
- Yes — Nerd Wallet trades on NASDAQ under the ticker NRDS.
- Where is Nerd Wallet headquartered?
- Nerd Wallet is headquartered in San Francisco, US.