| Website | brightscope.com |
| Category | Other |
| Employees | 40 |
| Founded | 2/08 |
| Description | Financial Data Firm |
| Total | $2.9M |
| Series A, 5/08 | $900k |
| Series B, 9/09 Steelpoint Capital Partners | $2M |
BrightScope®, Inc. is a financial information company that brings transparency to opaque markets. Delivered through web-based software, BrightScope data drives better decision-making for individual investors, corporate plan sponsors, asset managers, broker-dealers, and financial advisors. BrightScope primarily operates in two major segments: Retirement Plans and Wealth Management.
Retirement Plans: BrightScope® is the leading independent provider of retirement plan ratings and investment analytics to participants, plan sponsors, asset managers, and advisors in all 50 states. The company maintains a comprehensive database of information on the retirement plan market and adds additional value and insight by quantitatively rating 401k and 403b plans across critical metrics. The BrightScope Ratingâ„¢ developed in partnership with leading independent 401k fiduciaries, reviews more than 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculates a single numerical score which defines 401k and 403b plan quality at the company level. BrightScope also publishes distribution rankings for funds in the retirement marketplace, giving asset managers better visibility into how they stack up to others. The company markets a suite of data analytics software products to Fortune 1000 companies, asset managers, broker-dealers, financial advisors, and other market participants. Public ratings for over 55,000 401k and 403b plans as well as rating definitions, criteria, and methodologies are available for free to retirement savers at www.brightscope.com.
Wealth Management: On April 26, 2011, the company launched BrightScope Advisor Pages, the first comprehensive and publicly available directory of Financial Advisors. Advisor Pages help consumers discover information and conduct due diligence on their financial advisors. The company believes it can accelerate the growth of the financial advisory industry and increase its legitimacy by creating standards around performance, experience, certifications, fees, and conduct.
BrightScope Rating is a quantitative 401k plan rating developed by BrightScope, Inc. in partnership with some of the country’s top independent fiduciaries, finance professors, and 401k experts. BrightScope Ratings take into account over 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculate a single numerical score to define 401k plan quality at the company level. The ratings algorithm runs thousands of simulations for each 401k plan in order to determine how quickly each plan will propel the average 401k participant to retirement. Using this rigorous approach, BrightScope ensures that every factor that affects retirement outcomes – such as company generosity, fees, investment menu quality, vesting schedules, and more – is accurately reflected in a company’s rating.
