IPO Eyed for BlackRock-Backed 401(k) Plan Provider

The 401(k) provider Human Interest, which has a minority investment from BlackRock Inc., Wednesday announced a $267 million funding round that it says furthers the groundwork for a future public stock listing.

The latest investment in Human Interest includes a Series E fundraising round led by investment firms Marshall Wace and Baillie Gifford, bringing its total in primary and secondary financing to $700 million, according to the firm. BlackRock, whose CEO, Larry Fink, has been discussing the need for a retirement rethink in the U.S., announced a minority investment in the San Francisco-based firm back in January 2023.

Human Interest has more than one million employees on its platform and passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The firm is forecasting 70% revenue growth in 2024. The firm did not immediately respond to questions about timing of its plans for an initial public offering.

“This latest raise was designed to bring additional top-tier public equity investors onto the cap table,” Human Interest wrote in the announcement. “Human Interest is approaching cash flow break-even and has enough cash on the balance sheet to fund continued 70%+ year-over-year growth without additional capital.”

Along with the funding, Human Interest announced hiring executives with experience taking startups public.

Tripp Faix has joined as chief financial officer, a role he held previously at Mambu, a banking software provider, and Marqeta, a card issuing platform, where he led their $15 billion IPO in 2021.

Jeff Buckley will join the finance team, reporting to Faix, as chief accounting officer; he held the same role at Palantir and Zynga, where he also was part of preparing the firms for public listings.

Finally, Human Interest announced new board members Leslie Stretch and Roxanne Oulman. Both contributed to the IPOs of CallidusCloud and Medallia, Stretch as CEO and Oulman as CFO.

Human Interest sold about 20% of all the new 401(k) plans in the U.S. through 2023, and forecasts it will sell more than 25% in 2024, according to its own analysis paired with industry reports.

PLANSPONSOR data ranks Human Interest third among recordkeepers in terms of new plans added in 2023 at 8,617. The PLANSPONSOR Recordkeeping Survey put payroll provider ADP first at 39,224 plan adds and Guideline second at 12,795 plans. Payroll and 401(k) provider Paychex did not participate in this year’s survey, but topped the new plan list tracking 2022 data.

“As we continue to revolutionize the retirement industry, we’re being very deliberate about how we build out our cap table, leadership team, and board,” said Jeff Schneble, Human Interest’s CEO, in a statement. “We have a short list of investors we want to partner with now and in our future as we look towards becoming a public company.”