Endowus likes to say it is aligned only with the best interests of its clients. Samuel Rhee, its co-founder and chairman, put it that way in October 2025, in a statement marking a milestone the company once would have found hard to imagine: more than US$10 billion in client assets.
The line sounds like marketing until you remember what it is aimed at. In Singapore, much of ordinary wealth advice had long been sold through products that paid the seller. Endowus was founded in 2017 on the opposite idea: charge clients an open fee, take no hidden commissions, and let people see what they pay.
It gained access to money Singaporeans cannot easily move around, such as retirement funds, and drew in family offices and institutions.
Very little is public about the early life of Gregory Van, the chief executive, or of Rhee, and the company's own releases name neither a hometown nor a school. What the record shows is how the firm grew once the idea was in the market.
It built a platform for both retail investors and the wealthy. It gained access to money Singaporeans cannot easily move around, such as retirement funds, and drew in family offices and institutions. In August 2023 it raised a US$35 million Series C and later extended it to US$52.5 million, by which time it said it managed over US$5 billion.
Then it went across the border. The group now includes Carret Private, a Hong Kong multi-family office, and Hong Kong client assets tripled in a year. In October 2025 it closed a round of more than US$70 million led by Illuminate Financial, with Prosus, Citi Ventures and Asian family offices taking part. Total funding passed US$130 million.
By the company's own count, it serves more than 100,000 clients, has delivered over US$1 billion in net investment gains for them, and says it saves them over US$50 million a year in fees. Those are company figures, and the release does not state revenue or profit.
The lesson for a first-time founder is about whom you work for. Endowus won by choosing one side of a market where the incentives were tangled. Choosing a side is slow, and it costs you the easy sales. It also gives customers a reason to stay.