Ankur Nagpal started Teach:able, a platform for independent course creators, in 2013, with the dream of democratizing access to education.
The first-generation immigrant from Oman, a 2010 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, scaled that startup to $60 million in annual recurring revenue. He sold it to Hotmart, a platform that allows users to sell digital products around the world, in what he describes as a nine-figure exit in 2020.
Now Nagpal aims to provide widespread access to something new: easy-to-use, tax-efficient retirement savings plans for the self-employed.
In September 2022, he started Carry, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based startup that offers accounts such as a solo 401(k), a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, brokerage accounts, and a no-fee robo advisor. Small businesses can currently use the accounts in conjunction with the payroll software Gusto or on their own.
Carry raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Accomplice VC, based in Boston, in July 2024. Accomplice VC has backed startups such as AngelList, FreshBooks and Patreon.
The company is picking up traction. Nagpal says it has about 2,000 paying customers and $60 million in assets under management and is generating over $1 million in annualized revenue. It has attracted most users through online courses, webinars and workshops, with no paid advertising yet. Nagpal projects that Carry will have 3,000 paying customers and approximately $100 million in assets under management by year-end.
Carry is among a growing field of fin-tech and wealth-tech companies that promise to simplify investing through a better user experience. The wealth tech space is expected to grow to $18.6 billion by 2031, according to Allied Market Research. Some startups in the space have powerful partners. For instance, Douugh, a “smart banking” account provider based in Sydney Australia,offers investors access to a Bitcoin fund managed by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
As many entrepreneurs discover when their businesses start generating revenue, their taxes rise as their profits do. That can leave them with little left over to reinvest or save for retirement unless they find good advisors.
Nagpal spotted a gap in the marketplace when the accountants and attorneys he hired for Teach:able saved him a significant amount on taxes. For every individual who had the means to invest in this expertise, he concluded, thousands of self-employed business owners did not—and were missing out.
“Saving on taxes is important for everyone, but for a lot of people it’s just too hard or too intimidating and they don’t know where to start,” Nagpal said. “I wanted to help business owners unlock tax savings.”
One barrier many owners discover is the complexity of setting up their accounts in an industry where legal compliance is paramount. At Carry, he hopes to simplify that process. “A lot of people choose us for the user experience,” he says. “There’s better UI/UX.”
Some owners find it too expensive to set their accounts up with traditional 401(k) providers. Setup costs may be as high as $2,000, often with annual administrative fees of $750 to $3,000. There may also be a fee for each participant.
Carry, aiming to offer more attractive pricing, charges $299 a year for a basic plan and $499 a year for a plan that lets account holders invest in options including a custom plan, alternative assets like Bitcoin, a self-directed Roth IRA or self-directed Traditional IRA.
Carry sets up the accounts but never has access to the funds in them. The entrepreneurs who set up the accounts are appointed the sole trustee and plan administrator.
The firm works with Ocho Investment Advisors, an SEC-registered firm, and Drive Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA/SIPC, via which securities and cash in the account are protected up to $500,000, of which $250,000 may be in cash.
According to Carry, if the startup were to close, users’ 401(k)s would remain in existence, and all funds would remain under the control of the account holder. Account holders could keep their funds with Drive Wealth or transfer the assets to their bank account.
Nagpal also runs Vibe Capital, a fund with nearly $100 million in assets under management, which has invested in more than 80 startups globally. Among them are Beacons, a platform for creators to sell their work; Vimcal, a calendar-scheduling app; and Writer, a secure enterprise platform that lets users create AI-first workflows. Accomplice VC, the lead investor in Carry, is an “anchor” limited partner behind Vibe.
Matt Brezina, an early-stage technology investor and advisor at Ford Street Ventures in San Francisco, was one of the first investors in Teachable and is now an early investor in Carry. One reason is his belief in Nagpal’s entrepreneurial ability and growth-focused approach.
“He’s one of the greats, honestly. If I could find eight founders like him per year, my job would be really easy,” says Brezina.
In Brezina’s view, Carry solves a pressing need in the marketplace in addressing some of the pain of tax planning as a self-employed entrepreneur. “Charlie Munger said whoever you work with, you have one partner in every business deal with you, and that’s the IRS,” says Brezina. “Just thinking about your taxes and tax planning is an intelligent thing to do as a business owner.”
Brezina set up his own solo 401(k) on the platform two years ago. He likes that it offers the ability to access asset classes not always available for 401(k)s with larger providers, such as Bitcoin.
“Carry has been solving a lot of core problems for me,” he says. “They’ve made it really easy to know how much I can contribute to my Roth and regular 401(k) accounts for solo entrepreneurs. I’m now putting more money toward retirement than ever before because of their platform.”
Whether other players start crowding into this specific niche remains to be seen. One barrier to entry is the heavy weight of compliance. As he grows the business, Nagpal is studying for his broker-dealer license.
With fin-tech and wealth-tech platforms proliferating, Attorney Andrew Sherman, a partner in Brown Rudnick in Washington, D.C. who advises business owners, says it’s important for entrepreneurs to do their due diligence on any platforms they are considering, especially for a 401(k).
“There are so many interesting solutions right now in wealth management and advice,” he says. “If you’re looking at it to manage your company’s 401(k), I would add two or three layers of additional due diligence. You’re now acting as a fiduciary of your employees’ 401(k)s.”
While many of the incumbents have the advantage of wide name recognition and decades of experience, Nagpal—tapping his experience as an early player in the online learning platform industry—hopes to offer something many bigger competitors can’t: speed.
When the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022 passed, Carry helped users get a $500 tax credit for each of three tax years by helping them to set up their accounts according to the law’s requirements, he points out—while many competitors moved too slowly, he says.
“Tax law is always changing and evolving,” he says. “We’ll be the first to react to it so we can pass on as many benefits as possible.”