Samuel Rhee and Gregory Van, co-founders of Endowus and Robb Report Singapore Gala 2025’s Business Innovation award recipients on democratising wealth investment
The simplest questions are often the hardest to answer. For Gregory Van, a former UBS investment banker and ex-Grab senior manager, and Samuel Rhee, once the Asia CEO of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the genesis of their company, Endowus, boiled down to one deceptively straightforward problem: how can people manage their money well?
“We honestly think that no one should be excluded from this knowledge,” says Van, adding that access to the right tools and guidance for financial well-being is “almost as important as having access to water.”
That conviction was shaped by experience. Both men had witnessed, in different ways, the toll that limited financial literacy and opaque investment structures could take: children stretched thin supporting ageing parents, families daunted by hidden costs, and individuals worried about making the wrong financial moves.
Determined to change that, Van and Rhee founded Endowus in 2017. From the outset, the Singapore-based fintech company set out to reimagine wealth management by harnessing advanced digital technology and data-driven insights. The goal—which still guides the company today—was to make investing simpler, more transparent, and genuinely accessible.
In doing so, Endowus has become a pioneering force. It is the first digital adviser in the region to span both private wealth and public pension accounts—such as Singapore’s Central Provident Fund and Supplementary Retirement Scheme—while operating on a fee-only model. By eliminating hidden costs and conflicts of interest, the platform has sought to realign wealth management with what Van and Rhee see as its true purpose: serving the investor first.
All Tech, All Human
Endowus has also poured its energy into building a robust digital infrastructure. The platform is designed to take the friction out of investing, from the first steps of onboarding to the long-term monitoring of portfolios. Behind the scenes, data analytics, portfolio construction, and risk management form the backbone, while artificial intelligence brings an edge to client education and content delivery. The result is a system that feels effortless on the surface but is rigorously engineered to provide institutional-grade access that was once reserved for private banks.
“Technology is important because it allows for excellent advice to be scaled,” says Van. “It is not dependent on the adviser who happens to be at the branch on the day that you visit. We are giving a consistent best-in-class experience to everyone who enters the platform.”
Yet Rhee is quick to remind us that technology is only half the story. “While we lead with technology, we are also very aware that human interaction is something our clients want. We are 100 per cent digital, but we are also 100 per cent human,” he says.
Endowus marked a record year in 2024. The firm surpassed S$12 billion in client assets under advice, serving more than 250,000 individuals, family offices, charities, and institutions. It is a trajectory that reflects both the growing trust in its platform and the enduring appeal of its philosophy of ‘investing made simple’.
“When you build with the most sophisticated tools and go after the most sophisticated solutions and funds, a lot of investors, including charities, institutional clients and family offices, realise that the Endowus platform is something that they can use,” says Rhee.
Part of that growth has been fuelled by the launch of Endowus Private Wealth, introduced in 2023 to serve high-net-worth individuals and accredited investors. That division alone has already crossed US$2 billion in assets. Endowus also expanded into Hong Kong the same year. From its soft launch, client assets in the territory surged tenfold, while active accounts multiplied sevenfold within a year.
“Our growth can be attributed to the core philosophy of the platform being conflict free, and the way in which we implement advice and access to markets in which we work. We now have over 100 global fund managers curating what we consider the best-in-class strategies. We are focused every day on delivering better outcomes and experiences for clients,” says Van.
For Van and Rhee, innovation has never been about chasing the new for its own sake. It is about building something enduring—a wealth management ecosystem where technology, trust, expert advice, and simplicity converge.
