I have come across this question a few times. Here’s my response.
Analysts and industry observers often assign monikers 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc., to an industry as its maturity improves in distinct phases. However, for the robo advice industry, it has been a continuous improvement of the tech-heavy service since the early 2010s.
Robo advisers have evolved incrementally from providing basic personalised discretionary investment management to a more customised service. Various firms in different geographies have continually introduced different sophisticated features over the years. Most product innovation is being led by firms that have stronger execution skills or larger R&D budgets, while the rest of the firms attempt the catch-up game. However, these improvements did not take place in distinct phases.
Therefore, terms like robo advisor 1.0, robo advisor 2.0, and robo advisor 3.0 are marketing labels only with no other substantial basis.
Related information
Read the answers to the related questions:
- Will there be oligopoly in the robo-advice industry?
- What is the future for wealth management?
- Is it too late for a new firm to enter the robo advice business?
- What’s going to happen to the robo-advisors the next time the market crashes?
- Regulatory changes that paved the way for robo advice in Australia
- Will robo advisors survive as independents or just as tools on bank websites?
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