Thomas Rozman describes his company’s product this way: “It’s not a BMW, but it’s like a VW that’s loaded.”
That product is a data consolidation and reporting software package called Investigo, produced by an Edina-based company Rozman cofounded four years ago. Rozman (a former Merrill Lynch vice president based in Minneapolis) and business partner Scott Fergusson (previously an in-dependent financial advisor in Fort Wayne, Indiana) started Investigo out of frustration. They found that many investment management software applications only handle a specific function, and they often don’t integrate well with other programs.
So Rozman and Fergusson decided to develop a more comprehensive software that would also be easier to use. The Investigo package has been designed to track assets, manage clients, and comply with federal regulations, all via a single Internet portal. The product also automatically updates, consolidates, and reconciles client data.
Investigo appears to be catching on. The company now has software license agreements with about 50 independent life-insurance and bank-based broker/dealer organizations, including Nebraska-based Mutual of Omaha and Fintegra Financial in Minneapolis. Another Minneapolis-based firm, USAllianz Securities, is making Investigo the hub of an integrated Web-based platform for its advisors called Encompass. In September, Investigo signed a deal with Ameritrade Advisor Services, based in Omaha, which will make Investigo the portfolio and accounting vendor of choice for Ameritrade’s 1,400 advisors. (The agreement is expected to survive Ameritrade’s merger with New York–based TD Waterhouse USA.) And in December, Investigo inked a deal with Fiserv, a Wisconsin supplier of information management systems for financial services firms.
Most of Investigo’s 42 employees (including Fergusson) remain at Investigo’s technical center in Fort Wayne. According to Rozman, the privately held company is growing quickly and has a positive cash flow. Besides financial services firms, he cites life insurance companies as a target market.
