The funding was led by AllianceBernstein (AB), Manulife and Route 66 Ventures. NextCapital's existing shareholders include Transamerica Ventures, Russell Investments, FinTech Collective, Kelvingrove, and Vermont Seed Capital Fund.

'Large financial institutions will win the big shift to scalable personal advice,' said John Patterson, Chief Executive Officer of NextCapital.

Mr. Patterson added, 'This infusion of new capital will accelerate our partners' entrance into the digital advice marketplace -- both inside the 401(k) plan and out.'

NextCapital provides partners with an integrated platform for delivering automated personal financial advice -- including holistic portfolio tracking, planning, savings advice, and portfolio management.

'As a leading global asset manager, we pursue solutions designed to enhance our clients' experience and improve their outcomes,' said Peter Kraus, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AB. 'With an impressive enterprise offering and the ability to create personal, objective and affordable portfolio solutions for a broad range of investors, we believe NextCapital is at the forefront of this effort.'

NextCapital enables institutional partners to rapidly and cost-effectively bring to market a full-stack digital advice solution, fully configurable to each partner's needs:

Custom user experience
Proprietary or third party investment methodology
Self-service and advisor-assisted service models
Multi-channel -- supporting 401(k), IRA, and retail brokerage accounts
Integrations with 401(k) record keeping systems and retail custodians
'Our investment in NextCapital aligns with Manulife's strategy of investing in innovative technologies that enable us to effectively meet a broader range of customer needs, and ensure that we are a leader of the financial services industry of the future,' said Tim Ramza Chief Innovation Officer for Manulife and John Hancock Financial Services.

'Route 66 Ventures is very excited to partner with the NextCapital team -- digital advice is a game changer for the multi-trillion dollar retirement space. NextCapital's enterprise offering provides institutions speed-to-market and control over the user experience and financial methodology -- the best of both worlds,' said Benjamin Britt, General Partner at Route 66 Ventures.

About NextCapital: NextCapital is the leader in enterprise digital advice. NextCapital partners with world class institutions to deliver personalized planning and managed accounts to individual investors across multiple channels including 401(k), IRA, and taxable brokerage accounts. Our open-architecture digital advice solution provides integrated account aggregation, analytics, planning and portfolio management, and allows partners to customize advice methodology and fiduciary roles. NextCapital powers digital advice strategies for leading world-class brands such as Russell Investments and Transamerica. Additional information about NextCapital may be found on its website, www.nextcapital.com.

About AB: AB is a leading global investment management firm that offers high-quality research and diversified investment services to institutional investors, individuals and private wealth clients in major world markets. Additional information about AB may be found on its website, www.abglobal.com.

About Manulife Financial Corporation: Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group providing forward-thinking solutions to help people with their big financial decisions. We operate as John Hancock in the United States, and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance and wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2014, we had 28,000 employees, 58,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving 20 million customers. At the end of September 2015, we had $888 billion (US$663 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made more than $23 billion in benefits, interest and other payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong. Follow Manulife on Twitter @ManulifeNews or visit www.manulife.com or www.johnhancock.com.

About Route 66: Route 66 Ventures is a private investment firm focused on helping entrepreneurs shape the financial services landscape of tomorrow by providing Venture Capital and Credit solutions to emerging financial technology and services companies. Route 66's Venture Capital team invests globally in early and growth stage disruptors, incumbents and service providers throughout various sectors in the financial services ecosystem. Route 66's Credit team seeks to fund alternative lending platforms and business models with balance sheet needs by purchasing whole loans or providing secured debt facilities. Visit the firm online at www.route66ventures.com to learn more.