Vanilla

Sep 17, 2026

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Vanilla Named a 2026 InvestmentNews 5-Star Technology Provider

Bellevue, WA — September 17, 2026 — Vanilla, the modern estate planning platform built for financial advisors, today announced it was named a winner in the 2026 InvestmentNews 5-Star Technology awards, recognizing the best new technology and software for investment management professionals. The third annual awards were published on September 16, 2026.

The recognition arrives a week after Vanilla announced its next chapter of agentic estate planning, and follows the company’s win in the Estate Planning: Technology category at the 2026 Wealthies earlier this month.

The next evolution of VAI extends an advisor’s work across their entire book. VAI is expertise led and agentic by design, built alongside veteran planners whose judgment about what to notice and what to flag is what the system runs on. Specialized agents read documents to onboard new clients, build the client profile alongside the advisor, and watch for changes in a client’s life and in state and federal law. What surfaces is the work that changes an outcome for a family, including unfunded trusts, beneficiary designations that no longer match the family, and insurance short of the estate’s tax liability. The advisor approves outcomes rather than steps, because the person with the relationship and the license is the one who decides. VAI is expected to reach general availability later this year.

“Some advisors have often hesitated to raise estate planning because of their lack of knowledge, and an AI that waits for a question is of little use to someone who doesn’t know which one to ask,” said Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla. “That is why we built VAI to coach. It brings the advisor the opportunity worth raising this week and shows the reasoning behind it, so they walk into the meeting with the confidence to lead the conversation.”

Read the full 5-Star Technology report here.

About Vanilla

Vanilla is the modern estate planning platform built for financial advisors. By transforming complex legal documents into clear, interactive visuals, Vanilla enables advisors to deliver more personal, impactful conversations around legacy, wealth transfer, and generational planning. With deep integrations, intuitive workflows, and expert support, Vanilla helps advisors bring estate planning into the heart of holistic financial advice. Learn more at www.justvanilla.com.

Media contact

Rocco Aloe
vanilla@gregoryagency.com