US financial startups aim to court anti-finance crowd

Los Angeles

PROFIT is usually a top priority on Wall Street, but some of the latest ventures into finance by startups seem to be inspired more by Karl Marx than John Pierpont Morgan.

A number of new financial startups are trying to reach younger and middle-class Americans by upending the customary fee structure of traditional brokerage firms and money managers. They are backed by deep-pocketed venture capital investors - and even celebrities such as rapper Snoop Dogg - who are wagering that these upstarts can challenge the Wall Street establishment.