# Mercer Advisors adds tech-focused tax platform Fifteenth URL: https://www.financialadvsr.com/article/mercer-advisors-adds-tech-focused-tax-platform-2d68d4 Published: November 5, 2026 By: Vivian Cole, Deals Correspondent Section: Deals Publisher: Financial ADVSR (https://www.financialadvsr.com) InvestmentNews reported that Mercer Advisors has added Fifteenth, an AI-driven tax firm serving technology professionals with equity compensation, as Mercer extends its tax push. InvestmentNews reported on November 5, 2026, that Mercer Advisors has added Fifteenth, a tax platform that uses artificial intelligence to serve technology professionals with equity compensation. The startup profile site startupintros.com describes Fifteenth as San Francisco-based. The report described the deal as bringing specialized equity compensation technology and Big Four tax talent into Mercer. Mercer's statement on the deal came from Cynthia Loh, its Chief Platform Officer, and Daniel Gourvitch, its President. Mercer claims that Fifteenth's technology can handle complicated returns more quickly and in larger volumes than an approach that grows by adding staff. That is Mercer's own claim, and it has not been independently verified. Laura Moreno, Fifteenth's Chief Tax Officer and co-founder, also commented on the transaction. InvestmentNews reported that Moreno and fellow co-founder Ankur Dahiya, the company's CEO, will join Mercer. InvestmentNews said Fifteenth serves more than 1,000 professionals, and that its clients are mainly employees of technology companies facing equity-driven wealth events. Fifteenth's flat-fee subscription starts at $1,000 a year, according to FinTech Global, which covered the company's February 2025 seed round of $8.25 million. The subscription price is a consumer figure and says nothing about the value of the acquisition. The material available for this article does not include the price, the deal structure or the expected closing timeline. No Mercer or Fifteenth press release on the transaction was located, so the account here rests on the InvestmentNews report. Mercer is headquartered in Denver and was founded in 1985, according to third-party listings. Kendrick Mercer, the founder, practised as a tax and estates lawyer, and the business started out as an estate-planning law practice. Mercer's May 2026 Business Wire release says the firm is majority owned by Oak Hill Capital, Genstar Capital and Altas Partners. InvestmentNews reported that Mercer had about $114 billion in client assets and roughly 1,880 employees, and that it had surpassed 100 acquisitions by May 2025. Mercer defines client assets as a combination of assets under management and assets under advisement, so the figure is not AUM alone. The Fifteenth deal continues a tax-focused buying pattern. In November 2025, Mercer bought Beach Freeman Lim & Cleland, a 20-person Southern California tax firm. Fa-mag reported that the transaction was the firm's initial RIA acquisition with a tax focus, and that it was the first tax-exclusive practice Mercer had added in its 40 years. In December 2025, Mercer acquired Glass Jacobson Wealth Advisors of Owings Mills, Maryland, which had about $1 billion in AUM and 22 people. Earlier in 2025, Mercer bought Singer Burke, a $1.2 billion Los Angeles firm with an entertainment-focused tax and accounting division. A third-party summary from BriefGlance said Mercer's tax team roughly doubled from 60 to 120 professionals during 2025; that figure is not from the firm. Mercer's technology push runs alongside these acquisitions. InvestmentNews reported that in summer 2026 Mercer unveiled the second generation of Aspen, its AI-enabled platform for wealth advisory teams. The Fifteenth article links the deal to that effort and to rising demand for integrated tax planning among ultra-high-net-worth clients, a point InvestmentNews raised in its summary of the deal. What comes next has not been reported in the material available. Readers should watch for a formal Mercer or Fifteenth announcement, for disclosure of how Fifteenth's team will be integrated into Mercer's tax operations, and for any update on the client-asset and headcount figures, which differ across third-party sources and Mercer's own releases. Key facts: - InvestmentNews reported the deal on November 5, 2026. - Fifteenth serves more than 1,000 professionals, mainly tech-company employees with equity-driven wealth events, according to InvestmentNews. - Fifteenth raised $8.25 million in seed funding in February 2025, according to FinTech Global. - Mercer's Beach Freeman Lim & Cleland acquisition in November 2025 was its first tax-focused RIA deal, according to Fa-mag. Why it matters: Equity compensation, such as stock options and restricted shares at technology companies, creates tax decisions that many generalist planning practices handle only occasionally. Advisors serving tech clients and firm leaders weighing tax capability may see this deal as a sign that larger RIAs are buying specialist tax talent rather than building it. Team leaders considering a move should note that tax specialists may be a growing source of recruiting interest at multi-office firms. Sources: - InvestmentNews: https://www.investmentnews.com/mergers-acquisitions/mercer-advisors-snaps-up-ai-native-tax-firm-fifteenth-in-tech-forward-deal/268890 - merceradvisors.com: https://www.merceradvisors.com/awards-news/in-the-news/mercer-advisors-goes-deeper-into-tax-planning-with-acquisition-of-dedicated-tax-and-accounting-firm/ - investmentnews.com: https://www.investmentnews.com/companies/mercer-advisors/265050 - fa-mag.com: https://www.fa-mag.com/news/acquisitive-mercer-buys-first-tax-only-firm-with-20-professionals-84821.html - investmentnews.com: https://www.investmentnews.com/ria-news/ria-moves-mercer-advisors-picks-up-first-tax-focused-firm-in-socal/263005 - merceradvisors.com: https://www.merceradvisors.com/awards-news/in-the-news/mercer-advisors-acquires-150m-aum-firm-in-new-jersey/