Danilo Kawasaki

Danilo Kawasaki is the co-founder, vice president, COO, and chief compliance officer of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, a Santa Monica-based independent RIA founded in 2010 with Ross Gerber after the 2008 financial crisis. He serves on the firm’s board of directors and investment selection committee.

Kawasaki was born in São Paulo, Brazil and moved to the United States at age 17 as a scholar-athlete. He earned a BS in Business Administration from the University of Redlands, where he was a three-time All-American tennis player. He later completed a Personal Financial Planning certificate at UCLA, became a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professional, earned a Wealth Management Theory & Practice certificate from Yale School of Management, and became a Certified Private Wealth Advisor.

His regulated advisory record lists 24 years of financial-industry experience and five firms. Before Gerber Kawasaki, public records show registrations with SunAmerica Securities, Independent Capital Management, SagePoint Financial, and LPL Financial. InvestmentNews reports that he became the youngest branch manager at SunAmerica Securities at age 24 and that his office was the No. 1 recruiting office for SunAmerica in 2007 and 2008.

Gerber Kawasaki has grown into a multi-billion-dollar RIA. A February 23, 2026 Altruist announcement described the firm as managing more than $4 billion in client assets, and the firm’s own materials report $4.109 billion in investments as of December 31, 2025.

• Kawasaki’s work is primarily through Gerber Kawasaki, whose stated investment approach is in-house, thematic portfolio management rather than a traditional seed-stage VC platform.
• The firm says it starts client portfolios with passive index funds, then adds “20-30 handpicked stocks” selected for growth potential and client goals.
• Gerber Kawasaki’s stated thematic focus includes AI technology, sustainable climate solutions, consumer trends, real estate ventures, and healthcare innovation.
• The firm describes its model as combining “thematic, research-driven investing with comprehensive financial planning” and using technology to make advice more accessible.
• Kawasaki’s own public framing is client-access oriented: he told Voyage LA, “Our mission is to democratize financial planning and investment management.”
• No verified public source found a standard angel-investor check size or a repeatable seed-stage investment mandate for Kawasaki.