Bellevue is adding engineering and wealth management jobs after an AI startup acquired a local tech consultancy and a new $18.6 billion investment firm opened a hub in the city.

AI startup HumanTronik acquired CloudMoyo, a Bellevue technology consulting firm with more than 300 consultants, CommsTrader reported Oct. 24.

The combined company plans to hire engineering, product and sales staff in the Seattle area, according to the report.

Separately, former JPMorgan Chase wealth advisors Phil Scott and Jim Atwood announced the Oct. 19 launch of Latigo Peak Partners, an independent wealth management firm with roughly $18.6 billion in assets and 48 professionals, according to InvestmentNews.

Bellevue is one of three operational hubs alongside the firm's Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, headquarters and a Boston office.

Scott had previously run one of JPMorgan Advisors' largest wealth management practices out of Bellevue.

He and Atwood grew their combined revenue from $34 million to more than $130 million over six years while at the bank, according to the firm's launch announcement.

The firm is entirely founder-owned and self-funded, with no outside private equity capital. Atwood told Bloomberg that the pair turned down PE offers because of the exit timelines that come with outside investors, InvestmentNews reported.

"Phil and I are backing this 100% ourselves, which is a big differentiator," Atwood said, according to InvestmentNews. "It's not cheap to do that."

Latigo Peak serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, focusing on public equity investing and family-office services including estate planning and philanthropic strategy. Scott told Bloomberg the firm is weighing offices in Denver and Jackson Hole, Wyoming, within the next year, InvestmentNews reported.

CloudMoyo deal reunites Icertis veterans

The HumanTronik acquisition brings together leaders with deep ties to Icertis, the Bellevue-area enterprise software company.

HumanTronik co-founder Monish Darda co-founded Icertis in 2009 and served as its chief technology officer for about 17 years before stepping back in April to start HumanTronik, according to CommsTrader.

CloudMoyo co-founder Manish Kedia, a former Icertis president, will continue running CloudMoyo's day-to-day operations. Darda serves as CEO of the combined company. The family of the late Samir Bodas, who co-founded both CloudMoyo and Icertis, sold its stake in CloudMoyo as part of the deal, CommsTrader reported.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

CloudMoyo will keep its name and customer contracts while also selling HumanTronik's AI technology. The startup is developing what it calls "human language models," AI systems that learn how individual executives make decisions and communicate, according to CommsTrader.

The combined company has about 20 people in the Seattle area, including CloudMoyo's Bellevue office, which has operated for about a decade.

Nearly all of CloudMoyo's consultants are becoming HumanTronik employees.

Kedia described the deal as a natural fit. "We are staying within the families," he said, according to CommsTrader.

Negotiations took about two months, CommsTrader reported.

Darda held stakes in both companies and sat on CloudMoyo's board, so each side used independent legal counsel to manage the conflict of interest.