So who says start-ups are dead in the mutual fund business? kaChing, a new advisory firm backed by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen of Benchmark Capital, and OpenTable CEO Jeff Jordan among others, has opened its virtual doors. The small registered financial adviser is hoping to make a big splash by riding the open source technology model. It hopes to draw in waves of Net- and mobile phone-savvy customers.  Its model is similar to that of companies like open source OS firm Red Hat.

kaChing's software can be run on other sites, and is available on Yahoo and Facebook. It also wants to be more open about its pay and presumably governance issues. Issues that the fund industry has long grappled with. kaChing charges an expense ratio of 100 basis points, which is probably about average. Its system allows customers to monitor all trades online and a way to mimic the buys and sells of the the firm's portfolio "geniuses." It's aiming for consumers with a net worth of less than $1 million. We'll see how many customers really want this. 

For more:
- here's an LA Times article

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