The Surge in Alternatives: Tracking Capital, Conviction, and Client Demand

The race to provide wealth management clients with easier access to alternatives is well underway. Over the past eight months we have seen over a dozen major financial institutions launch initiatives to help democratize alternatives. The financial industry tends to move slowly, so this is a veritable stampede. Not surprisingly, we are also tracking a 479% year-over-year increase in funding for alternatives enablers and those that mentioned private market access in their use of funds. 

In 2024, Nasdaq Private Market, Securitize, and Canoe led the bulk of the investment activity, alongside 17 other companies that announced fundraising rounds. Collectively, we land at $227 million raised across 20 companies, for an average of ~$17 million per round and a median of ~$7 million. 

In 2025, we have already tracked more than $1.2 billion raised through the first eight months of the year. One might note that most of this was driven by iCapital’s $820 million Series E. We won’t argue with you but will point out that even if you exclude that single raise, 2025 funding is still on track to be 2.24x higher than 2024. Excluding the largest deal, 2025 already amounts to ~$424 million across just 13 rounds, for an average of ~$35 million and a median of ~$18 million through August. 

The conviction behind this trend is visible at the highest levels. In April, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink outlined a “50/30/20” portfolio vision, emphasizing the need for a 20% allocation to alternatives. That conviction is clear in BlackRock’s own actions, from investments in two private-markets tech companies to its acquisition of Preqin. These moves, and the investments outlined above, highlight how quickly alternatives are moving from the margins to the mainstream. With demand building, we expect to see continued funding and new solutions to bring alternatives within reach of retail investors. 

To read more about the rush to alternatives, see our other blog posts and our themes piece: WealthTech Themes for the Next 5 Years. 

Disclaimer: We currently track 225 companies globally that build technology enabling access to private markets. This analysis is based on publicly available information and includes only announced or disclosed rounds from companies whose primary solutions involve private markets, or whose stated use of funds was directed toward private markets. As with all private-market data, figures are subject to change as new rounds are announced or clarified, and some activity may not be publicly reported or fully verifiable.