Subscribe to receive timely notifications of WealthTech news, insights and announcements

Carlyle, the US-based private equity firm, announced today that they are acquiring Intelliflo, the UK-based end-to-end advisor platform from its parent, Invesco. Carlyle is paying $200mm -- $135mm in cash up-front and $65mm in deferred incentives. Invesco paid about $255mm for Intelliflo back in 2018. They also bought RedBlack in 2019 for an undisclosed amount, which they folded into Intelliflo and is going to Carlyle as well. It's pretty tough to call this consolidation, though: (1) it will continue to operate independently given that it is going to be a platform company for Carlyle and (2) they are actually going to separate RedBlack out from Intelliflo and have it operate in the US as an independent company under separate management. We have seen a substantial pickup in interest in WealthTech from the private equity community over the last two years. Our pet theory is that private equity's journey with RIA aggregators has shown them how important the technology piece is to the whole roll-up thesis. Their problem is usually that private equity likes to spend $200mm+ when they make a platform acquisition, and there are only so many WealthTech properties available at that level. After they make a platform purchase, they typically look for bolt-on acquisitions, and I would be surprised if Carlyle were any exception to this. Link to Article

Basic Capital, an innovative 401(k) platform, announced that it has raised a $25mm Series A round led by Lux Capital and Forerunner Ventures. Apart from being a rare 401(k) platform built on a modern tech stack, they offer participants the ability to leverage their returns by lending them $4 for each $1 they invest. The general idea is that the investors get to potentially compound their savings faster, so long as the market goes up. In return, Basic Capital gets a decent interest rate and 5% of the appreciation when the assets are eventually sold. They also have a "one-click" Roth IRA rollover, which is the optimal number of clicks compared to a typical 401(k) transaction, which can be rather involved, lengthy, and full of friction. Given their penchant for innovation, and considering they have $25mm and a modern tech platform, perhaps they will be one of the first to take advantage of any new opportunities that arise out of President Trump's executive order exploring alternative investment use in the 401(k) market. We would very much like to see that, although perhaps without the leverage.

Cache, a Canadian-based firm that allows investors to swap large equity positions for diversified portfolios, announced that it raised $12.5 million in a round lead by long-time investor First Round Capital with participation from existing investor Quiet Capital. Cache allows investors with a large stock concentration (and low cost basis) exchange their holding for a more diversified index tax-deferred. They currently offer the NASDAQ 100 and the S&P 500 but part of the proceeds will be used to launch additional funds. Basically, you exchange your concentrated holding for shares in a fund that also contains everyone else's concentrated holdings. Your cost basis transfers to the shares you receive, if done correctly, and the capital gains are deferred. They then us some sort of magic (probably derivatives) to benchmark everything to the appropriate index. And voila, your concentrated stock position is now a more diversified index. This sort of maneuver has been traditionally reserved for private banking clients at large firms, but the Cache technology has allowed them to move downstream to minimums as low as $100,000. It seems to be working. They have grown to over $625mm in AUM over the last year or so. Tesla seems to be the most popular stock holding to exchange, which is not surprising. This is an excellent example of the Family Office as-a-Service thesis, where WealthTech firms take some of the high-touch/low-scale services normally found at a family office and scales them down the net worth chain with smart technology. For more information on that, read our theme piece WealthTech Themes for the Next 5 Years .

Last week, we looked at how and who in WealthTech is rushing to launch functionality around alternatives. Today, we took a step back to think about why. Why is there so much interest in an investment category with so many unknowns and so many barriers to entry?   With the stories of significant returns and portfolio diversification coming from private markets, investors are seeking to do the same. They want access to the kinds of opportunities that have historically been limited to institutions and ultra-high-net-worth investors, and they’re willing to pay extra if it means participating in potential like this.  Alternative AUM has more than doubled over the past decade, rising from $7.5 trillion in 2014 to $16.7 trillion in 2024 ( Preqin ).    Even among HNW ($1mm-$10mm investible assets), more than 50% of Schwab’s clients expect at least 5% of their portfolios to be allocated to alternatives ( Schwab ).      The switch is mainly driven by three trends:    Higher Returns With the rise of the ETF came an effortless path to achieve market returns. Many investors now feel that they need access to exclusive opportunities to beat the market.  72% of investors aged 21–43 believe it is no longer possible to achieve above-average returns by investing solely in traditional stocks and bonds ( BofA ).      Diversification and Stability  Private markets help reduce volatility and correlation with public markets, offering a meaningful diversification benefit during market downturns ( WEF ).   With public markets increasingly concentrated (e.g. over 30% of the S&P 500’s market cap is held in 7 stocks), investors are realizing their portfolios aren’t as diversified as they appear.    Larger Investable Opportunity Set  There are more than 17,200 private businesses in the U.S. with annual revenues greater than $100 million, compared with fewer than 4,060 public companies of that size ( Morgan Stanley ).  With fewer IPOs and shrinking public company lists, investors turn to private markets simply to broaden exposure and access companies otherwise unreachable.    This growing demand is forcing WealthTech providers to rethink how private markets are accessed and managed. Solution providers are responding by partnering up and innovating with new tools, platforms, and distribution models to make alternatives more accessible than ever before.

Objectway, a global end-to-end WealthTech platform based in Italy, has sold a majority stake to private equity firm Cinven. This is probably the first pure WealthTech we have seen Cinven dive into and it appears to be a platform investment for them. They do have some WealthTech and adjacent exposure, mainly: Alter Domus, a tech-enabled fund administrator for Private Equity, Real Assets, and Private Credit. With over $2 trillion in AUA, there could be some interesting synergies here. IFGL, an insurance and investment advisor for internationally mobile folks. Säkra, one of the largest insurance companies in Sweden. Could be a new Objectway deployment, if it isn't already. True Potential, a tech-enabled advice provider, this one is pretty solid WealthTech. We will be watching to see if any synergies develop out of this. We have seen a marked pick-up in interest in WealthTech from the private equity community over the last two years. Everyone seems to be looking, but it is difficult for them to find an initial investment because, to get involved in a new sector, they need to make a platform purchase large enough to be worth their while, and there aren't all that many of those. They continue to be active on the tuck-in acquisition front once they have a platform to bolt onto. For example, the last two companies we have sold have been to private equity as tuck-in acquisitions. WealthTech isn't necessarily what we would think of for private equity, who usually like strong cash-flow situations where growth is sometimes secondary to debt magic and financial structuring. We suspect that their strong involvement in the RIA roll-up market has shown them first hand how important the technology piece is to that business and how a targeted bolt-on acquisition program can add value and scale. Overall, we see it as a healthy development for the market. Link to article

Uptiq, an AI-enabled lending platform for the wealth management channel with an emphasis in Securities Based Lending, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Broadridge and is receiving a minority investment from them as well. We see this as a textbook incumbent-startup partnership. Broadridge gets what it wants: accelerated innovation and improved feature sets. Uptiq also gets what it wants, which is the same thing most startups want: money and a strong distribution partner (also money). Broadridge will integrate Uptiq into their Wealth Lending Network, a platform that allows advisors without a bank affiliation to compete in areas like Securities Based Lending. Advisors are looking to add ancillary services to become more relevant in their clients' financial lives. Lending solutions are a natural compliment, allowing advisors to assist with the liability side of their clients' balance sheets, not just the assets. Link to article: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadridge-partners-with-uptiq-to-modernize-wealth-management-with-ai-powered-wealth-lending-solutions-302522403.html

GeoWealth, the Chicago-based Turnkey Asset Management Program provider, announced that it has received a $38 million investment from Apollo (with previous contributions from Blackrock, JP Morgan, and Kayne Anderson). But that is just the tip of the iceberg. GeoWealth is also partnering with Apollo to enhance its Public-Private alternatives offering, which we see as a fairly big deal. Apart from fielding new Public-Private offerings, other uses of proceeds include accelerating innovation for its UMA platform (useful for public-private models) and completing the acquisition of the TAMP assets of Freedom Advisors. So, it looks like another summer down the drain for our friends at GeoWealth, but we love the way they are moving the industry forward. Just this morning we were writing about the rush to provide alternative investment functionality in wealth management. Among the firms that have added or initiated alternative investments are BlackRock, SEI, Goldman, Fidelity, CAIS, AssetMark, SMArtX, BNY Mellon, Orion, Vestmark, Addepar, and now GeoWealth. I am sure I missed several. Who do we think will be the big winners in this rush to alternatives, apart from the investors presumably? TAMPs. We believe that the TAMPs will be the gatekeepers for the alternative product until efficient indexes can be developed. Something to keep an eye on. To read more about the rush to alternatives, see our post WealthTech is Rushing to Launch Functionality around Alternatives .

At the start of the year, Larry Fink published his annual letter, “The Democratization of Investing.” In it, he didn’t just talk about markets. He painted a picture of a coming transformation away from the classic 60/40 portfolio, pointing instead to a future where private infrastructure and alternative investments aren’t niche, but fundamental. He hinted that we’re heading toward a 50/30/20 world, where private credit, private equity, and real assets make up 20% of a standard portfolio. Now, when BlackRock says something like this, you have to wonder: Is this just theory, or is the industry already shifting to make it reality? The recent timeline seems to suggest the latter. Let’s take a look at recent movements and their respective dates.  October  2024 – BlackRock partnered with iCapital and GeoWealth to allow RIAs who use their custom model portfolios to invest in private assets alongside traditional investments through unified managed accounts.  March  2025 – SEI announced the launch of its alternative investment product marketplace, providing an end-to-end investment experience and increased access for advisors.   May  2025 – Goldman Sachs Asset Management also teamed up with GeoWealth to introduce public-private custom models for RIAs.  June  2025 – Fidelity teamed up with Envestnet and debuted open-architecture custom models with semi-liquid alts.  June  2025 – CAIS added BlackRock, Carlyle, KKR, and Franklin models to its new model marketplace.  July  2025 – AssetMark announced that it will be integrating private equity and private credit funds into its managed account platform with an expected Q4 launch.  July  2025 – SMArtX stepped up UMA integration of semi-liquid alts with liquidity, trading, and tax automation all in one.  July  2025 – BNY Mellon deepened its alliance with iCapital to bolster its Alts Bridge platform to better connect advisors to a comprehensive range of alternative asset managers and products.  July  2025 - Vestmark teamed up with iCapital, BlackRock, and Dynasty Financial Partners to add private markets to its tax-managed UMA solution, breaking a longstanding barrier that kept private funds out of UMA structures  July  2025 - Orion integrates with iCapital, enabling advisors to build diversified, goal-aligned portfolios and view reporting all within Orion’s platform.  July  2025 – Addepar showcased how its platform is purpose-built for the complexities of alternatives through data management and private fund benchmarks.   August  2025 – GeoWealth received $38mm in Series C funding from alternative Asset Manager, Apollo, to accelerate public-private UMA Capabilities.     While everyone is watching BlackRock, Goldman, and the large alternative asset managers, our provocative thought is that the biggest winners in the shift to alternatives will be the TAMPs, at least in terms of percentages. Platforms like Envestnet, SEI, GeoWealth, AssetMark, SMArtX, Vestmark, and Orion are quietly building the rails to embed private markets into everyday advisor workflows. These are the systems advisors already use to allocate, rebalance, and manage client portfolios. If alternatives are truly going to scale beyond UHNW and institutional circles, it won’t be because asset managers create more products, it’s going to be because TAMPs cut complexity and boost availability. Regardless of how well the TAMPs make out on this, it seems inevitable, one way or the other.

Crunchbase is running an article this morning reporting on the upturn in startups buying other startups. It's not quite back to the heady days of 2021, but a solid increase of 18% and a continuation of the trend. It makes sense to us for a few reasons: The race to scale is more important than ever right now, particularly in WealthTech. The funding market is still tight (but getting better) so there are values to be had. Modern startups are all on clean, easy-to-integrate tech platforms. VCs are looking to accelerate their exits as their funds get long in the tooth by buying their way closer to victory. Being smart and opportunistic with an acquisition can give a startup a significant boost towards scale, potential cross-selling opportunities, and key talent. We also point out that there is an opportunity for revenue arbitrage if you are able to acquire revenues at a lower multiple than what investors might pay. We just caution founders against getting distracted and taking their eyes off the ball during the process. Link to article

Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR announced that it has acquired FMG Suite, the marketing automation platform for insurance and wealth management. Normally, this would be a lot more exciting except that they are just buying it from another private equity firm, Aurora Capital Partners, who bought the company in June 2000. Transaction details were not disclosed. There are some points of interest, though. GTCR has been fairly active in the WealthTech space having bought Foundation Source, Charityvest (which we advised on), and notably, AssetMark. It will be interesting to see if they find any points of synergy between FMG and their other assets. In any case, we would probably say that GTCR is a bit deeper into WealthTech than Aurora Capital at the moment, so perhaps that makes for a happy home. https://fmgsuite.com/company/in-the-news/gtcr-to-acquire-fmg-suite-from-aurora-capital-partners/

Lightyear, a pan-European self directed trading platform, announced that they raised $23 million in a Series B round. It was lead by newcomer NordicNija with Superangel and SpecialistVC. Also participating were existing investors Lightspeed , Metaplanet, and Skaala, amongst others. The announcement came with a few updates on the platform. One, they are now at $1b of assets on platform across 25 countries. They are also launching AI tools to help investors and traders, namely (in their words): Why Did It Move? – Tap on a chart, and instantly see a summary of what drove that spike or drop in price. Bulls Say / Bears Say – Balanced, trustworthy summaries of the for and against cases for an investment, using credible sources. Lightning Updates – Bite-sized updates on the instruments you hold and watch, the macro environment, and market sentiment. We continue to track the theme of Self-Directed Trading as Lead Gen both in the US and Europe. We suspect that may be the direction Lightyear is heading, eventually. For more information on our Self-Directed Trading as Lead Gen theme or any of our other major thoughts on the WealthTech space, see our themes piece: WealthTech Themes for the Next 5 Years.

Yieldstreet, a WealthTech out to democratize access to alternative asset classes, announced that they have raised $77mm to bolster their comprehensive alternative investment platform. They had announced last November that they were looking to raise $70-100mm, so they did hit their mark. There was good participation from the venture capital community, which is nice to see, even if most of them were returning investors. Tarsadia Investments lead the deal and Mayfair Equity Partners, Edison Partners, Cordoba Advisory, and Kingfisher Investment Advisors joined in. RedBird Capital Partners also participated as a new face. The democratization of alternative investments continues to be a strong theme in WealthTech an wealth management. In the press release,  Mitchell Caplan, CEO of Yieldstreet, said “The next five years will define how individual investors access private markets investments.” We really can't argue against that. Addepar and Vestmark recently announced an expansion of their alternative capabilities and FS Investments has rebranded at Future Standard with a solid eye on the alternatives marketplace. All within the last week or so. For more information on our WealthTech theme "The Rise of Alternative Assets" or any of the other thoughts we have on the WealthTech space, see our thought piece WealthTech Themes for the Next 5 Years . Link to press release here