Reports
Backers Inject More Funds Into iCapital Network
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The rise of groups such as iCapital is part of a trend of wider access to the alternative investments space.
iCapital Network recently announced that it has closed a $50 million funding round, giving it more capital firepower at the end of the year in which it inked a number of partnerships with wealth managers, such as UBS.
The business announced its last fundraising round in July 2021, which the company ultimately closed at $447 million.
The New York-based group, which is a financial technology platform for alternative assets such as private equity, said the fundraising was led by WestCap. Apollo and Temasek also invested in the round, which valued the company at more than $6 billion. Apollo, an alternatives investment house, is joining other strategic investors such as Blackstone, KKR and The Carlyle Group. A consortium of investment firms working with iCapital include Affiliated Managers Group, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, Citi Ventures, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Golub Capital, Hamilton Lane, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, MSD Partners, Noah Holdings, Owl Rock, Ping An Voyager Partners, Pivot Investment Partners, UBS, and Wells Fargo.
The rise of groups such as iCapital, CAIS and Moonfare is sometimes described as how access to alternative investments, once the preserve of ultra-wealthy individuals and large institutions, is widening. A decade of very low interest rates crushed yields from listed equities and government bonds, encouraging a flow to private market assets.
“The democratisation of finance brings tremendous opportunity for advisors and their clients to access alternatives and will play an increasingly important role in Apollo’s growth strategy,” Stephanie Drescher, partner and chief client and product development officer at Apollo, said.
iCapital now has platform assets of more than $104 billion and more than 700 staff.
This news service interviewed the firm here about its non-US strategy. Besides its US footprint, iCapital operates in Zurich, London, Lisbon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Toronto.
