The firm is one of those businesses that have ridden the wave of rising interest in private markets and the wider “alternative” investments sector. 

CAIS, an alternative investment platform for independent financial advisors, has raised $170 million in a Series D financing round led by Vista Equity Partners. The round values the company at over $2 billion and brings its total capital raised to nearly $600 million, the business said in a statement. 

Additional investors include AllianceBernstein, funds managed by Blue Owl Capital, Carlyle, Fortress Investment Group, Golub Capital, Lord Abbett and Royal Bank of Canada. David Breach, president of Vista Equity Partners, will join the CAIS board of directors, while representatives from Blue Owl, Lord Abbett, Fortress and Carlyle will serve as board observers.

The platform serves more than 2,500 wealth management firms, representing over 65,000 financial advisors who oversee approximately $8.5 trillion in end-client assets. The company reported a three-year organic revenue compound annual growth rate of 37 per cent. 

Founded in 2009, CAIS has its headquarters in New York; it also has offices in London, Austin, Texas and Red Bank, New Jersey. A busy trend in the past decade has been a variety of platforms opening access to high net worth and mass-affluent clients to areas that were once the sole preserve of ultra-wealthy individuals, banks, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and endowments.

Players in the “democratization” space include InvestX, CAIS, iCapital, ADDX, and Moonfare.

Platform surge
In the first half of this year, CAIS said transaction volume on its platform surged by 53 per cent year-over-year, with total platform assets gaining by 55 per cent over the same period. 

The firm has added more than 425 new RIAs and independent broker-dealers to its system, equating to more than $1.8 trillion in assets. Firms coming on board include AE Wealth Management, AllianceBernstein, Beacon Pointe Advisors, Partners and OpenArc. 

Existing users include Baird, Wealth Enhancement Group, Mariner and Edward Jones. 

CAIS’s Series D follows a $50 million Series B round in 2020.

Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to CAIS on the latest transaction, with Sidley Austin serving as legal counsel.