Envestnet Inc. and CAIS plan to integrate their platforms to give financial advisors who utilize the former access to third-party hedge funds and private-equity funds on the latter’s platform, the companies announced Wednesday.

Chicago-based Envestnet provides open-architecture wealth management platforms to more than 43,000 advisors. CAIS, with offices in New York City and Los Angeles, operates a financial product platform enabling registered investment advisors, broker-dealers and family offices to access a range of alternative products including hedge funds, private-equity funds, ’40 Act mutual funds, equity and debt syndicate, and precious metals.

Integration of the two platforms will start next month and will be rolled out in stages, with each subsequent stage representing a deepening of the services to be offered by the partnership.

Advisors on the Envestnet platforms will have single-sign-on access to a secure CAIS portal within the next-generation ENV 2 system where they can get product reports on hedge funds and private-equity funds on the CAIS platform, along with white papers and other materials on the broader alternative investment space. Advisors will also be able to conduct electronic fund transactions on the CAIS platform through a single-sign-on process from ENV 2.

According to Envestnet, the linkup with CAIS is being driven by investor demand for alternative investments. CAIS says all funds on its platform have undergone independent due diligence by Mercer, a global consulting company.