Hamilton Lane and TIFIN, an AI wealth platform, have announced the launch of an AI-powered investment assistant that will consolidate the private markets information and technology of Hamilton Lane with the AI capabilities of TIFIN.
The new assistant, which will launch in the third quarter of this year, will allow advisors to access information about private markets from wide–ranging topics to specific questions about funds, the companies said.
Prompting the launch of this tool is an underinvesting in the private markets by the wealthy, according to Anshuman Mehta, chief product officer at TIFIN, which is based in Boulder, Colo. The reason is a lack of education and understanding of the private markets and how they perform in a portfolio, he said, adding that the AI assistant will bridge that gap.
“What our AI-powered private markets assistant aims to do is to solve the intricacies for the advisor community,” Mehta said. “Using the assistant, advisors can get valuable insights and answers to questions they may have about private markets.”
Through the assistant, an advisor can learn about market trends and performance. They can also compare investments and conduct due diligence on a fund, Mehta said. In addition, an advisor can print draft memos or summaries.
“This tool provides advisors with a very interactive and engaging way to learn about private market investments … and to find the right investments for their clients,” he said. “We do all this in plain English and in a conversational framework so it’s a very engaging experience for the advisor.”
Conshohocken, Pa.-based Hamilton Lane specializes in the private markets but has found that while there is interest in the space, a lack of knowledge prevents many from executing any trades.
“One of the challenges that the wealth market has had is that a lot of them are newer and a lot of advisors are newer to the private markets and their investors have not yet accessed the private markets at least not for a significant part of their profile,” said Griff Norville, head of Cobalt LP at Hamilton Lane.
Advisors will be able to integrate the AI assistant into their existing technology, so it appears as if they are not reaching out to other firms to obtain the information, the companies said.
“From an underlying user perspective, it won’t feel to them like they’re going outside or going to something new,” Norville said. “It will be part of their integrated experience in this broader platform they’ll be using to manage their investments.”
The fee for the use of the assistant has not yet been determined, according to Norville.
The collaboration between Hamilton Lane and TIFIN originated in 2021 as part of a program at Hamilton Lane that saw the firm invest balance sheet capital into leading technology producing firms. One of them was TIFIN, according to Norville. The AI assistant is the evolution of that relationship, he said.
“This is something that the marketplace feels is absolutely necessary to help them get comfortable with growing their allocations in the asset class,” Norville said. “The whole point here is for private markets to have a much wider audience than we have today so we’re looking for broad distribution in a wide swath of partnerships out there.”