2019 was a banner year for at least one alternative investments firm.
iCapital Network, a New York-based financial technology platform for alternative investments, announced a 400% growth in assets last year.
As of December 31, 2019, iCapital serviced more than $46.6 billion in invested capital across approximately 470 funds, 100,000 underlying accounts, and 55 white label partners. iCapital increased assets serviced by its platform more than five-fold since year-end 2018, including $12.1 billion in organic platform growth coupled with strategic partnership acquisitions.
“2019 was a breakout year for iCapital, positioning us to fundamentally change the industry,” said Lawrence Calcano, iCapital's CEO, in released comments. “iCapital has evolved from connecting two end points in the alternative investing lifecycle – the buyer and the seller – to establishing and automating the entire ecosystem. Our team is working diligently to enhance the value that we can deliver to our clients across the industry, and we are excited to further evolve and scale in the next decade.”
Founded in 2013, iCapital’s flagship platform allows advisors and their high-net-worth clients to analyze and invest in private equity, private debt, venture capital and hedge funds for as little as $100,000 per fund, compared to the millions usually required for access to such investments.
Contributing to its growth over the past twelve months, iCapital closed on its acquisition of Bank of America’s alternative investment feeder fund operations and solidified a strategic relationship with Morgan Stanley to oversee ongoing operations and administrative functions of the firm’s alternative investment feeder fund assets.
Last year, iCapital also developed new partnerships across distribution channels.
In 2019, iCapital signed partnership agreements with IEQ Capital, Janney Montgomery Scott, Keebeck Wealth Management, Personal Capital, United Capital, First Republic, and SunTrust, as well as fund managers CIM Group, PIMCO, and Brookfield.
iCapital also became the first platform provider to deliver alternative investment options on the new Schwab marketplace after entering into an expanded relationship with Schwab Advisor Services in October 2019. The Schwab partnership allowed independent advisors that custody with Schwab to manage iCapital investments directly on the Schwab Alternative Investment Marketplace platform.
In April 2019, iCapital also partnered with Nasdaq Private Market to offer liquidity solutions to advisors and their high-net-worth clients by creating an integrated secondary marketplace for iCapital sponsored funds through Nasdaq's platform.