Conway Investment Solutions and private markets wealth technology platform Opto Investments formed a strategic partnership to provide RIAs with access to quality commissioned and actively managed private market funds. These will mainly involve a curated fund of funds involving several different fund managers. The partnership will enable RIAs to offer clients private market investments at lower minimums.
According to Opto CEO Ryan VanGorder, while foundation funds typically require investment minimums in the millions of dollars, the Conway/Opto partnership will allow RIAs to invest in minimums that will tend to be closer to $100,000.
“This will give them diversification among multiple funds that would normally each have hurdles or minimum ticket sizes that are much larger than that,” VanGorder said.
The funds, curated by the two firms, will be made available through a simplified digital subscription process. One of Opto's APIs will be able to access the RIA's CRM system and pull data from the RIA's customer ledger to automatically populate the necessary paperwork, cutting down on the time it can take to execute transactions with hand.
“We are bringing comprehensive coverage of the private markets from an Opto and due diligence perspective and technology-enabled research that complements the very comprehensive and robust research that Conway conducts,” said VanGorder. “And then Conway extends into the hedge fund space, and they have a hedge fund platform that rounds out more of a broader alt offering for underlying clients.”
Andersen Tax LLC, a tax, valuation and financial advisory firm, became one of the first clients to benefit from the partnership. Conway and Opto pioneered a balanced senior private markets fund strategy for their high net worth, high net worth and family office clients.
“This powerful alliance between Andersen, Conway and Opto will provide our advisors with value-added investment strategies to complement existing equity and fixed income portfolios,” said Brian Ulsperger, managing director at Andersen, in a statement. Ulsperger's team has $2 billion in AUM.
Opto, whose platform aims to give wealth managers access to private market investments, added custom funds capabilities last fall. This gave RIA clients the opportunity to create white-label funds, ranging from those focused on private equity or debt to infrastructure. Company Co-Founder and Chief Solutions Officer Jake Miller discussed Opto's goals for the wealth channel and the importance of a fiduciary-first approach to managing private market investments on a recent episode of the Wealth Management Podcast.