NEW YORK — iCapital1, the leading global fintech platform driving access and efficiency in alternative investing for the asset and wealth management industries, today announced its 2021 accomplishments and full-year performance numbers. The iCapital global workforce, which now includes more than 700, increased assets by $40 billion (+59%) to now service more than $108 billion. In addition, the firm more than doubled investments from investors outside the US to more than $24 billion in international assets.
iCapital continued to invest in its technology platform, education offerings and global team to support clients – asset management firms accessing the growing pool of high-net-worth investors, and wealth managers enhancing access and the servicing of alternative investments for clients. Reinforced by two fundraising rounds and two acquisitions, iCapital markedly expanded its investment and educational product offerings and advanced the client experience. Today, more than 8,500 wealth managers use the iCapital platform.
“Clients come first in everything we do – that’s our compass – and the iCapital team put in an extraordinary amount of hard work over the last 12 months to ensure the highest quality experience for our global client base,” said Lawrence Calcano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of iCapital. “Appetite for alternative investments continues to grow among wealth managers, and we are singularly focused on meeting the industry’s needs by building out our team in new regions, improving our technical capabilities, and offering the highest levels of support for our partners and clients.”
Significant Global Expansion
To support a growing international client base, iCapital’s international headcount increased to 150 team members comprised of proven industry experts. iCapital expanded its global footprint and opened new offices in Europe and Asia with a presence now in Zurich, London, Lisbon, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Toronto.
In 2021, the team expanded or entered into new prestigious partnerships with global industry leaders, including Allfunds, Altshuler Shaham, BlackRock, Investcorp, and UBS, to help drive expanded access to private markets investments for a growing international high-net-worth investor base.
“iCapital stands out as an innovative and trusted partner to Wealth and Asset Management firms across the globe,” said Marco Bizzozero, Head of International at iCapital. “We accomplished significant growth in 2021 and will continue to invest in our people and solutions to support our clients’ private markets ambitions.”
Today, global HNWI wealth is approaching $80 trillion and growing at more than 7.5% each year2. While the global market for alternative investments is forecast to grow at a rate of 11.7% through 20263, individual investor allocations, estimated to be approximately 8%, have historically lagged those of institutional investors. However, as individual investors build their understanding of opportunities in the private markets and their utility in helping to meet long-term goals4, adoption is expected to accelerate.
Best-in-Class Technology Platform and Product Enhancements
iCapital continued to enhance its industry-standard technology capabilities across client servicing and fund structuring. The iCapital technology team of nearly 300 skilled programmers, designers, and technologists focuses on delivering a paperless and simplified platform for clients to invest in and manage their alternative assets.
In January, iCapital acquired AI Insight, an online alternative investment education and compliance platform offering financial advisors investment research, training, qualification, and compliance support for a broad range of alternative investments built into the platform. Further enhancements to the iCapital platform in 2021 included expansion of detailed aggregated reporting and portfolio dashboards across clients’ private investments, as well as enhanced support for accredited investor registered funds such as interval funds, non-traded REITs, and BDCs, with connectivity to key transfer agents and consistent electronic workflows across products.
In February, iCapital partnered with the industry-leading professional body for the global alternative investment industry, CAIA Association, to launch AltsEdgeTM, a new tech-based education initiative designed to help advisors better understand alternative investments and how they can leverage these products to improve client outcomes.
In October, iCapital acquired Axio Financial, a leading end-to-end service provider to the U.S. structured notes market, expanding the firm’s suite of alternative investments, technology stack, educational offerings, and augmenting its distribution capabilities.
iCapital meaningfully expanded the fund offerings available on its platform including a curated menu of registered funds to support advisors in meeting the portfolio needs of accredited investors. In total, iCapital now supports client investments across more than 900 alternative investment funds.
Sustaining Strategic Industry Relationships
A testament to iCapital’s offering and deep industry relationships, the firm closed two funding rounds in 2021, raising more than $500 million.
In July, Temasek led a $447 million investment round joined by new investors Owl Rock, MSD Partners, Noah Holdings, Golub Capital, and Citi Ventures. In addition, existing investors WestCap, Ping An, Blackstone, UBS, Pivot, BNY Mellon, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management committed additional capital. In December, WestCap led an investment round which included Temasek and Apollo and ultimately raised $60 million.
Many of iCapital’s investors are strategic partners who leverage iCapital’s technology solutions to streamline their own alternative investing infrastructure. iCapital supports 130 white label platforms in the marketplace. In 2021, the firm launched enabling technology partnerships with industry leaders including Bridgewater, Investcorp, Nuveen, Hines, and AssetMark, among others. In an innovative three-party partnership, iCapital and UBS developed a curated menu of alternative investments for the Envestnet Alternatives Exchange platform, leveraging iCapital’s technology solution.
Leadership Team Growth
In support of its growing prominence in the global alternative investment marketplace, iCapital made several notable additions to its Management Team in 2021 including:
- Anastasia Amoroso, Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist, responsible for providing insight on private market investing opportunities for advisors and their high-net-worth clients.
- Steve Houston, Managing Director and Head of Fund Management and Research, responsible for the origination and development of new investment products, life cycle management of existing offerings, and new fund launches across the firm’s client relationships.
- Gary Owen, Managing Director and Chief Information Security Officer, responsible for leading the firm’s information security efforts.
- Marc Paley, Managing Director and head of Private Wealth Solutions, responsible for the marketing and distribution of Private Funds and Structured Investments to the RIA, broker-dealer, private banking, and family office communities.
It also significantly expanded its international team including:
- Edwin Chan, Managing Director and Head of Client Solutions Asia
- Manuel Faccio, Managing Director and Head of Client Solutions Europe
- Peter Pfister, Managing Director in Client Solutions focusing on Asset Managers/GPs
- Masato Degawa, Senior Advisor for the Japanese market
Award-winning Technology and Workplace
In 2021, the iCapital team and firm were recognized for outstanding achievements in several industry award programs.
For the fourth year in a row, iCapital was named by Forbes as a top fintech firm in the 2021 Forbes Fintech 50. In the 2021 MMI/Barron’s Industry Awards, iCapital was honored for the second year in a row as Solutions Provider of the Year, and AltsEdge was recognized for Thought Leadership/Education. iCapital was also recognized on the WealthTech100 list as one of the world’s most innovative financial technology solution providers.
As an employer, iCapital was honored in the BuiltIn 2021 Best Places to Work Awards on the Best Midsize Companies to Work for in New York City list. In addition, Forbes recognized iCapital on its 2021 America’s Best Startup Employers list, where iCapital ranked 181 on the second annual list of the 500 companies leading dynamic workforces in the American startup scene.
iCapital Chairman and CEO Lawrence Calcano was named one of the Top 50 Financial Technology CEOs of 2021, and Marc Prisco, Head of Product at iCapital, was named a Top 25 FinTech Product Executives of 2021 by The Financial Technology Report.
About iCapital
Founded in 2013 in NYC, iCapital is the leading global fintech company powering the world’s alternative investment marketplace. It has transformed the way the wealth management, banking, and asset management industries facilitate access to private markets investments for their high-net-worth clients by providing intuitive, end-to-end technology and service solutions. Wealth management firms use iCapital’s solutions to provide clients with quality funds at lower minimums and simplified digital workflows. Asset managers and banks leverage iCapital’s technology to streamline and scale their private investments operational infrastructure. Additionally, the iCapital ‘flagship’ platform offers financial advisors and their high-net-worth clients access to a curated menu of private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and other alternative investments to help meet their investing needs for return and diversification. iCapital’s research and diligence team offers robust analysis alongside the firm’s extensive suite of advisor education, compliance, portfolio management, and portfolio analytics tools and services. iCapital was recognized on the Forbes FinTech 50 list in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, the Forbes America’s Best Startup Employers in 2021, and MMI/Barron’s Industry Awards as Solutions Provider of the Year in 2020 and 2021. As of December 31, 2021, iCapital services more than $108 billion in client assets, of which over $24 billion are from international investors (non-US Domestic), across more than 900 funds. Employing more than 700 people globally, iCapital is headquartered in New York and has offices in Princeton, Greenwich, Boston, Delray Beach, Toronto, Zurich, London, Lisbon, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
For additional information, please visit iCapital Network’s website at https://icapital.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/icapital-network-inc | Twitter: @icapitalnetwork
See disclosures here.
For iCapital media inquiries, please contact:
Emma Murphy / Morgan Miller
+ 1 347-968-6800 / + 1 919-602-2806
(1) Institutional Capital Network, Inc., and its affiliates (together, “iCapital Network” or “iCapital”)
(2) Source: Capgemini World Wealth Report 2021; Link
(3) Source: Preqin Special Report: The Future of Alternatives 2025; Link
(4) Source: Cerulli Associates Democratization of Private Investments for Europe’s Retail Fund Investors, May 2020; Link
