In the WealthTech Talks interview series, we interview senior executives from leading wealth management firms, solution providers, and WealthTech influencers to learn more about them, their journey, their perspectives on the market, and how they see the future of wealth management.
For this issue of WealthTech Talks, we caught up with Cory Shea, Founding Partner of Clockwork, the digital investment office for private investors. Clockwork represents unrivalled private market expertise – combining technology, team, and unique investment opportunities, serving a sophisticated global investor base across family offices, groups, and individuals.
In this interview, Cory Shea shared his insight into Clockwork, and the firm’s philosophy of a more integrated model for private investment management.
Could you provide a brief introduction to your business?
Clockwork was founded in 2016 to assist private investors in managing their investment portfolios, with a core focus on alternatives and private investments. The firm initially formed as a diligence and underwriting business for direct and fund investments and has since evolved into a more comprehensive investment management business overseeing US$6.5 billion across three main pillars:
- investment technology,
- sourcing & structuring unique private deals, and
- investment services team support.
In the wealth management sector, what types of clients do you primarily work with and target? Consider their business size, type, and location.
We serve direct asset owners across family offices and individuals, and work with wealth managers and advisers with a focus on high / ultra-high net worth clients given our specialty in alternative assets. We typically work with advisers ranging from US$1 billion to US$10 billion in assets, either managing only alternative/private investments OR cross-asset portfolios with meaningful allocations to private asset classes.
Why do your existing and target clients choose to work with you? What makes your solutions relevant and distinct from your competitors?
Our company is uniquely positioned as an investment service and technology provider. In a market increasingly flooded with piecemeal technology offerings, Clockwork brings a human approach to ensure clients can access real teams for a bespoke solution. Additionally, we actively source and perform due diligence over new investments, and provide co-investment opportunities for our clients across sectors, geographies, and stages. As a result, we can be more proactive in assisting with investment decision making vs. merely serving as a technology vendor.
What's next for your business? Can you share the firm's current focus and future plans, such as product development, market expansion, and strategic goals?
On the technology front, Clockwork continues to strive to make it easier to integrate disparate data sets across asset class into our centralised platform, which takes the form of API data flows, and email ingestion. We also pride ourselves in our reporting offering, specifically when it comes to alternatives.
On the investments side of the business, we are focused on sourcing compelling private investment opportunities across direct investments and funds, for both wealth managers and asset owners alike. We also sponsor our own investments through SPV and thematic vehicles, offering privileged access, all tracked and reported through our technology platform.
Based on your experience in the wealth management sector, what key opportunities and challenges do you foresee for firms today and in the next three years?
Centralising data across asset classes continues to be a major challenge/opportunity for firms, particularly when it comes to private investments, and even more specifically direct private investments. The single point of truth platform will be a desired destination for wealth managers and their clients alike.
Managing cash flow and liquidity planning remains an ongoing challenge, with volatile public markets setting constant all-time highs, and uncertain timing on return of capital in illiquid investments. We expect more proactive cash planning to be an opportunity for investors, and secondary opportunities to continue to emerge in the private markets.
Sourcing and underwriting for private investments, along with ongoing monitoring of private market portfolios, should continue to represent an opportunity in the coming years. Many investors remain under-allocated due to limited access, bandwidth, and expertise over extended investment lifecycles.
About Clockwork
Clockwork unites technology, team expertise, and investment access – bringing your data, your team, and your investments together in one digital environment.
With a focus on private alternatives as the most challenging investments to monitor, we cover all asset classes to address a large and growing need in global capital markets.
For more information, click here.
Read the latest editions in the series below!
- Patrick Spencer, Managing Director at Moneytree Software - click here to read the interview
- Anneke Stender, Executive Vice President of Plumb Bill Pay - click here to read the interview
- Frank Schooneveldt, Managing Director of Akkuro Savings & Investments - click here to read the interview
