The race to provide wealth management clients with easier access to alternatives is well underway. Over the past eight months we have seen over a dozen major financial institutions launch initiatives to help democratise alternatives. The financial industry tends to move slowly, so this is a veritable stampede. Not surprisingly, we are also tracking a 479% year-over-year increase in funding for alternatives enablers and those that mentioned private market access in their use of funds.

In 2024, Nasdaq Private Market, Securitize, and Canoe led the bulk of the investment activity, alongside 17 other companies that announced fundraising rounds. Collectively, we land at US$227 million raised across 20 companies, for an average of ~US$17 million per round and a median of ~US$7 million. 

In 2025, we have already tracked more than US$1.2 billion raised through the first eight months of the year. One might note that most of this was driven by iCapital’s US$820 million Series E. We would not argue with you but will point out that even if you exclude that single raise, 2025 funding is still on track to be 2.24x higher than 2024. Excluding the largest deal, 2025 already amounts to ~US$424 million across just 13 rounds, for an average of ~US$35 million and a median of ~US$18 million through August. 

The conviction behind this trend is visible at the highest levels. In April, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink outlined a “50/30/20” portfolio vision, emphasising the need for a 20% allocation to alternatives. That conviction is clear in BlackRock’s own actions, from investments in two private-markets tech companies to its acquisition of Preqin. These moves, and the investments outlined above, highlight how quickly alternatives are moving from the margins to the mainstream. With demand building, we expect to see continued funding and new solutions to bring alternatives within reach of retail investors. 

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