Allocate, a platform that allows advisors to invest and manage private assets on behalf of investors, announced the close of a Series A2 round of funding that raised $10 million.
The start-up previously raised $15 million last year and has raised $33.5 million since the company first launched in July 2021.
Gopher Asset US, an affiliate of Noah Holdings International, Intera Investments, and M13 Ventures, a previous investor, co-led the round. Several prominent but undisclosed family offices also took part. Allocate CEO and Co-Founder Samir Kaji told RIA Intel that the company is valued at $135 million.
“We are not bringing venture for the sake of venture. We’re bringing the type of venture firms that allow for responsible investing in the asset category,” Kaji said. “This asset class is one that really requires domain expertise, access to the right managers, and manager selection to be successful.”
Now the company has about a 5-year runway.
Kaji said the company plans to invest the money in its technology infrastructure as well as hiring more people for its relationship team.
Allocate also announced that it had hired Nic Millikan, most recently deputy chief investment officer at CAZ Investments, as the head of family office solutions. Peter Epstein, former executive director and alternative investments specialist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and Gregory Rollins, a former executive at iCapital Network, will join Allocate’s relationship management team for private banks and wealth advisory firms.
The company plans to use the funds to develop and launch a product related to the performance analytics of funds and another product focused on generating early liquidity for clients.
Through Allocate, advisors can invest in VC funds across 58 manager strategies that are vetted by Allocate’s team. The company currently works with over 600 RIAs and family offices and has deployed about $500 million through advisors to VC funds.
Kaji said the company’s platform provides advisors and their clients with access to the type of investments historically reserved only for institutional investors.
“It’s an opportunity for investors to get into the next Google, the next Apple, or the next Tesla, before those companies go into the public market and get really expensive,” said Kaji. “Some of the top funds in the world in VC are very hard to get into. They typically require long-term relationships and an understanding of the space. And although we are a new company, our team has spent a combined 100 years working with VC firms,” Kaji said.
According to the company, the investment team meets with between 500 to 700 investment managers every year, of which only about 20 to 30 funds are chosen for the platform.
“All of them go through strict diligence, both legal, operational, and then investment. Only once something gets approved at our Investment Committee is it put on the platform,” said Kaji.
