2 months ago
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The competitive field to build out the tech infrastructure to ease the use of alternative investments in the wealth channel just got a little more crowded as New York-based fintech Aqua announced a $18.8 million Series A to back what it's calling a turnkey alternative investments platform.
The AI-native platform seeks to be a single solution that brings fund creation, operational workflows, investment lifecycle management, marketplace access, document intelligence and investor servicing into a single environment. In addition to managing off-the-shelf private market funds, advisors using Aqua can build special purpose vehicles, registered funds, fund of funds and feeder funds.
The $15 million Series A, led by Arthur Ventures with participation from Alumni Ventures, follows a 2021 $3.8 million seed round backed by Google's AI Fund, Y Combinator. It plans to use the funding to accelerate business and platform development, expand its engineering and partnership teams, and deepen integrations across custodians and fund sponsors. (The firm started as a team of six, but now has two dozen employees and it plans to continue to staff up as it onboards more advisors and fund managers.)
To be sure, Aqua is far from alone in attempting to streamline the alternative investments process. The **** e continues to be led by well-known players iCapital and CAIS, which service thousands of wealth firms through their marketplaces, and each has continued to add tech to support the lifecycle of alternative investments. Firms including SUBSCRIBE, Canoe, Gridline, Allocate, Alto, Arch, Opto, GLAS Funds, Altigo/SEI and Apex Alts also compete in the area, focusing on streamlining all aspects of the investment process. In addition, traditional TAMPs like InvestCloud, Envestnet, Orion, Addepar and Black Diamond have made enhancements to support private markets.
#Investments #subscribe #series
The competitive field to build out the tech infrastructure to ease the use of alternative investments in the wealth channel just got a little more crowded as New York-based fintech Aqua announced a $18.8 million Series A to back what it's calling a turnkey alternative investments platform.
The AI-native platform seeks to be a single solution that brings fund creation, operational workflows, investment lifecycle management, marketplace access, document intelligence and investor servicing into a single environment. In addition to managing off-the-shelf private market funds, advisors using Aqua can build special purpose vehicles, registered funds, fund of funds and feeder funds.
The $15 million Series A, led by Arthur Ventures with participation from Alumni Ventures, follows a 2021 $3.8 million seed round backed by Google's AI Fund, Y Combinator. It plans to use the funding to accelerate business and platform development, expand its engineering and partnership teams, and deepen integrations across custodians and fund sponsors. (The firm started as a team of six, but now has two dozen employees and it plans to continue to staff up as it onboards more advisors and fund managers.)
To be sure, Aqua is far from alone in attempting to streamline the alternative investments process. The **** e continues to be led by well-known players iCapital and CAIS, which service thousands of wealth firms through their marketplaces, and each has continued to add tech to support the lifecycle of alternative investments. Firms including SUBSCRIBE, Canoe, Gridline, Allocate, Alto, Arch, Opto, GLAS Funds, Altigo/SEI and Apex Alts also compete in the area, focusing on streamlining all aspects of the investment process. In addition, traditional TAMPs like InvestCloud, Envestnet, Orion, Addepar and Black Diamond have made enhancements to support private markets.
#Investments #subscribe #series
2 months ago
Ankit Gupta, a general partner at Silicon Valley startup accelerator Y Combinator, is facing backlash after describing Vice President JD Vance's call for American companies to "hire and train Americans" as a return of "DEI."
"In a win for the woke left DEI is back," Gupta wrote on X.
"No, Ankit. It's called putting your own citizens first," Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito wrote, arguing that American companies should prioritize American jobs and workers. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson, **** istant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, and Nalin Haley, the son of former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, also publicly pushed back on Gupta's framing.
Gupta's X post came in response to Vance's call for American corporations to hire and train American workers when they need employees.
Trump Admin's Push To Scrap Dei In Federal Government Takes Landmark Step With New Hiring Rule
#general #haley #Companies
"In a win for the woke left DEI is back," Gupta wrote on X.
"No, Ankit. It's called putting your own citizens first," Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito wrote, arguing that American companies should prioritize American jobs and workers. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson, **** istant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon, and Nalin Haley, the son of former South Carolina Gov. and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, also publicly pushed back on Gupta's framing.
Gupta's X post came in response to Vance's call for American corporations to hire and train American workers when they need employees.
Trump Admin's Push To Scrap Dei In Federal Government Takes Landmark Step With New Hiring Rule
#general #haley #Companies
3 months ago
Robinhood this week unveiled a financial instrument that lets anyone feel like they, too, can make money by backing Y Combinator startups.
Robinhood Venture Fund II (RVII) is expected to become a publicly traded fund on August 13 at an opening price of $25 per share.
The fund intends to raise as much as $200 million, Reuters reports, and use that money to invest in startups founded by current and former Y Combinator participants, should those startups agree to sell their shares.
While any retail investor can buy shares in the fund, they will not directly hold any shares in the startups. Investors will be able to trade their shares in the fund, but it's unclear how much profit they can expect to make should the YC companies manage big exits.
The fund intends to pay the 2/20 fees typical in the VC world to another entity owned by Robinhood, plus tack on extra fees. That means Robinhood's unit will collect 2% of the net returns as a management fee, plus other fees, taking the total to just over 4%, the company said. The fund will also pay the Robinhood unit 20% "carried interest" (commonly called "carry"). That means if enough Y Combinator companies have good exits for the fund to make money, that Robinhood unit will get 20% of the resulting returns.
#combinator #shares #money #unit
Robinhood Venture Fund II (RVII) is expected to become a publicly traded fund on August 13 at an opening price of $25 per share.
The fund intends to raise as much as $200 million, Reuters reports, and use that money to invest in startups founded by current and former Y Combinator participants, should those startups agree to sell their shares.
While any retail investor can buy shares in the fund, they will not directly hold any shares in the startups. Investors will be able to trade their shares in the fund, but it's unclear how much profit they can expect to make should the YC companies manage big exits.
The fund intends to pay the 2/20 fees typical in the VC world to another entity owned by Robinhood, plus tack on extra fees. That means Robinhood's unit will collect 2% of the net returns as a management fee, plus other fees, taking the total to just over 4%, the company said. The fund will also pay the Robinhood unit 20% "carried interest" (commonly called "carry"). That means if enough Y Combinator companies have good exits for the fund to make money, that Robinhood unit will get 20% of the resulting returns.
#combinator #shares #money #unit
3 months ago
Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) is seeking to raise up to $200 million through the U.S. initial public offering of its second private markets investment fund, according to a regulatory filing released on Monday.
The new vehicle, Robinhood Ventures Fund II (RVII), plans to offer as many as 8 million shares, including 400,000 shares owned by Robinhood itself. The shares are being marketed at $25 each.
The new offering forms part of Robinhood's broader strategy to give retail investors greater access to private companies, an area traditionally dominated by leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms.
Robinhood Ventures Fund II will focus on investing in early-stage and growth-stage private businesses, with particular emphasis on companies that currently participate in, or have previously graduated from, the Y Combinator startup accelerator.
The launch follows the debut of Robinhood Ventures Fund I in March.
#private #million #Companies #stage
The new vehicle, Robinhood Ventures Fund II (RVII), plans to offer as many as 8 million shares, including 400,000 shares owned by Robinhood itself. The shares are being marketed at $25 each.
The new offering forms part of Robinhood's broader strategy to give retail investors greater access to private companies, an area traditionally dominated by leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms.
Robinhood Ventures Fund II will focus on investing in early-stage and growth-stage private businesses, with particular emphasis on companies that currently participate in, or have previously graduated from, the Y Combinator startup accelerator.
The launch follows the debut of Robinhood Ventures Fund I in March.
#private #million #Companies #stage
4 months ago
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the best NASDAQ stocks with high upside potential. On June 17, Y Combinator and Microsoft expanded their partnership to provide YC founders with deeper access to Azure and Microsoft Foundry. This initiative is designed to support AI-native startups by offering the high-performance infrastructure, GPU resources, and scalable tools required to move from early experimentation to enterprise-ready production.
Eligible founders will receive startup credits, direct technical guidance from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) engineers, and support for model training and inference. The partnership emphasizes flexibility, allowing startups to build across a variety of AI models within a unified, secure platform while gaining access to Microsoft's global marketplace and co-sell ecosystem.
Northfoto / Shutterstock.com
By integrating these resources, the collaboration aims to help the next generation of startups build AI-centric businesses from the ground up. The initiative provides the necessary architecture and distribution pathways to help founders scale reliably and connect with enterprise customers earlier in their development cycle.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops and sells a wide range of software, cloud services, devices, and business solutions, serving both individual users and enterprise customers worldwide. Its flagship products include Windows, Microsoft 365, Azure, LinkedIn, and Xbox.
Eligible founders will receive startup credits, direct technical guidance from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) engineers, and support for model training and inference. The partnership emphasizes flexibility, allowing startups to build across a variety of AI models within a unified, secure platform while gaining access to Microsoft's global marketplace and co-sell ecosystem.
Northfoto / Shutterstock.com
By integrating these resources, the collaboration aims to help the next generation of startups build AI-centric businesses from the ground up. The initiative provides the necessary architecture and distribution pathways to help founders scale reliably and connect with enterprise customers earlier in their development cycle.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that develops and sells a wide range of software, cloud services, devices, and business solutions, serving both individual users and enterprise customers worldwide. Its flagship products include Windows, Microsoft 365, Azure, LinkedIn, and Xbox.
