GeoWealth, a Chicago-based turnkey asset management platform, raised $38 million in Series C funding led by Apollo. The two firms also announced a partnership centered on public-private model portfolios.
The funding comes just more than a year after GeoWealth raised $18 million in growth investment funding, with BlackRock as a new lead investor in the same series round. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, which led GeoWealth’s 2021 Series B funding, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management also participated in the Series C funding.
GeoWealth said it plans to use the funding to expand its public-private model capabilities, including for product development and new hires. The funding will primarily focus on GeoWealth’s UMA capabilities. As part of the use of proceeds in this round, GeoWealth also completed the acquisition of the TAMP assets from Freedom Advisors.
“With Apollo joining as a strategic investor and partner, we’re accelerating our commitment to building unified public-private model portfolios and supporting advisors with the flexible technology, investment choice and resources they need to deliver customized solutions,” GeoWealth CEO Colin Falls said in a statement. “Advisors are seeking turnkey access to private markets, and our tech-enabled implementation platform will allow them to run a models-based practice with the flexibility and breadth to meet complex client needs.”
Meanwhile, Apollo will make some private market investment strategies available in GeoWealth’s UMA platform.
“Investors are increasingly looking beyond public markets for greater diversification and differentiated returns. To meet this demand, Apollo is deeply committed to expanding access to institutional-quality private markets solutions and backing leading technologies reducing friction from the process,” Stephanie Drescher, partner and chief client and product development officer at Apollo, said in a statement. “Together with GeoWealth, we are working toward empowering RIAs to build modern portfolios that integrate public and private strategies for their clients.”
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to Apollo. Baker & McKenzie LLP and Depew Gillen Rathbun & McInteer, LC served as legal counsel to GeoWealth.
The partnership between GeoWealth and Apollo adds to the recent flurry of tie-ups focused on bringing private assets to custom model portfolios, UMAs and SMAs. This is happening as the wealth management industry increasingly turns to semi-liquid funds to provide clients with exposure to alternative investments.
Last year, Goldman Sachs Asset Management partnered with GeoWealth to build open-architecture custom models for the latter’s UMA platform. Also last year, BlackRock, iCapital and GeoWealth teamed up to allow RIAs who use BlackRock’s custom model portfolios to invest in private assets alongside traditional investments in UMAs.
On Friday, SMArtX Advisory Solutions unveiled functionality integrating semi-liquid alternative investments into its UMA platform, which it began quietly offering last year.
Also, last week, Fidelity struck a strategic deal to offer custom model portfolios that will include private market assets through Vestmark’s platform. (The news follows on the heels of Fidelity’s similar move to provide alternative investment options in its custom models to RIAs and broker/dealers through the Envestnet platform.)
In addition, Vestmark announced that it partnered with alternative investment platform iCapital and asset management giant BlackRock to add private market assets to its tax-managed UMAs for RIAs on the Dynasty Financial Partners’ network. The deal appeared to build on an earlier Vestmark partnership with BlackRock to provide custom models for advisors.
Envestnet also struck deals with BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, State Street Global Advisors and Fidelity to develop custom investment portfolios for advisors using its platform.
In addition, the move represents the latest front in Apollo’s efforts to serve smaller investors. It has partnered with State Street on a target-date fund and a private credit ETF. In February, InvestCloud, a tech provider for the advisory and wealth management market, announced Apollo as a founding partner in InvestCloud’s Private Markets Account Network. iCapital added new capabilities to its Architect portfolio construction tool, including making a customized version available on Apollo’s website.
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