NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iCapital Network, the financial technology platform democratizing alternative investmentsfor high-net-worth individuals and their financial advisors, today announced that UBS Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE: UBS) has invested in the company, joining lead investor BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) as a strategic partner.
Founded in 2013, iCapital’s online platform offers the high-net-worth community access to a curated menu of alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity funds. As part of its offering, iCapital provides an end-to-end technology solution automating the unique subscription, administration and reporting processes of these investments, which have historically only been available to institutional investors. iCapital will use the infusion of capital to further develop the core functions of its innovative platform—through which the retail market can access alternative investment funds—and to make the technology behind its platform widely available as a workflow enhancement to the wealth management community.
“We are fortunate to have strategic partners at both the financial and commercial level with a desire to challenge the operational status quo and advance industry standards around alternative investments,” said Lawrence Calcano, Chief Executive Officer of iCapital Network. “UBS is leveraging the power of technology to help financial advisors deliver the best possible service experience to their clients.”
Alongside the investment, UBS will incorporate iCapital’s proprietary technology into its private fund operations to streamline and automate its alternative investment offering. The relationship emphasizes the importance of alternatives in a holistic wealth management approach while signaling a need for an industry-wide solution to the manual and paperwork-intensive processes traditionally associated with private investments.
“We are excited to re-engineer our alternatives infrastructure and equip our financial advisors with the efficiencies, intelligence and controls of tech-enabled workflows. iCapital’s proprietary technology and end-to-end service offering provide a seamless operational solution, making these strategies and exposures more accessible and helping advisors deliver better service to their ultra-high-net-worth clients,” said Jerry Pascucci, Managing Director at UBS and Head of Alternative Investments, Wealth Management Americas.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About iCapital Network
iCapital Network is a financial technology platform that provides modular alternative investment solutions for registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, private banks, family offices and other sophisticated investors. The state-of-the-art online portal offers a curated menu of private equity, private credit, venture capital, real estate and hedge funds, along with extensive due diligence support, an automated subscription process and integration with a wide range of custodial platforms and reporting packages. The firm’s customizable technology and specialized suite of services is also used by asset managers and financial institutions to streamline and automate their private fund operations. As of June 30, 2017, iCapital had surpassed more than $2.25 billion in private fund subscriptions for more than 3,500 investors across more than 45 funds and maintained an investor network of more than 1,800 registered entities overseeing more than $1.7 trillion in investable assets.
For additional information, please visit the Company’s website at www.icapitalnetwork.com | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/icapital-network-inc | Twitter: @icapitalnetwork | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icapitalnetwork/
About UBS Wealth Management Americas
Wealth Management Americas is one of the leading wealth managers in the Americas in terms of financial advisor productivity and invested assets. Its business includes UBS’s domestic US and Canadian wealth management businesses, as well as international business booked in the US. It provides a fully integrated set of wealth management solutions designed to address the needs of ultra high net worth and high net worth clients.
About UBS
UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is comprised of our Corporate Center and five business divisions: Wealth Management, Wealth Management Americas, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS’s strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders. All of its businesses are capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets.
