iCapital targets global market share with latest acquisition

iCapital Network Inc., a provider of alternative investment products to financial advisers, announced Monday its expansion into the European and Asian markets. 

The international move hinges on iCapital’s recent acquisition of Lisbon, Portugal-based product development company Runtime Group, Ltd.’s 65-person technology team that will join iCapital’s existing team of technology engineers, developers and designers. 

The transaction is expected to close by year end, according to the company’s announcement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

iCapital has been working with the Runtime team since 2014 and they will now report to Chief Operating Officer Tom Fortin. "These experts will continue to evolve iCapital’s platform capabilities ... which includes the market’s increasing requirements for client data privacy, multi-currency reporting, regulatory mandates and local language support," Fortin said.

iCapital currently serves a total of $65 billion in client assets with $8 billion of those assets from non-U.S. investors. In fact, portfolio allocations to alternative investments such as private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and real estate among non-U.S.-based investors have grown in recent years, pushing projected global allocations to grow by 8% year over year to reach $24 trillion by 2024, according to research by Oliver Wyman & Morgan Stanley.

"While iCapital currently provides investment opportunities for those U.S. advisers who service offshore clients, this global expansion will create the business volume to allow us to meaningfully broaden the investment options for those seeking alternative investing opportunities for their U.S. tax-exempt (such as retirement) and offshore clients," said iCapital CEO Lawrence Calcano.

As part of the acquisition, iCapital will establish an office in Lisbon, Portugal for the transitioning Runtime team and the new office will become iCapital’s global hub for technology development and operations. 

iCapital also has plans to open offices in London and Singapore in 2021 to support its new international senior hires and growing footprint in the European and Asian regions.

"Singapore will serve as our regional hub in Asia serving clients in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Mainland China," Calcano said.

iCapital opened its first international office in Zurich, Switzerland in 2018 to bring increased access to alternative investing to the European markets. 

NEW HIRES

New hire Marco Bizzozero, who will be based in Zurich, will join iCapital as head of international and a member of the iCapital Executive Committee, reporting to Calcano. In this newly created role, Bizzozero will spearhead iCapital’s expansion into the European and Asian markets. 

Bizzozero will be leaving his current role as CEO of Group Wealth Management at UniCredit. Prior, he was with Deutsche Bank for 14 years, where he served as head of wealth management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank Switzerland.

Based out of London, new hire Tom Slocock joins iCapital as managing director and head of international product development and origination, reporting to Bizzozero. 

iCapital’s latest funding round in March has helped fuel growth. The seven-year-old startup has since acquired Wells Fargo’s alternative investments feeder fund platform and Artivest.