Bloomberg: Laurence Tosi’s WestCap Backs Digital Infrastructure Startup

(Bloomberg) -- A private markets veteran is betting there’s money to be made by bringing better technology to his industry.

Laurence Tosi’s WestCap Group is committing $20 million in initial funding to iAltA Holdings, a private-markets infrastructure company that his growth equity firm has incubated since 2018.

IAltA aims to address inefficiencies in the management of alternative assets — such as private equity, real estate and private credit — which are expected to reach $24.5 trillion by 2028, according to Tosi, who spearheaded technology marketplaces during previous stints at Merrill Lynch and Blackstone Group Inc.

The growth of these assets has outpaced the systems needed to support investment managers and their investors, Tosi said in an interview. 

IAltA will operate as a holding company and, with the help of acquisitions, establish subsidiaries that cater to three distinct audiences: buyout firms, fund investors and private credit markets. 

“All three constituents are under-served by technology,” Tosi said, adding that private equity firms, known as general partners, haven’t been incentivized to build their own systems because they’re “basically fee-related businesses.” Some asset managers, meanwhile, are trying to create their own solutions. BlackRock Inc., which acquired private markets data provider Preqin last year, is aiming to provide a unified platform for data and research as well as investment tools for fundraising, deal-sourcing, portfolio management, accounting and performance.

WestCap’s startup has already acquired investor portal Verivend and fundraising platform Betterfront Technologies to create iAltA Private Markets, which aims to help GPs manage their fund life cycles more efficiently.  Full Bloomberg article here.