Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast
In September 2022, Opto Investments emerged from stealth mode with $145 million in Series A funding. It was an eye-opening sum that seemed to underscore the astonishing growth of private investment platforms over the past year. What sets Opto Investments apart from other digital platforms, however, is its highly differentiated approach to retail capital. It’s not pursuing individual investors or major institutional partners; it’s pursuing registered investment advisers (RIAs) with a laser-like focus.
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“The addressable market is huge,” says Mark Machin, the CEO of Opto Investments. “We were pleased that investors shared our confidence that we could finally crack a lot of the barriers that have kept these RIA clients from investing in the past.”
Today on the show, I’ll ask Mark why he believes RIAs are a uniquely powerful channel for retail capital and whether the past year may have marked a turning point for his clients.
“I do think,” Mark says, “that last year, given the shocking underperformance of the traditional 60/40 portfolio, that that really pushed many RIAs who'd been reluctantly looking at the space to say, ‘Look, we've just gotta take it seriously and look at alternatives.’”
If you haven’t heard our interviews with other pioneers in this fast-moving space, including the CEOs of Moonfare and Titanbay, I highly recommend you go back and listen to those episodes as well.
The Private Equity Podcast
In our podcast series, Bain's Hugh MacArthur interviews leading experts on the trends and opportunities that will redefine the private equity industry.
Published in May 2023