How to find the best alternative investments platform for your needs

Fully digital, real-time subscription processing
From investor accreditation to post-trade documentation and automation, look for real-time, straight through processing — not the delays associated with batch processing. When activities are captured right away, you don’t have to remember to check in later to confirm successful completion.

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Unified digital experience across all asset classes
This might be the most important item on the list. It solves the foundational problem of alternative investments being outside the familiar experience used for other assets.

Instead of expecting your staff and clients to log into multiple systems to see and manage their complete financial picture, look for alternative investments that are built into advisory workflows and investor brokerage accounts and statements.

In other words, consider the advantages of a one-stop shop that deftly integrates account opening in seconds,³ funding in minutes, investor accreditation, trading/subscription, post-trade settlement, and investor statements and docs.

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Unified user interface and reporting
What exactly do we mean by “unified experience” for alts?

• One platform with the entire alternatives lifecycle built in, not cobbled together
• One workstation that includes alts alongside traditional assets for easier management
• One investor brokerage account that holds all assets, including alts, side-by-side
• One custodian for alts and traditional assets so both can be managed together
• One reporting solution that can accommodate all asset types

Custodian-built, not outsourced
Ask your prospective alts providers who actually handles alternative custody and clearing. You might be surprised to learn they outsource it to a specialized alts custodian, which means that the alternative investments experience they provide will continue to be a siloed experience.

Instead, look for an alts custodian-built solution that enables integration into your existing workflows.

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Complete subscription lifecycle management
Some platforms only handle the subscription process. Others only provide marketplace access. And some only handle investor communications. Most of these solutions fall under the category of “point solutions,” meaning they address a very specific, often narrowly defined business need.

There’s nothing wrong with a point solution per se, but if you’re looking for a unified and integrated alts solution, you might need to manage more contracts, integrations, and coordination across vendors.

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Extensive fund marketplace access
Look for alts providers that provide access to thousands of funds from multiple alternatives fund issuers (or aggregators) to give your clients genuine choices with minimums that can be affordable for both High Earners Not Rich Yet (HENRYs) and higher-net-worth investors.

You can offer your clients access to hedge funds, funds of funds, private equity, non-traded REITs, private company shares, private credit, limited partnership interests, and Business Development Companies (BDCs) through a single interface.

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Special Purchase Vehicles (SPVs) availability
If democratizing access to alternatives is on your wish list, ask your provider or partners if SPVs, which pool investor capital, are available.

SPVs can enable more flexible participation in specific deals, allowing multiple investors to participate, reducing financial risk, and potentially lowering minimums.

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Secondary alternatives markets access
Looking for more flexibility and easier access to alternative investments? Consider securing access to the secondary alts market.

The secondary market unlocks the ability to purchase shares from other investors, which can give investors access to select alts that:

• Have already been purchased during early funding rounds, which are often limited to high-net-worth individuals, institutional investors, and venture capitalists
• May be available at a discounted price
• Allow for liquidity in normally illiquid alts investments, helping your clients avoid being locked into funds for years and years

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Optimized cash management
Here’s a detail that matters more than you might think: When does money leave your client’s account for alts subscriptions? Some platforms require you to send cash weeks before settlement, which can result in lost interest income for your clients.

The best alternative investments platforms move the money just before settlement (using digital money movement rails, not paper checks), so clients can keep earning returns until the last possible moment.

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Streamlined post-trade operations
The subscription is just the beginning. What happens with ongoing distributions, tax reporting, and investor communications? Many alts solutions leave your staff managing post-trade operations through separate vendors, creating more moving parts, more manual tasks, and more opportunities for errors.

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Possible conflicts of interest
Some platforms are offered by fund issuers, which can create conflicts when they push funds that benefit them.

Look for providers that focus on delivering the best alternative investments platform rather than creating their own investment products. You want unbiased access to the marketplace, not a sales pitch disguised as a platform.

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“Bring Your Own Fund” capabilities
Look for solutions that let you bring your own funds to the marketplace to help increase distribution to a wider investor audience.