So, y’all wanted the announcements out before August, eh? 😂
If it wasn’t obvious before, it should be now: Alts tech is a category. And you’re all building it.
Good morning from Vancouver, where a short light rain has set in to keep the world green.
If you’ve not been to this place in the summer, make time. There is a quality to the summertime - especially at night - when it can feel like one is swimming in air. IYKYK.
Canoe carried the headlines this week, of course! Bloomberg announced its plan to acquire the firm Wednesday. And the deal filled my inbox and dm’s all week - so much interest!
It was fabulous news. Congratulations to my friends in both shops who are now set to be a force in improving private markets data for those who matter most: the asset owners (and the regular people those institutions represent)…
side note: historian Pierre Berton once defined a Canadian as someone who knows how to make love in a canoe… seriously. I mean it. There was even a Canadian canoe museum exhibit on the topic. 😅 🙃 Now you know.
And there was so much more!
CAIS raised a $170 million Series D led by Vista, valuing the platform north of $2 billion. Robert Smith clearly sees “sovereignty and dominion in the data…”
and the other very big one! Intercontinental Exchange agreed to buy MarketAxess for roughly $6 billion.
Arch revealed new Series B backers (MUFG Innovation Partners, Franklin Templeton among them) while crossing $500 billion in assets on platform.
Accomplished entrepreneur Ryan Williams came out of stealth with Ellis, with new AI platform squarely focused on private credit…
And lots more I’m sure I’ve missed here!
Here’s my read on the week: this is now a category and it’s time for its name: it’s alts tech.
Alts tech is a subcategory of fintech, squarely focused on the operational infrastructure of alternative assets. Distinct from wealth tech. Distinct from invest tech, which covers public markets too.
Alts tech.
The sharpest take I saw on the Canoe news this week came from F-Prime investor David Jegen, by the way. It’s here and I recommend it. I actually owe David a debt of real gratitude… a piece on the need for an infrastructure of alternative assets he wrote years ago with his colleague Abdul Abdirahman first got me thinking seriously on this whole topic!
by the way, David’s list includes a set of market participants who haven't made a move yet - do look…
David mentions Monark Markets in the piece. We're working with that team right now to research the infrastructure supporting evergreen funds, which emerged as one of the dominant takeaways from our May 28 Private Wealth Infrastructure Summit.
We've interviewed well over a dozen people across the category already. If your work touches evergreen operations, hit reply and let me know! We’d love to chat.
All of it sets up a very busy fall for PMF:
Underwriting the New Industrial Base, our forum on the convergence of VC, private credit and federal capital to fund physical AI and capital intensive technology: DC on Sep 16.
The LP Tech Summit lands in Toronto October 6 and already has every Maple 8 ops team represented, and many other LPs.
The Private Markets AI Summit follows November 4, and we are going to reinvent our conference format at this one: much more more interactive, dramatically better digital presence - lots. If you’re working on AI and not involved yet let us know.
And because every private market deal runs through legal: we're launching an inaugural Private Markets General Counsel Summit in NYC on December 9. The compliance and regulatory questions around AI have grown too large to leave to a panel.
Fire me a note if you’ve thoughts on the above! I know you do.
Many more weeks like this are on the way.
Marc.