Delio has raised a further $8.3m to enable financial institutions of all sizes to create greater investor access to alternative assets such as private equity, private debt, and real estate.
The fintech, which digitises the private markets strategies of leading banks, wealth managers and other financial firms, received the backing from Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s most active venture capital investors. Additional investment from early-backers Maven Capital Partners brings the total equity funding raised by Delio to $15.5m.
Private markets have become increasingly attractive to both institutional and individual investors. In the past decade, the market size for private equity alone has tripled to US$6tn. The pandemic accelerated this demand further, as investors turned to alternative assets for their resilience, longer-term returns, and diversity of opportunities.
Financial institutions have typically struggled to offer illiquid investment opportunities in a scalable way despite increasing investor interest. With this demand now reaching a tipping point, they are faced with the strategic decision of adapting and digitising or risk losing clients in an increasingly competitive market. This dilemma will only intensify as recent legislative changes across the US and Europe have expanded the pool of investors that can access certain alternative assets, such as private equity.
Delio’s technology has played a central role in helping companies transform how they offer unlisted investment opportunities to their clients. Digitising the private investment cycle from start to finish enables financial institutions to offer a more intuitive investment experience, enhance their operational efficiency, and gather invaluable user insights. The data-driven platforms also aim to strengthen client-advisor relationships and create more robust governance frameworks around the investment process.
Headquartered in the UK with teams operating globally, Delio powers the private markets platforms of more than 90 financial institutions worldwide, including the likes of Barclays, UBS and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
The $8.3m investment will further enhance Delio’s international operations and lay the foundations of its non-conflicted private markets infrastructure. This digital network will connect capital raisers, financial institutions and investors on a global scale and share investment opportunities on an institution-to-institution basis.
Gareth Lewis, chief executive and co-founder of Delio, said: "With investor demand at an all-time high, there is a lot of noise around how institutions overcome the traditional barriers to private markets. We’ve taken a different approach, creating white-labelled technology that acts as the digital building blocks on which firms can scale their propositions. The growth funding from Octopus Ventures validates this approach and strengthens our plan of stimulating greater connectivity between financial institutions, capital raisers and investors."
Edward Keelan, Investment Principal, Octopus Ventures said: "Financial institutions involved in private markets face complex challenges around deal distribution, regulatory governance and overall client experience when recommending private investments to clients.
" Delio’s market leading private company technology solution is already serving some of the world’s largest global wealth managers, private and investment banks, with this funding round allowing Delio to continue to enhance its suite of private market infrastructure solutions, as well as scaling into new geographies. Furthermore, there is strong alignment between Delio and Octopus in making private company investing more available for all investors and we look forward to supporting the team on this journey."
