Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE), one of the largest private markets investment firms globally, together with Republic, a global investment platform for private market assets, announced a new partnership that aims to bring institutional-quality private market investments to individual retail investors in the U.S. Together with Republic, this initiative seeks to revolutionize access to private markets funds, opening a $13 trillion* global market to retail investors
Through the partnership, the firms intend to launch digital blockchain-based solutions for retail investors, featuring low investment minimums and the potential for increased liquidity compared to traditional private market funds. The first offering is expected in 1H 2025.
Hamilton Lane, with more than $947 billion in assets under management and supervision**, has data showing that the majority of private markets funds have outperformed their public market equivalents in 19 of the last 20 years. This partnership is believed to represent a major step forward in expanding access to this historically high-performing investment category and empowering retail investors with new wealth generation opportunities.
The planned offering marks the latest in Hamilton Lane’s efforts to broaden investor access within the private markets. The firm was an early mover and continues to be a leader in this area, as one of the first to offer evergreen structures and tokenized funds within the private markets to accredited and high-net-worth investors, and now as one of the first to offer the opportunity for pure retail investors to access institutional-grade private markets investments.
Victor Jung, Head of Digital Assets at Hamilton Lane, commented: “The historic performance and diversification benefits of the private markets are real. Globally, there are over 140,000 private companies with annual revenues over $100 million, versus approximately 19,000 public companies with the same annual revenues, and we believe that investors shouldn’t be required to have a high income or millions in net worth to access these assets. Republic’s leading digital solution and expertise in serving this market will enable us to offer retail investors the opportunity to tap into Hamilton Lane’s longstanding private markets expertise, scale and platform.”
“At Republic, it’s always been our mission to open new asset classes to all levels of investors. Working with an industry leader like Hamilton Lane makes direct access to institutional quality private markets funds across a variety of industries possible,” said Kendrick Nguyen, CEO of Republic. “We are excited to apply Republic’s market-leading digital infrastructure to this initiative.”
*Source: McKinsey Global Private Markets Review 2024; March 2024
**As of 9/30/24