Zurich—Private market assets under management (AuM) have been growing at over 10% a year, across private equity, venture capital, private debt and similar asset classes. With new waves of investors attracted by high returns in the space, wealth managers and fund managers must adapt their offerings and ways of working to cope with rising demand, a new whitepaper from Boston Consulting Group and ROYC shows.
“Until recently, private markets have been pretty much an exclusive niche for asset managers and family offices,” said Akin Soysal , Managing Director & Partner at BCG. “But now that is changing and we are seeing massive interest from a whole new generation of investors, many of whom have different needs.”
This trend is accelerated by wealthy European and Asian investors catching up with their North American peers who allocate a much higher portfolio share to private markets (15-20% in many cases as opposed to below 5% in the rest of world). This demand is further catalyzed by product innovation, with asset managers launching more liquid or ‘semi-liquid’ fund structures and new legislation such as the European Long-Term Investment Fund framework (ELTIF 2.0) creating more accessible vehicles.
Taken together, investor demand, product innovation and regulatory change should lead to continued growth. BCG predicts 12% expansion in private market AuM every year up to 2030, with individual investors allocating a growing share of their portfolios to private markets to the tune of 3 trillion US dollars by 20230.
“There is significant growth in the number of affluent individuals – many of whom are from a younger generation that is more open to private markets than their elders,” said Michael Kahlich , Managing Director & Partner at BCG in Zurich. “These clients would love to get involved in private market investments, but they want to do so in a tech-enabled way and without too much bureaucracy or administration.”
Wealth managers play an important role in connecting individuals with private market fund managers by bundling investor interest. The most successful ones are already fully embedding private markets into their client offering and investment processes while streamlining processes such as onboarding and capital calls. Meanwhile many smaller players often lack the capabilities to select the right funds for their clients or get access to the ones they do select. Against that backdrop, B2B technology platforms connecting the entire ecosystem of fund managers, wealth managers and service providers can reduce frictions and broaden access.
“Private markets are going mainstream, but legacy infrastructure simply isn’t built to support this level of complexity or volume,” said Matias Leijon, a Founder and President at ROYC. “To scale efficiently, firms need to digitize every step of the fund lifecycle—from onboarding and subscriptions to capital calls, reporting, and secondaries. The opportunity is real, but only if you can operate at speed and at scale.”
As more investments flow into private markets, wealth managers will have a good chance of benefitting from higher and more stable fees curtesy of long investment horizons – they just must get their business and operating models right.
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About ROYC
ROYC is a leading European B2B financial technology company that provides a complete private markets operating system, empowering private equity firms, banks, wealth managers, and multi-family offices to seamlessly access, distribute, and manage private investments at scale.
As private markets expand, financial institutions require scalable, technology-driven solutions to manage complexity, optimizing fund operations, and delivering exceptional client experiences.
ROYC combines state-of-the-art private markets technology with tailored fund structuring and investment solutions. Its intuitive, scalable platform replaces manual processes with automation and real-time data access, transforming how private market investments are managed across the entire fund lifecycle.
More information: www.roycegroup.com