Opto Investments (“Opto”), the technology-driven solution that empowers forward-looking investment advisors to confidently access private markets, today announced appointments in key leadership positions, as well as a suite of product enhancements. These strategic steps underscore Opto’s commitment to delivering the best experience for wealth advisors throughout their private markets investing journey via a cutting-edge technology platform. Opto unlocks access to truly differentiated private markets opportunities and builds customized solutions based on the needs of registered investment advisory (RIA) practices.
Co-founder Jake Miller, a key figure in Opto’s leadership team since the firm’s inception in 2020 and responsible for guiding its growth strategy, has been named chief solutions officer. Miller spearheads initiatives aimed at enhancing Opto’s RIA partnerships and integrating institutional-quality investment techniques and programs into its platform. Before co-founding Opto, Miller spent nearly five years as an investor at Bridgewater Associates, where he continued to build on his expertise in alternative investments.
Assuming the role of chief technology officer, Matt Reed, a co-founder at Opto who leads its engineering efforts, is instrumental in upholding the company’s tech-first approach. His leadership focuses on ensuring the continuous development and smooth operation of Opto’s proprietary technology stack. As a CFA charterholder and engineer, Reed is skilled in both investment management and software development. With over 14 years of experience in building financial advisor software, featuring technology leadership positions at Addepar and Strategic Global Advisors, Reed is well positioned to drive innovation in this domain.
“Jake and Matt are instrumental in driving the strategic vision and product roadmap for Opto’s end-to-end private markets solution,” said Ryan VanGorder, chief executive officer at Opto. “It’s a privilege to work with selfless leaders who come to the table with strong opinions and who are not afraid to do things differently. As we continue to partner with more advisors, Jake and Matt will be integral to growing Opto’s suite of innovative solutions that modernize workflows and simplify advisors’ private markets experiences.”
Alongside these announcements, Opto has rolled out major enhancements to its platform, designed to arm advisors with a comprehensive private markets solution. These advancements include:
- CIO toolkit: This innovative toolkit empowers investment managers to conduct comprehensive, data-driven analyses of their client roster and demographics. The toolkit is designed to identify optimal exposure levels for client segments across different private markets asset classes, aligning portfolio structures with clients’ investment objectives. Users can also subject these recommendations to hypothetical market stress tests, enabling them to better assess the likely impact of the proposed portfolio. This functionality streamlines complex analytical workflows and enables more precise and confident decision-making.
- Custom fund creation and management: Opto gives advisors the flexibility to create a single, fully customized and white-labeled fund, composed of multiple underlying private funds, all managed within its technology platform. In 2023, Opto unveiled its custom fund capabilities, tailoring each collaboration to match the RIA partner’s needs in terms of fund size, asset class allocation strategy and fee structure. Partnering with Opto grants fiduciaries full access to its team of investment professionals and allocators, who will provide thoughtful guidance regarding opportunities in private credit, private equity, real estate, venture capital and infrastructure that align with client needs.
- Pre-trade analysis: Opto’s solution provides investment advisors with rich data sets, tools and workflows to analyze private markets opportunities, enabling them to make smarter, data-driven investment decisions on behalf of their clients. The platform features proprietary modeling to produce capital market assumptions, pacing strategies, cash flow and liquidity projections, and guidance based upon end clients’ unique requirements. These pre-trade workflows are complemented by Opto’s hands-on guidance and manager selection tools.
Reed added: “Much like our prior innovations, these enhancements focus on automation and integrating seamlessly with existing systems. Opto sees a tremendous opportunity to empower investment decision makers with the data, tools, and confidence to unlock the potential of private markets.”
As Opto continues to capture market share in the RIA channel, it will continue to focus on innovations that enrich private markets experiences for advisors and their high-net-worth and ultra-high net worth clients. For more information about Opto and its private markets offering, please visit optoinvest.com.
About Opto Investments
Opto Investments (“Opto”) is a technology firm changing the way fiduciaries experience private markets.
Opto partners with advisors, CIOs, and other fiduciaries to solve the challenges of building and distributing customized private markets solutions at scale. Intelligent workflows and elegant design simplify the private markets investment process, minimizing paperwork, saving time, and creating better client experiences.
We built Opto as a fiduciary and with a fee structure that aligns us with our clients. We do not receive compensation from fund managers and frequently invest our own capital in the deals we choose for our platform.
Founded by Joe Lonsdale, backed by 8VC, Fin Capital, and Michael Dell’s DFO Management, Opto is able to access truly differentiated opportunities across private credit, private equity, real estate, venture capital, and more. We guide fiduciaries through every step of the investment process, with holistic portfolio construction tools and hands-on guidance based on their needs.
Opto is your long-term partner for building smarter private markets portfolios. For additional information, please visit our website and LinkedIn.
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