Berlin-based digital private equity investment platform Moonfare, which has its Asia-Pacific offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, has capped its Series C round extension at around $15 million after bringing in a new institutional investor.
Moonfare said in a statement that 7 Global Capital, a cross-border Internet and consumer technology venture capital firm that invested in India’s Jio Platforms, has participated in the Series C extension.
This brings the company’s total capital raised to over $130 million.
In November 2021, Moonfare raised $125 million in its Series C funding led by New York-based venture capital firm Insight Partners. Vitruvian Partners and Swiss private bank Bordier & Cie became Moonfare shareholders later in March 2022, the company said.
Moonfare’s platform allows individual investors to invest in private equity and venture capital funds from firms such as KKR, Carlyle, EQT, and Insight Partners, starting as low as $60,000.
“Individual investors and their advisors are increasingly seeking refuge in private equity, especially in current volatile public markets. We will offer new products, expand into new markets, and strengthen our senior management team with seasoned private equity experts,” said Moonfare’s CEO and founder Steffen Pauls.
Moonfare’s assets under management (AUM) increased almost 60% in 2022 to over $2.3 billion; number of investors on its platform grew 40% to 3,393; and registered users more than doubled to over 48,000.
It has also increased the funds offered on its platform from 40 to 69 and entered into two new asset classes, impact, and philanthropy.
Magnus Gufman, Managing Director and Head of Investments at Moonfare, told DealStreetAsia late last year that Asia accounts for about 10% of its total AUM but is expected to grow at a much faster pace than the European market. The company’s Asia AUM grew six times in 2021.
In addition to Moonfare, iCapital is another digital investment platform that has set its sights on Asia. More than 20% of the $148 billion assets on iCapital’s platform came from non-US investors, and a big portion of it was from Asia.
A lot of private equity firms have also forayed into the private wealth space. Hamilton Lane has invested in Singapore-based ADDX and StashAway, while EQT Group, which acquired Baring Private Equity Asia last year, plans to launch semi-liquid products this year.
New York-based Apollo Global Management hired Edward Moon as head of Asia-Pacific global wealth in January 2022. Later in the year, Matthew Michelini, Apollo’s partner and head of Asia-Pacific, told Bloomberg that the firm expected a “big portion” of the $50 billion it targeted to raise from retail investors over the next five years will come from Asia.
Asian individual investors are anticipated to drive the region’s share of global private wealth investments from 27% in 2020 to 37% by 2025, representing the fastest growth compared with other jurisdictions, per BCG and iCapital’s The Future is Private report released in March 2022.
