Onramp Bought by Digital Assets Firm Securitize

News August 17, 2023 at 02:49 PM
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Onramp Invest has been acquired by Securitize, a tokenized alternative asset securities firm, as part of a deal that is "anticipated to close in the next several days," the companies said Thursday in a joint announcement.

Onramp, which operates a turnkey asset management platform for registered investment advisors that focuses on alternative assets and launched in early 2021, is expected to continue operating as a Securitize subsidiary. Onramp is also expected to integrate Securitize products into its platform over time, the firms noted.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Galaxy Digital Partners is serving as the exclusive financial advisor to Securitize.

The acquisition follows a partnership Securitize and Onramp announced in March through which RIAs could access private equity feeder funds Securitize offered with investment firms Hamilton Lane and KKR and the news last month that Securitize started issuing tokenized securities in Europe.

"For the first time, RIAs will instantly be able to offer their clients investments in top performing alternative asset classes," including private equity, private credit and real estate using the same Onramp dashboard at least some of them are already familiar with, the companies said in a news release.

That will increase and diversify the investments RIAs are able to manage with the ease of their existing reporting systems, the firms said.

"By giving RIAs direct access to Securitize's alternative investment portfolio, they will be able to offer their clients institutional share classes" from alternative asset managers, lower minimum investments, lower fees and access to liquidity, the companies said.

Securitize connects investors looking to access the wealth generated in the private markets with businesses looking to raise capital, with shares securely recorded on blockchains including Ethereum.

Onramp Invest integrates seamlessly into existing RIA tech stacks including Orion, Advyzon, Wealthbox and AssetBook, and provides market research via its academy and various partners in the sector.

Onramp's platform now serves a community of U.S. RIAs that represent more than $40 billion in cumulative assets under management, along with recognized asset managers and index providers in the digital asset sector including WisdomTree and CoinDesk, according to Onramp and Securitize.

"Our acquisition of Onramp is another big step forward in expanding investor access to top-performing alternative assets and in democratizing private capital markets," according to Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo.

"Onramp already offered RIAs easy access to digital assets, so it is a very natural extension to offer them tokenized alternative assets to complement their portfolios," he said in a statement.

Eric Ervin, co-founder and CEO of Onramp Invest, will remain Onramp Invest CEO after the transaction is completed.

Onramp co-founder Tyrone Ross unexpectedly stepped down as CEO last year, less than eight months after he announced that trading started on the company's crypto-asset integration and education platform for financial advisors. Ross had served as the company's public face since its creation in 2020. Ervin, a financial services industry veteran who is also CEO of Blockforce Capital, replaced Ross as Onramp CEO.

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