Category Archives: Altigo

Altigo Surpasses $3B in Alts Transactions

Altigo, AltsTech News

Altigo Surpasses $3B in Alts Transactions

May 11, 2023 | Heather Acey

Less than a year after hitting the $2 billion mark, Altigo has crossed $3 billion in alternative investments completed on the platform, a new milestone revealing enduring demand for transformative alts technology and amplified interest in alternatives as a way to weatherproof investor portfolios during turbulent economic times.

Since reaching $2 billion in June 2022, Altigo’s growth and adoption continued with alternative investment sponsors including CAI, CIM, Cottonwood, Hamilton Point, Hines and Livingston Street joining the platform as well as firms such as Alliance Global Partners, Newbridge, ProFi, and Realized Financial. With over 260 alternative investment offerings currently “live” and accepting investments on the platform, Altigo’s latest milestone represents more than 12,000 alts subscriptions since its debut in mid-2019.

Altigo’s success and high rate of adoption shows how straight-through processing technology for alternative investments is swiftly moving from something that firms consider “nice to have” to something they now need to stay in sync with the next generation of advisors’ and investors’ digital-first expectations. Altigo’s success is also due to the meaningful results it provides for users such as reduced NIGO (not-in-good-order) paperwork error rates, which can be as low as 4%.

Altigo streamlines investment processing and compliance by providing access to all firm-approved alts offerings in a single white-labeled portal. The platform also includes custom firm forms and custodian partners’ letters of investment authorization within the workflow. Altigo integrates with popular CRM and compliance and risk management tools as well.

“We look forward to Altigo setting a new standard of service for our affiliated registered representatives and advisors as well as for their supervision,” said Newbridge CTO Kurosh Golchubian. “The home office is prioritizing automation of our core capabilities to up our service game and to stay in sync with rising demand for digital-first solutions. Straight-through processing provides reduced regulatory risk and the satisfaction of knowing that submissions will be in good order the first time—giving our supervisors more time to supervise rather than micromanage paperwork.”

Today, Altigo supports a range of alternative investment offerings from more than 100 sponsors, including non-listed REITs, qualified opportunity zone funds, non-listed preferreds, interval funds, direct private placements, DSTs, private equity funds, and non-listed BDCs.

“Altigo’s continued growth demonstrates that firms and sponsors are still seeking digital solutions for their alts business to meet investor demand despite the recent market slowdown,” said Bill Robbins, CEO of Altigo. “We’re already seeing signs of a resurgence in the industry and will continue to provide our clients with solutions that make it easier for them to do business.”

 

UPREITs: Keeping Real Estate Investments in Play

Altigo, AltsTech Perspectives

UPREITs: Keeping Real Estate Investments in Play

April 11, 2023 | Altigo

Asset managers know there’s more than one way to invest in real estate, and many of them manage multiple funds with different strategies and structures to give investors options. Those choices might include either a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) or a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)—tax-advantaged alternative investment products that grew in popularity after the economic crisis of 2007-09.

More recently, sponsors have begun equipping their DSTs with an exit strategy that lets investors keep their investment in play without taxation by bridging it from a less-liquid DST to the operating partnership (OP) of a REIT, while staying with the same sponsor. These special property-to-OP unit conversions are known as UPREITs, or umbrella partnership real estate investment trust transactions. UPREITs have emerged as the latest evolution in the DST space, which last year raised a record $9 billion, according to data from Mountain Dell Consulting. Sponsors employ UPREIT transactions because they create a more stable investment compared to the DST structure, which for tax purposes has many restrictions that limit the ability to hold investments long-term, add capital, and maximize a property’s value. Advisors recommend them because they offer their clients more liquid investment options, tax planning flexibility, and portfolio diversification. And investors prize their ability to increase access to economies of scale—exposing them to the larger, diversified, better-capitalized portfolios of properties that REITs manage through the operating partnership, which can potentially reduce their exposure to risk.

“Three years ago, 100% of our exit planning practice with respect to 1031 exchanges was concentrated in traditional DSTs,” said Carl Sera, President of Sera Capital Management, a registered investment advisor and real estate consultant. “Now it is about 30% with the UPREIT solution at 70%. Once people analyze the differences, it becomes obvious which way they should go.”

Why the upward trend in UPREITs? In short: DSTs are maturing and the UPREIT reflects adoption of the structure commonly used by institutions for decades. As more financial professionals and individual investors learn about this exit option, and their potential benefits, the more word spreads about them. UPREITs were pioneered by Sam Zell in the 1980’s and, over the last five years, by sponsors Dividend Capital (now Ares Management), JLL, and others who broke into the wirehouses with this type of DST structure and where, to date, the most volume in UPREIT transactions has occurred. DSTs typically consist of a single property, have a holding period of about 5-7 years, and are largely illiquid. Selling a DST investment to another accredited investor can be logistically difficult, and 1031 exchanges—”like-kind” exchanges that let investors roll proceeds from one property into another—while also tax-advantaged, are typically less flexible than UPREITs.

The Last Stop

Every UPREIT transaction will be structured differently, but they allow investors to break out of repetitive cycles of 1031 exchanges and avoid cashing out early and face tax consequences.

“An UPREIT is your last stop,” said Jay Frank, President of Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management. “But it potentially allows investors to get partial liquidity over time from a REIT’s OP. While it can cause a taxable event, it may provide investors additional flexibility and liquidity which you wouldn’t have in a DST. There are also ways to manage any tax liability created.”

Carl Sera says UPREIT transactions are popular with many older first-time DST investors. “These are investors who have made the decision to move from active ownership to passive ownership. Once an investor decides to move to passive ownership, they don’t revert to active.”

Taxation and Administration

An UPREIT transaction allows investors to exchange property for OP ownership in a standard REIT. UPREITs are subject to Title 26, Section 721 of the Internal Revenue Code, which specifies that property-to-share conversions are not generally considered taxable events. Otherwise, UPREIT structures are taxed similarly to that of standard REITs, which are not taxed on most of their earnings, as the taxes are paid by investors when they claim dividends as income. Following completion of the 721 exchange, the UPREIT sponsor owns the newly acquired property and manages its administration. In return, the seller gains operating partnership units that can be converted into REIT shares (a taxable event) or put toward other investment strategies. REITs have the potential to generate risk-adjusted returns through rental and other related income. They are required to return 90 percent of earnings to investors in the form of dividends. While some REITs are traded on public exchanges like NYSE and NASDAQ, non-traded REITs are sold by individual broker-dealers. Investors that UPREIT into a publicly registered non-traded REIT can potentially benefit from the various investor protections inherent in a public company including the transparency that comes with financial record keeping and reporting. Asset managers have sole discretion over how UPREIT transactions are administered, and typically dictate in the private placement memorandum whether or not the option is included. These types of exchanges cannot be guaranteed to happen—they’re strictly optional—and a minimum of two years must go by before an investor can elect to make the exchange. The sponsor then dictates when the elected exchange occurs, not the investor.

Perhaps another reason 721 exchanges are on the rise is due to persistent bipartisan scrutiny that 1031 exchanges have garnered from the last three presidential administrations, all of which have sought to scale back 1031 exchange tax benefits.

“1031 has been attacked in the past. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, 1031 was limited to real property and no longer applies to personal property,” said Cantor’s Jay Frank. “Real estate survived, but it could be looked at again. Getting into a REIT structure mitigates the legislative risk of Section 1031—or Section 721—being materially altered.”

Increased interest in UPREITs also comes as rising interest rates and recession worries have put downward pressure on real estate and reduced demand for DSTs. While this has forced some sponsors to scale back property purchases, other firms like Capital Square started 2023 off by completing the acquisition of multiple multifamily properties for both DST and Opportunity Zone Fund offerings. The industry is currently in a process of “price discovery” as buyers and sellers come to terms with the new reality around debt terms.

“At Capital Square, we view the UPREIT as a method of adding value to quality multifamily investments that otherwise have to be sold to comply with DST tax rules,” said Louis Rogers, founder and Co-CEO of Capital Square. “The IRS revenue ruling requires sale of DST properties when the mortgage matures, and it is not possible to refinance or recapitalize even when it would be in the best interests of the investors. This means that quality real estate that should be held long-term must be sold, with the funds returned to DST investors who will likely structure another 1031 exchange to continue the tax deferral.”

As with any real estate investment, especially alternative investments like DSTs and REITs, there are a number of risk factors that should be considered, such as declines in market value, local economic conditions, operating costs, and more. Current economic conditions around real estate underscores the importance of educating investors on the long-term nature of alts.

A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners Select Altigo to Streamline its Alts Program

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A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners Select Altigo to Streamline its Alts Program

March 21, 2023 | Altigo

A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, a full-service investment firm and SEC-registered broker-dealer, has chosen Altigo as its digital solution to streamline its alternative investment program. A.G.P. will benefit from platform features that make the subscription process easier and more efficient for both reps and the home office.

Altigo integrates all aspects of alternative investment subscription and compliance, while significantly reducing not-in-good-order (NIGO) errors and other administrative headaches. The platform will help A.G.P. manage its alts paperwork and grant approved reps access to all their firm-approved alternative investment offerings in a single, white-labeled portal.

Altigo’s Supervision Assistant feature will help A.G.P. establish thorough suitability review and other home office supervision processes that can be completed in one streamlined workflow, as well as simplify and condense document review using a repeatable digital process.

Altigo and WealthForge CEO Bill Robbins said, “Technology must be flexible enough to adapt to the way your clients want to do business, and we’re excited that Alliance Global Partners is working with our team to customize their alts investment experience. Straight-through processing is going to make it easier for A.G.P. to deliver value to their reps, increase the quality of their sales supervision and operational control, and simplify the compliance review process.”

About Alliance Global Partners

Alliance Global Partners (A.G.P.) is a regional investment and advisory firm that has been a member of FINRA and registered with the SEC since 1980. A.G.P. specializes in wealth management and the middle market institutional arena. We have Full-Service capabilities with a global ability to handle domestic as well as international customers. A.G.P. prides itself on providing its clients with boutique-level services along with the confidence of knowing their assets are held at Fidelity Clearing and Custody. Whether a client is looking for wealth management advice, Institutional services, or investment banking, we have a track record and a proven team to assist. We pride ourselves on long-lasting relationships with our clients, ranging from some of the largest institutions and crossing over to the individual investor. We strive to make sure your interests become our interests.

About Altigo

Altigo is the leading open network alts subscription technology used by a community of 300+ sponsors, broker-dealers, and RIA firms. The platform enables secure electronic alternative investment transactions between asset managers, wealth advisors, custodians, and transfer agents. With over 11,000 alts subscriptions completed on the platform since its debut in mid-2019, Altigo’s adoption reflects the valuable benefits it provides to reps and advisors including diverse product offerings, nearly error-free paperwork, and lightning-fast order entry. Altigo’s team of experienced professionals is committed to client experience, adding new features on a regular basis and helping its ever-expanding client base streamline investment workflows and eliminate reliance on outdated paper subscriptions and snail mail.

How Broker-Dealers Are Staying on the Right Side of Reg BI

Altigo, AltsTech Perspectives

How Broker-Dealers Are Staying on the Right Side of Reg BI

March 2, 2023 | John Rickman | Altigo

As more retail investors enter the market, regulators have moved to raise the broker-dealer standard of conduct beyond mere “suitability” obligations. Broker-dealers and their representatives are now expected to act in the “best interest” of the retail investor and be boldly transparent about any conflicts of interest that might arise from their sales activity.

The Securities and Exchange Commission first adopted its Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) rules in 2019 to improve the quality and transparency of retail investors’ relationships with broker-dealers, bringing its legal and disclosure requirements in line with “reasonable investor expectations.” The agency then gave firms time to up their compliance game.

Now comes the enforcement push. In a January 30 risk alert, the SEC put firms on notice that recent retail-focused examinations of broker-dealer compliance practices revealed numerous “deficiencies and weaknesses” that could erode investor trust in the financial system. Many of the faults that agency examiners found were common pitfalls related to the rules’ disclosure and care obligation requirements such as:

• Generic written policies and procedures not tailored to a firm’s business model

• No clearly written procedures for creating, reviewing, updating, and distributing disclosures

• No process to show that disclosures had been provided to customers prior to or at the time of the recommendation

• Vaguely worded policies and procedures that make it difficult for firm representatives to consider “reasonably available” investment alternatives, investment costs, and methods for documenting the basis for a recommendation

The SEC has indicated it intends to continue its examinations and both it and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulatory organization that governs wealth managers, have already begun doling out sanctions against financial professionals for violating Reg BI. As early as September 2022, FINRA sanctioned one registered representative for “excessive” trading in a customer account.

As the crackdown ramps up, broker-dealers have begun sharing best practices amongst themselves, knowing that if one of its competitors gets sanctioned, so might their firm. Altigo has gleaned some of these best practices after years of onboarding dozens of broker-dealer firms that use our technology platform for alternative investments.

Many such best practices focus on how firms create, update, and distribute the three key disclosure docs they must file and furnish to investors (whether they make recommendations or not), specifically Form CRS—which summarizes material information about the firm and aims to helps its representatives develop trust with customers—and both the individual firm and registered representative Reg BI disclosures. These three forms are typically delivered to the customer together and are generally considered living documents in that they are regularly updated to reflect new disclosures or other information.

Other best practices these broker-dealer firms recommend include:

• Adding additional suggested questions to existing disclosure documents. These questions encourage customers to ask firm reps about potential conflicts of interest as well as help reps gather more information about their customers.

• Reviewing and updating on a quarterly basis firm and firm representative conflict registers, which help broker-dealers identify, mitigate, and remove potential conflicts of interest.

• Distributing disclosure docs prior to or concurrent with a recommendation. This is standard practice, but some firms have fallen into the bad habit of providing customers with disclosures as part of subscription paperwork. It’s too late by then because distributing disclosures along with “sub docs” suggests a recommendation has already been made.

• Reviewing Reg BI policies and procedures on a frequent basis to ensure firms stay current with the rules they write to stay compliant. Annual reviews are standard practice but that’s probably not enough in light of the enforcement push.

• Redistributing disclosures after each update to ensure customers always have the most up-to-date versions.

• Training registered representatives and other staff on a firm’s compliance processes, including Reg BI.

Concurrent with FINRA’s August 3, 2022 regulatory notice warning about electronic signature forgery, broker-dealers are also strongly urged to get prior permission from customers to send disclosures and other notices electronically. Emailed disclosures aren’t compliant if the customer hasn’t consented to electronic delivery.

Many of these recommendations can be automated and broker-dealers that employ technology solutions like Altigo to help document disclosure activity, among other compliance processes, are at an advantage. Should the SEC or FINRA come calling, digital solutions can also help firms automate disclosure updates and distribution, set guardrails that restrict premature disclosure distribution, and generate reports for auditors.

 

Gentry Mills Joins Altigo’s Growing Roster of Sponsors

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Gentry Mills Joins Altigo’s Growing Roster of Sponsors

February 15, 2023 | John Rickman | Altigo

Real estate investment firm Gentry Mills Capital has signed with Altigo, expanding the pool of asset managers on the platform and making investing in alts easier for the 200+ transactional broker-dealer and RIA firms that use Altigo. In partnering with us late last year, Gentry Mills had the distinction of being the 50th sponsor in 2022 to sign with Altigo.

After hearing about Altigo from their distribution partners, sponsors are discovering the benefits of investments being completed quickly and correctly the first time. Altigo integrates all aspects of alternative investment subscription and compliance, while significantly reducing not-in-good-order (NIGO) errors and other headaches. The platform will help Gentry Mills manage paperwork and make their real estate investment offerings available in a single, white-labeled portal.

“We’re excited about our partnership with Altigo and the positive impact it will have on our processes, especially in terms of making things more convenient for our clients who are financial advisors,” said Gentry Mills President Billy Glass. “Any tool that makes us more accessible or user friendly to our clients is a tool we want to utilize.”

Altigo allows asset managers to invite their distribution partners to their own branded portal on the platform to view available offerings, or to add their offerings to their partners’ portals. In either case, Altigo streamlines the alts investment process through the use of digital workflows and by bringing the process and all of its participants under one virtual “roof.”

Altigo Chief Revenue Officer Mat Dellorso said, “Altigo’s scalable subscription technology and compliance services for alternative investments are pillars supporting an overall mission to increase transparency, efficiency, and access to alternative investments for issuers and advisors. We welcome Gentry Mills to the platform and look forward to collaborating with their team on making their offerings easy to access and subscribe to.”

About Gentry Mills Capital

Gentry Mills Capital is a real estate investment firm whose purpose is to seek out, package, and provide quality commercial real estate investment opportunities. We have raised over a quarter of a billion in capital with over $1 billion in assets acquired and over $500 million in AUM. With a wealth of experience in the commercial real estate industry, our success is a result of our commitment to quality investment opportunities, transparency, and unsurpassed customer service.

About Altigo

Altigo is the leading open network alts subscription technology used by a community of 300+ sponsors, broker-dealers, and RIA firms. The platform enables secure electronic alternative investment transactions between asset managers, wealth advisors, custodians, and transfer agents.

With over 11,000 alts subscriptions completed on the platform since its debut in mid-2019, Altigo’s adoption reflects the valuable benefits it provides to reps and advisors including diverse product offerings, nearly error-free paperwork, and lightning-fast order entry.

Altigo’s team of experienced professionals is committed to client experience, adding new features on a regular basis and helping its ever-expanding client base streamline investment workflows and eliminate reliance on outdated paper subscriptions and snail mail.

Altigo 2022 Year in Review

Altigo, AltsTech Perspectives

Altigo 2022 Year in Review

January 24, 2023 | Altigo

With lingering economic uncertainty continuing to shake up client portfolios, more and more firms are embracing straight-through processing technology—and choosing Altigo to streamline their alts business. In 2022, Altigo reached new milestones in adoption and volume, reflecting a snowballing network effect that continues to take hold among broker-dealers, RIAs, and sponsors who benefit from the efficiency and automation our technology provides.

Today we take a look back at a whirlwind year of growth and teamwork, all made possible by our clients and passionate team of professionals who strive to make Altigo the leading open network subscription processing platform for alternative investments.

Altigo by the Numbers

Altigo continued to grow last year, crossing the $2 billion mark in total lifetime alternative investment volume completed on the platform in July—just seven months after hitting $1 billion. Altigo finished 2022 just shy of $3 billion in total lifetime investment volume across nearly 11,000 unique transactions, seeing roughly $150 million in investment volume transacted each month before the year ran out. Looking at the numbers from another vantage point, Altigo generated 50% of its total lifetime investment volume in 2022 alone—an impressive result considering last year’s risk-averse investment environment.

These results clearly show that the industry is continuing to move away from the cumbersome, manual processes associated with investing in alternatives, and Altigo is the technology that broker-dealers, RIAs, and sponsors are choosing to simplify the process.

Indeed, there are currently more than 100 sponsors on the platform—50 of whom signed with Altigo in 2022—breaking our record for the most sponsors to sign up in a single year. This further diversifies the types of offerings available on Altigo, providing a wider array of offerings for the 200+ transactional broker-dealer and RIA firms that use the platform. Today, Altigo supports a range of alternative investment offerings, including direct private placements, private equity funds, DSTs, interval funds, non-listed preferreds, non-listed REITs, non-listed BDCs, and qualified opportunity zone funds.

2022 also saw a number of broker-dealer firms such as American Trust Investment Services, Cabin Securities, Newbridge Securities Corporation, and Titan Securities join firms like Concorde and Kingswood on Altigo. Many of these firms now require all their reps to use Altigo when allocating to alternatives. That’s because these firms have found that using Altigo creates efficiencies in home office supervision and onboarding, while making it easier for their reps to deliver a full range of investment solutions that align with their clients’ financial goals.

Top 5 Altigo Enhancements in 2022

In 2022, we added fresh features to Altigo to create better experiences and workflows for both home office personnel and the reps and advisors they supervise. Here’s a summary of the top 5 features that were added to the platform last year: 

1. Supervision Assistant: This new tool helps firms simplify, centralize, and de-risk suitability review and other compliance requirements by automating compliance checklists and completing concentration worksheet calculations—giving supervisory principals more time back in their day. It also lets firms manage workflows by exception and highlight areas for review.

2. Covered Securities Blotter: This tool enables firms to subscribe to interval funds, preferred shares, tender offer funds, and other covered securities in the same place where they manage the rest of their alternatives business. Using a simplified digital application form, firms can batch transactions and submit them in a bulk purchase order to sponsors, while still routing them through supervision, compliance, and other systems that a firm normally uses.

3. Custodian and Sponsor Enhancements: Custodians can use Altigo to review, approve, and otherwise process investments that come through the platform. Users can also automate document delivery to custodians, removing the need for advisors or home office staff to manually send documents to their custodian. Enhancements for sponsors now include allowing a sponsor signer to be included in the processing flow. This means subscription documents can be countersigned by the sponsor via Altigo’s workflow instead of manually signing the completed document package.

4. Form Enhancements: Altigo continues to add new functionality for proprietary broker-dealer home office, sponsor, and custodian forms. Users can now run calculations off of form data fields, and updates to the Form Data step in Altigo make it easier for advisors and assistants to differentiate and navigate between forms.

5. Scaled-Up Automation Data Exchange: We’ve enhanced our data transfer and integration capabilities, making it possible to connect to more systems and other fintech tools and platforms more quickly. This, in turn, will expand our partner ecosystem and enable straight-through processing to transmit our partners’ data to their preferred systems, clients, and vendors.

We continued to hear positive feedback from our clients throughout the year: 

“These guys have been absolutely great. They went to our conference, they talked to our reps, they did individual training—they walked us through the entire process. Change from the old-fashioned way of submitting paperwork can be difficult but the continued training, communication and support from the team truly sets Altigo and the team apart.” Rick Carlesco, CEO, IBN Financial Services.
 

“We look forward to Altigo setting a new standard of service for our registered representatives and advisors as well as for their supervision. Straight-through processing provides reduced regulatory risk and the satisfaction of knowing that submissions will be in good order the first time—giving our supervisors more time to supervise rather than micromanage paperwork,” said Kurosh Golchubian, Chief Technology Officer at Newbridge Securities.
 

“The Altigo platform has been absolutely amazing to use—it’s simple and straightforward and easy to duplicate the same client information if you have more than one application. This has saved me hours of time and allowed me to get more work done in a single day instead of my time being used up filling out paperwork,” said Justin Smith, RIA, American Trust Investment Services.
 

“The quick, 30-day turnaround time from signing up with Altigo to our reps going live on the platform exceeded our expectations, and our reps are completing transactions in minutes. Straight-through processing has already lowered our operational burdens as Vestech reps have begun using Altigo,” said Vestech Chief Compliance Officer Marco Ramirez.

Looking ahead to 2023, Altigo will continue to deliver enhancements, including new platform integrations and more features to help broker-dealer home offices. For instance, we are working to make it easy to process additional forms and documents on Altigo that aren’t directly associated with alts subscriptions such as account change paperwork, account maintenance paperwork, Reg BI forms, and much more. And of course, we will continue to build out our ecosystem of partners and industry collaborators to create the best experience for our clients—and meet increasingly important needs in the world of alternative investments.

 

 

Want to learn more about what’s in store for Altigo this year? Look for us us at the Blue Vault Bowman Alts Summit, March 6-8! We’re thrilled to be sponsoring and presenting at this event, where you can to discover how incorporating alternative investments into your practice can expand your overall business and client base!

Visit our brand new website rolled out in 2022 to learn more about Altigo.

 

Newbridge Selects Altigo for Enterprise Alts Solution

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Newbridge Selects Altigo for Enterprise Alts Solution

December 7, 2022 | Altigo

Newbridge Securities Corporation (“Newbridge”), a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm based in Boca Raton, Fla., has selected Altigo as its one-stop technology solution that all its affiliated registered representatives and advisors will use when allocating to alternatives (“Alts“). In choosing Altigo’s straight-through processing technology to power its Alts program, Newbridge joins a growing community of 300+ sponsors, broker-dealers, and RIAs that benefit from the platform’s smart workflow, speedy and accurate transaction processing, and paperless efficiencies.

The partnership ties in with Newbridge’s larger strategy of adopting digital solutions that streamline wealth management services, while enabling affiliated registered representatives and advisors to deliver a constellation of investment solutions that align with their clients’ needs and goals.

“We look forward to Altigo setting a new standard of service for our affiliated registered representatives and advisors as well as for their supervision,” said Newbridge CTO Kurosh Golchubian. “The home office is prioritizing automation of our core capabilities to up our service game and to stay in sync with rising demand for digital-first solutions. Straight-through processing provides reduced regulatory risk and the satisfaction of knowing that submissions will be in good order the first time—giving our supervisors more time to supervise rather than micromanage paperwork.”

Altigo integrates all aspects of alternative investment subscription and compliance, while significantly reducing not-in-good-order (NIGO) errors and other administrative headaches. Newbridge will manage Alts paperwork and enforce suitability and best interest requirements using the platform’s Supervision Assistant functionality rather than with traditional methods such as checklists and spreadsheets. Newbridge will also benefit from having access to all firm-approved alternative investment offerings in a single white-labeled portal. The platform’s ability to integrate with popular CRM and compliance and risk management tools will advance Newbridge’s desire to build a tech stack that will attract new affiliated registered representatives and advisors and clients well into the future.

Altigo and WealthForge CEO Bill Robbins said, “We’re excited to know that Altigo’s transformative technology will provide an enterprise solution for Newbridge’s home office in addition to being a time-saving tool for their affiliated registered representatives and advisors. Placing the firm’s Alts program under one roof while still routing transactions through the same supervision systems Newbridge normally uses will simplify, centralize, and de-risk suitability review and other key compliance requirements.”

About Newbridge

Newbridge Financial, Inc., as the holding company for Newbridge Securities Corporation (www.newbridgesecurities.com) and Newbridge Financial Services Group, Inc. provides strategic management consulting services to growth companies and explores the development of lines of business complementary to but outside of the financial services industry.

Newbridge Securities Corporation and Newbridge Financial Services Group, Inc. provides full-service securities brokerage and investment advisory, and investment banking services to a broad-based group of individuals and corporate clients. Comprised of a committed and experienced team of financial service professionals, we seek to empower our clients to build and preserve wealth by providing superior financial services and products. Newbridge Securities Corporation is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and a member of FINRA and SIPC. Newbridge Financial Services Group, Inc. is an SEC-registered registered investment adviser.

About Altigo

Altigo is the leading open network alts subscription technology used by a community of 300+ sponsors, broker-dealers, and RIA firms. The platform enables secure electronic alternative investment transactions between asset managers, wealth advisors, custodians, and transfer agents.

With over 10,000 alts subscriptions completed on the platform since its debut in mid-2019, Altigo’s adoption reflects the valuable benefits it provides to reps and advisors including diverse product offerings, nearly error-free paperwork, and lightning-fast order entry.

Altigo’s team of experienced professionals is committed to client experience, adding new features on a regular basis and helping its ever-expanding client base streamline investment workflows and eliminate reliance on outdated paper subscriptions and snail mail.

Vestech Selects Altigo to Power its Alts Program

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Vestech Selects Altigo to Power its Alts Program

November 30, 2022 | Altigo

Vestech Securities, a full-service brokerage based in St. Louis, Mo., has selected Altigo as its one-stop technology solution to streamline and de-risk its alternative investment program. The partnership comes amid a concerted effort by the broker-dealer to significantly expand its rep base, concurrent with expectations that alternatives will continue to grow in importance to its overall business.

All Vestech reps will use Altigo when allocating to alternatives—creating efficiencies in home office supervision and onboarding, while enabling reps to deliver a full range of investment solutions that align with their clients’ needs and goals.

“The home office is prioritizing automation of our core capabilities to scale up our services and provide a singular, centralized alts subscription process for both our new and existing reps,” said Vestech Chief Compliance Officer Marco Ramirez. “The quick, 30-day turnaround time from signing up with Altigo to our reps going live on the platform exceeded our expectations, and our reps are completing transactions in minutes. Straight-through processing has already lowered our operational burdens as Vestech reps have begun using Altigo.”

Vestech was motivated to work with Altigo on getting the home office and its reps set up on the platform. In choosing Altigo’s straight-through processing technology to power its alts program, Vestech joins a community of 300+ sponsors, broker-dealers, and RIAs that benefit from the platform’s smart workflow, speedy and accurate transaction processing, and paperless efficiencies.

Altigo integrates all aspects of alternative investment subscription and compliance, while significantly reducing not-in-good-order (NIGO) errors and other administrative headaches. The platform will help Vestech manage its alts paperwork and grant them access to all their firm-approved alternative investment offerings in a single, white-labeled portal. Altigo has also integrated with Redtail CRM to make pulling client data into the platform easy.

Altigo and WealthForge CEO Bill Robbins said, “Altigo’s mission is to reduce the friction traditionally associated with alternative investments and help firms like Vestech connect reps with a broad range of high-quality products and sponsors that can help investors reach their financial goals. We’re excited that Vestech reps can now help their clients more easily explore the potential of crucial alternative asset classes.”

About Vestech Securities

Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Vestech offers full-service brokerage and corporate advisory services to help small and mid-sized businesses, registered representatives, investment advisors and their clients attain their financial goals. In doing so, Vestech has developed the infrastructure and dedicated staff needed to offer investment professionals an opportunity to grow their business. Vestech strives to make positive impacts in the lives of their investment professionals and the clients they serve. Vestech refines their edge with competitive products and solutions, a simplified investment process, a culture of integrity, and the best industry practices.

About Altigo

Altigo is the leading open network alts subscription technology used by a community of 300+ sponsors, broker-dealers, and RIA firms. The platform enables secure electronic alternative investment transactions between asset managers, wealth advisors, custodians, and transfer agents.

With over 10,000 alts subscriptions completed on the platform since its debut in mid-2019, Altigo’s adoption reflects the valuable benefits it provides to reps and advisors including diverse product offerings, nearly error-free paperwork, and lightning-fast order entry.

Altigo’s team of experienced professionals is committed to client experience, adding new features on a regular basis and helping its ever-expanding client base streamline investment workflows and eliminate reliance on outdated paper subscriptions and snail mail.

Altigo Adds 46 New Sponsors to the Platform in 2022

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Altigo Adds 46 New Sponsors to the Platform in 2022

November 9, 2022 | Altigo

Altigo continues to add well-known asset managers to its industry-leading electronic subscription platform for alternative investments. In fact, 2022 has seen the most sponsors sign with Altigo in a single year—46 to date—with more waiting in the wings in the remainder of Q4. In total, there are 113 sponsors active on Altigo representing nearly 300 offerings currently available on the platform.

This year’s bumper crop of sponsor signings has also further diversified the pool of offering options available on Altigo, pushing beyond real estate and expanding into energy, private equity, ’40 Act funds, debt funds, and limited partnerships.

Real estate investments are still in demand, however. In Q3 alone, several prominent DST sponsors on the platform each had more than 25% of their transaction volume come through Altigo. But that‘s just scratching the surface of Altigo’s best quarter of 2022, thanks to the platform’s growing roster of users.

Notable asset managers signed up with Altigo this year include Ashford Securities, Empire, ExchangeRight, MDS Energy Development, Megatel Capital Investment, Net Lease Capital Advisors, Peachtree, PREP Securities, Shopoff Realty Investments, StratCap, and Time Equities.

The 200+ transactional broker-dealer and RIA firms using the platform benefit from engaging with an ever-expanding pool of sponsors and are quickly discovering how Altigo makes investing in alts easy for all parties involved. And after hearing about Altigo from their distribution partners, sponsors are realizing the benefits of investments being completed quickly and correctly the first time, allowing them to close out offerings faster.

Altigo makes the entire investment process seamless, including ease of integration with transfer agents and custodians. And clients on the platform often recommend updates to Altigo’s product roadmap, resulting in new functionality that can benefit all participants involved in a transaction. With new features being rolled out every month, Altigo will continue to offer even more value to asset managers.

Visit the brand new Altigo website at www.altigo.com to learn more.

farm

Is the Market Ripe for Investing in Farmland?

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech News

Is the Market Ripe for Investing in Farmland?

September 28, 2022 | John Rickman | Altigo

As market worries deepen and faith in the 60/40 rule recedes, wealth managers are looking for new ways to balance and bolster client portfolios, with many pivoting to alternative investments as an option. Recent federal data suggests that investing in U.S. farmland—an oft-overlooked alt—might fit the bill for some investors.

In its 2022 Farm Sector Income Forecast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) stated:

“Net farm income, a broad measure of profits, is forecast to increase by $7.3 billion (5.2%) from 2021 to $147.7 billion in calendar year 2022. This expected increase follows an increase of $45.9 billion (48.5%) in 2021 from 2020.”

If realized, net farm income in 2022 would remain above its 2002–21 average, in real terms, the September 1 report added. Additionally, farm sector equity is expected to rise by 10.4% in 2022 to $3.34 trillion in nominal terms, according to the ERS.

It’s worth noting that expected increases in production expenses such as fertilizer and feed, as well as expected cuts in direct government payments to farmers and ranchers as part of pandemic assistance, are factored into the ERS’ forecast.

From an investment perspective, what do the data tell us about the market value of farmland itself in the United States? The NCREIF Farmland Index has an answer for that. According to the not-for-profit industry trade association, the total market value of U.S. agricultural properties came in at just under $14.6 billion during the second quarter of 2022.*

Continue Reading…

Inside the V(ALT), with WealthForge

Altigo, Podcasts

Inside the V(ALT), with WealthForge

Bill Robbins (CEO, WealthForge) discusses Altigo’s recent milestone, lessons learned, and technology holdouts in this episode of  Inside the V(ALT).

This podcast is not intended for the general public; it is intended for viewers who are financial professionals that are either registered with FINRA broker dealers or are registered investment advisers. 

Altigo Surpasses $2B in Transactions

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech News, Cantor Fitzgerald, Capital Square, ExchangeRight, Inland

Altigo Surpasses $2B in Transactions

July 26, 2022 | WealthForge

Only seven months after hitting the $1 billion mark, Altigo has crossed $2 billion in alternative investments completed on the platform, representing more than 8,600 alts subscriptions since its debut in mid-2019. Altigo’s growth and adoption continues with its adviser user base now topping 185 transactional broker-dealer and RIA firms, with over 200 alternative investment offerings currently “live” and accepting investments on Altigo.

Today, Altigo supports a range of alternative investment offerings from nearly 100 sponsors, including non-listed REITs, qualified opportunity zone funds, non-listed preferreds, interval funds, direct private placements, DSTs, private equity funds, and non-listed BDCs. Nine out of the top 10 DST sponsors, including Inland Private Capital, Capital Square 1031, Cantor Fitzgerald, ExchangeRight, and Passco have seen the speed and efficiency that Altigo provides and have contributed to its growth. 

“Cantor Fitzgerald was the very first sponsor to sign up with Altigo when it launched in 2019 as we shared a common vision for using technology to make it easier for advisors to do alts business and to improve the overall experience for the end investor,” said Jay Frank, President at Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management. “We are thrilled with the progress that the entire industry has made by embracing Altigo as a solution that makes alts investments incredibly easy.”

Altigo’s success and high rate of both sponsor and advisor adoption is not only due to meaningful results such as reduced NIGO (not-in-good-order) paperwork error rates (to as low as 4%), but also to lightning-fast order entry. A key benefit that sets Altigo apart from other platforms is the team behind it and its commitment to client experience. IBN Financial Services, a broker-dealer recently partnered with the platform, spoke about the onboarding experience:

“These guys have been absolutely great,” said Rick Carlesco, CEO at IBN. “They went to our conference, they talked to our reps, they did individual training—they walked us through the entire process. Change from the old-fashioned way of submitting paperwork can be difficult but the continued training, communication and support from the team truly sets Altigo and the team apart.”

Wealth managers have seen Altigo streamline investment processing and compliance by providing access to all firm-approved alternative offerings in a single white-labeled portal. Altigo also includes custom firm forms and custodian partners’ letters of investment authorization within the workflow. The platform integrates with popular CRM and compliance and risk management tools as well.

“Before I started using Altigo, I had to painstakingly populate each subscription document and depending on the number of alternatives involved in the order, it could take hours to fill in all of the necessary forms,” said Chloe Guinan, Operations Associate at Claraphi. “With Altigo, I simply choose the asset that the client wishes to invest in, select the advisor, enter the client information one time, and the system pre-populates all of the necessary documents for me. Along with the subscription document, the required custodial documents are included in the bundle that can be sent to the client for electronic signature directly through Altigo’s system.”

Altigo will be rolling out even more features and functionality in the second half of the year, helping to expand its value to the market.

“We are pleased by the rate of adoption from wealth management firms and fund managers with our second billion dollars coming only seven months after our first,” said Mat Dellorso, Co-founder at Altigo. “It’s a testament to our team, the desire for portfolio diversifying investments in the market, and the need for transformative technology to make the process easier for all to do more business. This speed of adoption on Altigo enables us to expand across more and more firms in the alternative investment market, bringing greater efficiency to the industry.”

 

2021: A Record Breaking Year for Altigo

Altigo, Alts Week 2022

Watch WealthForge’s Blue Vault Bowman Alts Week 2022 presentation, featuring Megan Bosch (Senior Director, Altigo Strategic Accounts).

 

Alternative Investment Sponsors may be contributing members of Blue Vault, which could create potential conflicts of interest.  Blue Vault subscribers and followers should consider this in their review and analysis.  Information is intended only for institutional, broker dealer or registered investment adviser use.  This information is prohibited for use by the general public.

Altigo Adds CNB Custody to the Platform to Bring Automation to Purchasing Alts in Retirement Accounts

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Announcements, CNB Custody

Altigo Adds CNB Custody to the Platform to Bring Automation to Purchasing Alts in Retirement Accounts

March 22, 2022 | Heather Acey | WealthForge

Altigo and CNB Custody announced that they have incorporated CNB’s forms and processes into the platform to streamline the process of buying alternatives for wealth advisors.

CNB forms are directly available within the Altigo workflow allowing advisors to complete all paperwork associated with an alternative investment in one complete electronic subscription package. CNB will also use the platform to access and review the paperwork, providing a status back to Altigo that can be viewed by advisor users on the transaction activity dashboard.

“As alternative investments continue to gain popularity, simplified processes for both advisors and investors are uncovering the need for industry participants to work together,” said Mat Dellorso, Co-Founder at WealthForge. “Forward thinking custodians like CNB Custody have recognized the value of using technology to make investing in alts faster and easier for everyone involved, allowing the market to continue to grow.”

“CNB Custody puts a strong emphasis on customer service and making processes as easy as possible for financial representatives and their clients,” said Michelle Thomas, Vice President at CNB Custody. “Having our forms available on the Altigo platform and being part of their workflow process is another way we can provide excellent service and make purchasing an alternative investment through CNB as simple and quick as possible.”

CNB Custody is among 15 other well-known custodians available on the Altigo platform.

ABOUT CNB CUSTODY

With more than 35 years of experience in custody of alternative investments, CNB Custody has built a reputation for providing exceptional service, record-keeping accuracy and competitive fees. CNB is an award-winning national bank with over $3.5 billion in assets under custody and is regulated by the OCC. A member of the Retirement Industry Trust Association, CNB can assist you with Roth, Traditional, and SEP IRAs along with non-qualified account custody.

ABOUT WEALTHFORGE

WealthForge provides technology solutions developed by experienced regulatory professionals to streamline investments into alternative securities. Altigo, the company’s electronic processing platform, was built to address common industry roadblocks, enable marketplace connections, and facilitate alternative investment transactions between reps, advisors, product sponsors, custodians and transfer agents. With over a decade of experience processing alternative investments and developing technology solutions, WealthForge has built a reputation as an innovator in market. To learn more, visit www.wealthforge.com.

Alta Trust Company and Altigo Team Up to Bring Electronic Alts Processing to Advisors

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech News

Alta Trust Company and Altigo Team Up to Bring Electronic Alts Processing to Advisors

February 22, 2022 | Heather Acey | WealthForge

Alta Trust Company and Altigo are proud to announce their collaboration to deliver high quality private offerings through Alta Trust using Altigo’s streamlined electronic subscription processing platform.

Alternative investments continue to be one of the highest demand areas for registered investment advisers (RIAs). But, the processing systems available for RIAs to bring on an investor to their fund are often slow, disjointed and challenging to navigate.

For years, Alta Trust has been focused on developing a streamlined process to guide advisers through the fund formation process so they can offer alternative investments to their clients,” said Adam Ponder, CEO of Alta Trust Company. “But we continued to seek improvements on making the subscription process easier for both RIAs and their clients. Altigo’s platform is the final piece of the puzzle, and the subscription process has become a highlight of our offering.”

With the alternative investment space growing quickly, advisers need to be equipped with the right partners and technology to meet the demand from high-net-worth investors. The collaboration between Altigo and Alta Trust brings both trusted partners and reliable technology to the table for RIAs.

“Our vision is to make alternative investments as easy to own as a mutual fund. Working with Alta Trust to bring our Altigo subscription automation technology along with their fund formation and fund administration services is a valuable benefit to our mutual advisor clients,” said Mat Dellorso, Co-Founder at WealthForge.

Now, when Alta Trust works with an adviser to create a fund, investors will benefit from Altigo’s simple, secure, electronic subscription process. Advisers can view the transaction activity dashboard in Altigo to manage the subscription process, showcase investment opportunities, and see the dollars move in real time.

ABOUT ALTIGO

WealthForge provides technology solutions developed by experienced regulatory professionals to streamline investments into alternative securities. Altigo, the company’s electronic order entry and subscription processing platform, was built to address common industry roadblocks, enable marketplace connections, and facilitate alternative investment transactions between reps, advisors, asset managers, custodians and transfer agents. With over a decade of experience processing alternative investments and developing technology solutions, WealthForge has built a reputation as an innovator in the market.

Learn more at wealthforge.com/altigo-for-rias

ABOUT ALTA TRUST COMPANY

Alta Trust Company is a South Dakota chartered trust company with over a decade of success in the industry. They provide innovative, turn-key solutions for establishing private funds. The company also offers collective investment trusts (CITs) and personal trust services.

Learn more at TrustAlta.com.

2021: A Record Breaking Year for Altigo

Altigo, AltsTech Perspectives, WealthForge

2021: A Record Breaking Year for Altigo

February 1, 2022 | Heather Acey | WealthForge

In 2021, a clear theme emerged to describe the Altigo platform and team: Exponential growth.

Today we take a look back at a mind-blowing year of growth and teamwork, all made possible by our clients and dedicated team of professionals that strive to make Altigo the leading straight through processing platform for alternative investments.

The Platform by the Numbers

In 2021 alone, Altigo experienced staggering growth with nearly $1.2 billion in alternative investment volume across 4,500+ unique transactions, representing a 400%+ increase in volume and 550% increase in transactions year over year. This tremendous adoption reflects a clear rallying cry in the industry that there’s a need to change the inefficient, manual processes associated with investing in alts—and Altigo is the technology being embraced by sponsors, broker-dealers and RIAs to streamline the process.

Altigo has been adopted by more than 100 asset managers, including Bluerock, Cantor Fitzgerald, Capital Square, Greenbacker, Inland Private Capital and Passco as well as 20+ broker-dealers such as Concorde Investment Services, Benchmark, Kingswood U.S. and Great Point Capital. This is in addition to more than 125 RIA firms on the platform.

Top 10 Altigo Enhancements in 2021

  1. Customizable Data Collection: All proprietary forms and documents including firm-specific, custodian or subscription docs can be incorporated into the Altigo workflow, allowing for a streamlined, single-signing process for the investor.
  2. Sponsor Offering Documents: Sponsors on the platform can upload and manage documents such as PPMs and make them available for advisor review and download.
  3. CRM Integration: Altigo’s API integration with Redtail allows reps and advisors to pre-populate fields in Altigo’s digital investment process with investor information stored in the CRM, reducing subscription time to as little as 5 minutes.
  4. Advisor Training Integration: An integration with AI Insight by iCapital allows broker-dealer and registered investment advisor firms to increase their operational control over their alternative investment business, support compliance requirements, and create education opportunities for reps and advisors—all through a streamlined digital user experience.
  5. DocuSign Knowledge-based Authentication (KBA): DocuSign’s KBA function has been added for custodians that require the signer to prove their identity when e-signing documents. It can also be added for broker-dealers for an added layer of security.
  6. Principal/Firm Review Workflow: Support has been added for subscriptions to be routed to a Firm Admin for review and processing before the subscriptions are routed to a dealer manager or sponsor for review/action.
  7. Subscription Document Preview: Ability to preview the subscription package (including firm or custodian documents) prior to submitting a subscription so the advisor or rep can view all documents and walk through a preview of the investor’s signing experience before hitting “send”.
  8. Chat Feature: New chat functionality to provide real-time support for user questions or issues.
  9. Support for New Offering Types: Preferred equity, Public Debt Fund, Reg A and Venture Capital Fund offerings are now supported by Altigo, with more being added this year.
  10. SOC II, Type II: Last but certainly not least, Altigo is SOC 2, Type II audited, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to data security.

Here are a few comments from our clients:

“Altigo is so good, so intuitive, so efficient that we have quintupled our production year over year in alternatives. Altigo has become indispensable to us and the ace up our sleeve when we’re competing with other firms out there,” said Doug Blake, Managing Director of Investment Solutions at Kingswood U.S. 

“We surpassed $265M in subscriptions processed electronically on Altigo in 2021. As one of their first clients, we are excited to continue to see enhancements added to the platform that make it even more valuable to our business,” said Jay Frank, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Distribution at Cantor Fitzgerald.

“Our reps have really enjoyed and embraced using Altigo. It has allowed our reps to save time on paperwork and focus on investors. Altigo also allows us to be a better partner by getting paperwork right the first time. Quite candidly, we wouldn’t be where we are today if we didn’t have excellent tech tools like Altigo. We’ve been thrilled with how that’s been working for us,” said Drew Jackson, CEO at Concorde Investment Services.

“Altigo’s transaction activity dashboard is incredibly convenient. Our offerings close quickly and it’s really easy to see exactly where each investment is in the process allowing us to say organized and focus more on the next offering,” said Josh Hoffman, President at Bluerock.

“Our broker-dealer and RIA partners have told us that with Altigo, it’s just easier to do business with us. Plus, clients ultimately benefit from faster investment processing all while knowing their information is protected by the highest security standards possible. We saw $186M come through Altigo last year and are looking forward to seeing that number at least double in 2022,” said James Brunger, Executive Vice President, National Sales at Capital Square.

“If you’re an RIA looking for a comprehensive technology solution to make your firm’s alts business as operationally simple as financial planning or portfolio management are, I strongly recommend Altigo,” said David Clark, President at Clark Wealth Strategies.

Altigo Team Growth

Employee headcount at WealthForge nearly doubled last year, with new talent added across the board including Product/Operations, Compliance, Client Success and Sales. The Technology team that powers Altigo was among the greatest expansion, growing by 60%.

“We win as a team,” said Bill Robbins, CEO at WealthForge. “I continue to be amazed at how much we accomplished in 2021. We have a lot of talented people working together every day towards our vision of making alts as easy to own as a mutual fund.”

We can’t wait to see what’s ahead in 2022. We will continue to deliver platform enhancements and broaden our ecosystem of partners and industry collaborators to create the best experience for our clients—and meet an important need in the alts industry.

*Testimonials reflect these clients’ historical experiences with Altigo technology and may not be representative of the experiences of all clients or with other services. Testimonials are not a guarantee of future performance or success.

Automation and Alts: How Firms Use Automation to Gain a Competitive Advantage

Altigo, AltsTech News, WealthForge

Automation and Alts: How Firms Use Automation to Gain a Competitive Advantage

September 28, 2021 | James Sprow

A Blue Vault ALTSTECH Series Webinar September 9, 2021

Panelists:

Bill Robbins, CEO of WealthForge
Drew Jackson, President and CEO of Concorde Investment Services
James Brunger, Executive VP National Sales from Capital Square

These industry experts discussed the importance of using automation to scale their alternative investment business and how it helps them create a competitive advantage in the space.

Bill Robbins started out by introducing WealthForge’s straight-through processing platform for alternative investments called Altigo. Today they have over 80 broker dealer and RIA firms signed up and using the platform.

Drew Jackson at Concorde enjoys working directly with advisors and helping them maximize their business and grow deeper relationships with their clients. He believes that a continued focus on practice management and process improvements are keys to long term success in the industry. Concorde serves approximately 130 financial professionals specializing in alternative investments, in particular DSTs and real estate investments.

James Brunger of Capital Square, a national sponsor of tax-advantaged investments, in particular DSTs and 1031 Exchanges. They have about 115 total programs, including Opportunity Zones and a REIT focusing on multifamily assets in the Southeast US.

Stacy Chitty hosted the Webinar and started out by asking what straight-thru processing means to each of the panelists.

Bill Robbins gave a definition of straight-through processing that is a digital experience that automates what today are manual tasks, connecting each participant in the Altigo system to the data that they need rather than the paperwork that they need to do their jobs. It connects each participant to the data rather than the paperwork. It can facilitate not just the buying of alternative investments but also holding and selling those investments. It’s going to provide transparency at each step of the process by connecting each participant to the data and it’s going to foster innovation.

Drew Jackson says it really comes down to visibility, making it easier to process these transactions. There are a lot of additional facets of alternative investments that clients need to understand and doing it in a way that is automated saves so much time for advisors and clients. It takes what used to be an extremely manually-intensive process and makes it a lot faster, helping us with the resources that our advisors are using.

James Brunger says that fundamentally alternative investments are very complex. For Capital Square, Altigo takes a critical component and makes it as easy as possible to give the advisor more time to explore the investment itself, getting to know what they are investing in. It boils down to taking one of the most complex investments any investor is going to make and simplifies the process to allow more time to do the diligence and less time to do the paperwork involved.

Stacy asked what the growth in the DST market has revealed about the limitations of the industry. James Brunger answered that straight-through processing is the only way that the DST market can grow the anticipated three-fold growth rate. Without automation the industry cannot achieve the scalability necessary to handle the growth. They cannot possibly staff the foreseeable growth in the DST industry.

Drew Jackson sees the DST industry doing $8.5 billion this year. They must have the tools and systems to do this volume of business, they can’t possibly staff for that level of investments. Getting their sponsors on to systems that can do things as efficiently as possible makes it possible to do their volume of business.

Drew said they had a sense that 2021 would be a very strong year given the outcome of the election. They wanted to be able to scale up, so they are rolling out the Altigo system and they have a virtual assistant system to help the representatives work on client solutions rather than the paperwork. The more time they can be client-facing rather than spending time on paperwork, the better.

Bill Robbins sees the rapid growth in the DST market as a perfect microcosm that can only be possible as an industry if they are able to automate the systems. It could go from a $5 billion market to a $15 billion market and beyond. But it can’t be done the old fashioned way. The big opportunity is across the alternatives market. His firm is working to provide the tools that will facilitate that growth.

Stacy asked how automation has provided a competitive advantage. What has been the catalyst for adoption of that automation.

James Brunger says you can only automate so much of the commercial real estate investment process. The automation has given them a competitive advantage because they know how quickly they can raise the capital to go back to the acquisitions team and be sure that you are going to be efficient in deploying capital. Instead of hiring operations people, you can staff up the acquisitions side. As a sponsor they can focus on the acquisitions.

Because Capital Square has been one of the early adopters of Altigo, the reps that have signed on are getting rapid execution and money is going to work faster for both the reps and the investors. It allows them to move on to the next program faster.

Drew says Concorde takes a lot of pride in being a good partner with their sponsor firms and the folks they work with. Systems that can get things done faster with fewer NIGOs helps them because the business coming from Concorde is clean and done right. We want to be a good partner with the firms they work with and doing things the right way helps them get some allocations that others may not be able to get.

James Brunger says it’s human nature to want to do more business with partners that make your life easier. That’s especially true right now. The firms that have the most efficient processes and the fewest NIGOs, we’re going to lean on those firms that make life easier for everybody.

Stacy said maybe we’ve been a dinosaur industry for so long, there’s now a tremendous opportunity and we’re finally catching up and seeing a tremendous opportunity ahead of us.

Bill Robbins says, as a provider of automation technology, they also see advantages in information security. Recently three large IBD firms had 200 reps that had their email accounts compromised and those firms were fined $750,000 related to bad actors hacking those accounts. Across 10,000 they had

some of their private information exposed. All of these reps are emailing a treasure trove of private information around. Using email to send all those documents is a bad policy and automation provides another benefit to make all of that information secure.

The panel went on to discuss the key characteristics necessary for a straight-through processing system to provide advisors. They want to be able to consolidate a number of DST investments for the client. They want to be sure that clients are properly reviewing the documentation and understanding the investments they are making. It’s very important to know that clients are qualified to be making these types of investments.

These systems also help in advisor recruiting. They want to see systems that make them more productive and their lives easier. Technology does evolve, so Concorde looks at the enhancements that are coming. They want to work with systems that are improving, as thought leaders and forward thinking. They ask their partners “what’s next” so they can stay at the tip of the spear.

James Brunger answered Stacy’s question, “What’s in it for the sponsor?” James said the more they can get firms to adopt these systems , it really gives them the opportunity to focus their resources to quickly get to scale. It speeds up the processing and allows them to focus more on compliance. As the processing speeds up, they can be sure that the business is done correctly. From the investor perspective they get to focus on what they own.

As an industry, James would like to see all sponsors on Altigo because the easier we make the process the better for all of us and the sooner we can grow the alternatives industry.

As the industry scales up, we can handle the growth if we use our resources correctly and Altigo is absolutely essential to facilitate that growth.

CoastalOne Launches Digital Alternative Investments Platform, Altigo, Powered by WealthForge

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Companies, AltsTech News

CoastalOne Launches Digital Alternative Investments Platform, Altigo, Powered by WealthForge

New platform designed to improve the alternative investment experience for Coastal’s registered representatives and their clients

June 29, 2021 | CoastalOne

WILMINGTON, DE (June 29, 2021) – CoastalOne, an independent broker-dealer (Coastal Equities) and registered investment advisor (Coastal Investment Advisors) based in Wilmington, Delaware, recently rolled out access to alternative investments for all of its 115 advisors and registered representatives, powered by Altigo, an electronic order entry and subscription processing platform from WealthForge.

Alternative investment transactions continue to be lengthy, manual, and paper-laden, leading to NIGO errors, security risks, and operational inefficiencies that drive up costs and discourage wealth managers and investors from considering alternative investments. Altigo is designed to improve the alternative investment experience for CoastalOne’s registered representatives and their clients by automating the paperwork process and integrating the subscription process into an advisory firm’s existing operational workflow.

“Electronic processing is a primary focus of the CoastalOne technology platform and we’re happy to partner with Altigo and WealthForge in establishing a seamless system for our financial professionals and their clients,” said Charles Reiling, President and CEO of CoastalOne.

“Bill Robbins, Mat Dellorso, Megan Bosch, and the rest of the WealthForge team have created a great offering and we’re pleased to offer it to our colleagues here at Coastal.”

Altigo provides an intuitive front-end for reps to quickly initiate a subscription through an online intelligent interview and then send to the investor for wet or electronic signature. It fits seamlessly into existing back-office review processes, with no integrations, IT resources, or change management required. On top of increasing productivity and transparency, Altigo accelerates the investment cycle time with investments completed in 2 days on average instead of 3 weeks, safeguards sensitive investor data and maintains data security standards backed by a SOC 2, Type II report, and helps improve client relationships by providing a
fast and easy way to invest in alternatives.

“We are looking forward to Altigo making life easier at the supervision level,” said Francis Skinner, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of CoastalOne. “The security of straight-through processing and reduction of submissions that are not in good order will greatly reduce regulatory risk and should free up more time for our supervisors to supervise rather than quality control paperwork.”

The Altigo platform is now available to all Coastal financial professionals. Both commission and fee-based products, including real estate, private placements, hedge funds, BDC-type products, and Opportunity Zones, are able to be electronically processed on the platform.
Financial professionals interested in learning more can do so at www.Coastal-One.com.

About CoastalOne

CoastalOne is located in Wilmington, Delaware, including Coastal Equities, Inc. (CEI), a FINRA registered independent broker-dealer; Coastal Investment Advisors, Inc. (CIA), a SEC Registered Investment Advisor; and Coastal Insurance Services, a division comprised of several insurance agencies providing access to a number of fixed and variable personal lines and business insurance. The goal of CoastalOne is to become the firm of choice for independent financial professionals and their clients, and their mission is to build life-long client relationships from a foundation of personal service, trust, and collaboration. Learn more at www.Coastal-One.com.

About Altigo by WealthForge

Altigo is an electronic processing platform from WealthForge designed to improve the alternative investment experience for registered investment advisors, registered representatives, broker-dealers, asset managers, and their investors by increasing productivity and transparency, accelerating investment cycle time, maintaining data security, and improving client relationships. Altigo provides an intuitive front-end for advisors and fits seamlessly into existing back-office review processes, with no integrations, IT resources, or change management required. Learn more at www.WealthForge.com/Altigo.

Clip: Altigo Platform Milestones

Altigo, Podcasts, WealthForge

Clip: Altigo Platform Milestones

In this clip from Inside the V(ALT), Bill Robbins highlights some of the Altigo platform’s recent milestones.

Click here to watch the full episode.

This podcast is not intended for the general public; it is intended for viewers who are financial professionals that are either registered with FINRA broker dealers or are registered investment advisers. 

Altigo Rolls Out Product Focus Group Effort to Optimize Platform for Users

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech News

Altigo Rolls Out Product Focus Group Effort to Optimize Platform for Users

May 6, 2021

WealthForge announced today that Altigo, their electronic order entry and subscription processing platform for alternative investments, is rolling out a series of focus groups designed to capture user feedback to help prioritize feature set development and optimize the platform. A select group of RIA, BD and sponsor users will be invited to participate and help shape the future of the product.

The first session with RIA users kicked off last week with Box Financial, CAVRIA Advisors, Durbin Bennett Wealth Advisors, Insight Investment Advisers, MJP Wealth Advisors and Sera Capital among the initial participants. The Altigo product team outlined upcoming enhancements on the roadmap and gathered real-time feedback around what matters most to RIA users. Features including expanded sort, filter and comparison tools, 3rd party due diligence reports and other integrations, and non-subscription workflows like redemptions, PPM distribution and tracking, and change of address were discussed. The recurring theme emerging from the session is that time savings is key and any features that can abbreviate the investment process are highly beneficial.

“I’m already seeing substantial time and cost savings using the features currently available on the Altigo platform,” said Josh Wright, President at Insight Investment Advisers. “I’m thrilled to be part of this ongoing focus group to help make Altigo even more valuable to advisors and the alts community as a whole.”

The Altigo product team will continue focus group sessions with broker-dealer and sponsor clients in the coming weeks. “It’s vital that we incorporate feedback from all users of the platform to build a best-in-class solution,” said Mat Dellorso, Co-founder at WealthForge. “Our goal is to develop the industry standard platform for investing in alternatives. Our growing community of users is key to deciding what that standard should be.”

If you would like to be considered to participate on the Altigo product focus group, please contact your client success manager or email us at clientsuccess@altigo.io.

Altigo Signs Tenth Broker-Dealer Partnership

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Companies, AltsTech News

Altigo Signs Tenth Broker-Dealer Partnership

March 10, 2021

Altigo, an electronic order entry and subscription processing platform for alternative investments, has now hit double digits in its expansion of broker-dealer partnerships. Firms including Benchmark Investments, Coastal Equities, Great Point Capital, Lightpath Securities, and more recently Emerson Equity, Kingswood, and Aurora Securities have chosen Altigo to digitally manage their alternative investments business.

Firms using the platform have seen how Altigo’s intuitive workflow facilitates order entry by integrating home office and custodial forms and providing access to all firm-approved offerings in one online portal, increasing both rep productivity and compliance control.

“I cannot emphasize enough how much Altigo has simplified the purchase application process. If a client is investing in 4 different products, the first purchase agreement can be completed in 10 minutes instead of 30, with subsequent ones in even less time,” said Frank Piscitelli, a registered representative at Archer Investors with Lightpath Securities. “The auto-populating features significantly reduce NIGOs. The time saved provides more time to reach out to present and future clients.”

70% of subscriptions are submitted for acceptance by the sponsor the same day, and every step of the process is trackable in real time. Additionally, reps and compliance officers have peace of mind knowing that Altigo has completed a SOC 2, Type II audit, demonstrating the platform’s commitment to data security. 

Several firms initially signed up for a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of using Altigo to process their alternative investment business. The program has been a resounding success, concluding with a decision to move forward with a firm-wide rollout to all registered reps. 

“Altigo has demonstrated its ability to make our processes more efficient, making it so much easier to review and approve investments,” said John Neppel, Principal at Great Point Capital. “Implementation of the platform went smoothly and we were thrilled with the speed that new firm-approved offerings were set up. We are eager to roll the platform out to our entire rep base to fully realize Altigo’s potential for our firm.”

Altigo’s growth is poised to continue throughout 2021 with even more features being added. Redtail integration has recently been added, which helps speed up the data entry process for reps and advisors by populating data directly from their CRM. AI Insight integration is also slated for release later this month which will help ensure rep training is complete if it is required by the firm before the package is sent for signature. The remainder of the year will see integrations with additional CRM platforms, custodians, clearing firms, transfer agents and fund admins as well as more product discovery and comparison features in Altigo Marketplace.

alternative investments

Altigo Integrates with Redtail CRM to Further Streamline Alternative Investment Processing

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Companies, AltsTech News

Altigo Integrates with Redtail CRM to Further Streamline Alternative Investment Processing

March 8, 2021

WealthForge announced today that Altigo, their electronic processing platform for alternative investments, now integrates with Redtail, a customer relationship management solution widely used in the financial services industry. The API integration will allow reps and advisors to pre-populate fields in Altigo’s digital order entry process with investor information stored in Redtail, reducing subscription time to as little as 5 minutes. 

“Our goal with Altigo is to make the investment process as seamless as possible. In order to do that we are taking every opportunity we can to remove manual data entry, which is time-consuming and can be prone to errors,” says Bill Robbins, CEO of WealthForge. “By integrating with CRM platforms like Redtail, we’re enabling financial representatives to make alternative investment transactions with unprecedented ease, freeing up more time for them to spend with their clients.”

When users of Redtail initiate a subscription through Altigo, they will be presented with the option to select a client from their CRM in addition to the usual options of drafting a subscription from scratch or copying information from a previously completed investment. The integration further enhances Altigo’s revolutionary process improvements. The platform reduces NIGO (not-in-good-order) error rates from 30-60 percent down to less than 5 percent and boasts investment cycle-times of 2 days, compared to approximately 3 weeks on average using paper processes. 

For more information about Altigo, visit our product page or contact us with any questions.

About WealthForge

WealthForge provides technology solutions developed by experienced regulatory professionals to streamline investments into alternative securities. The company’s electronic investment processing platform, Altigo was built to address common industry roadblocks, enable marketplace connections, and facilitate alternative investment transactions between reps, advisors, product sponsors, custodians and transfer agents. With over a decade of experience processing alternative investments and developing technology solutions, WealthForge has built a reputation as an innovator in the market. 

Altigo Successfully Completes Independent SOC 2 Type II Audit, Reinforcing Commitment to Data Security

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Companies, AltsTech News

Altigo Successfully Completes Independent SOC 2 Type II Audit, Reinforcing Commitment to Data Security

January 19, 2021 | WealthForge

WealthForge announced today that its electronic investment processing platform, Altigo, has successfully completed an independent SOC 2 Type II audit. As part of the alternative investment subscription process, Altigo captures and transmits sensitive investor data on a daily basis. Because protecting investor data is vitally important, WealthForge instituted a robust cybersecurity program and engaged a licensed CPA firm to review existing data security policies and controls. WealthForge’s auditors reviewed its controls around security, availability, and confidentiality and issued a SOC 2 Type II report in mid-January 2021.

“Data security is a top priority at WealthForge,” says Bill Robbins, CEO of WealthForge. “We wanted to take the extra step with this third-party audit to demonstrate our commitment to protecting the sensitive information that Altigo is designed to capture, providing our clients with an added level of trust in us as a partner.”

An organization that has obtained a SOC 2 Type II report has shown that its system is designed to safeguard the confidential data of its customers. Designed for more advanced technology providers, including SaaS companies, SOC 2 is an audit procedure developed by the American Institute of CPAs to review a service provider’s controls around the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, or privacy of user’s data. This audit conducted by licensed CPAs results in a final report that evaluates an organization’s stated data security policies and controls against its actual practices. There are two types of reports, Type I and Type II. A Type I report is an attestation of controls at a specific point in time, whereas the more rigorous Type II report is an attestation of controls over a period of time. 

Altigo users can rest assured that Altigo’s practices around customer data have been thoroughly audited by an independent third party, and that any findings have been addressed. Altigo will undergo a SOC 2 audit on an annual basis going forward.  

About WealthForge

WealthForge provides technology solutions developed by experienced regulatory professionals to streamline investments into alternative securities. The company’s electronic investment processing platform, Altigo was built to address common industry roadblocks, enable marketplace connections, and facilitate alternative investment transactions between wealth managers and sponsors. With over a decade of experience processing alternative investments and developing technology solutions, WealthForge has built a reputation as an innovator in market. To learn more, visit www.wealthforge.com.

Altigo Year in Review

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Companies, AltsTech News

Altigo Year in Review

December 21, 2020 | Heather Acey | WealthForge

With the arrival of the pandemic, 2020 brought a substantial shift in the way business is conducted. Firms that allocate to alts had figure out a new way to get paper-based subscription documents to clients for signature, then routed from there to the other parties involved.This ushered in a sweeping change in the alts industry—electronic processing for alternative investments went from a nice to have, to a necessity.

Our alternative investment platform, Altigo, has enabled sponsors, reps and advisors to continue to conduct their alts business electronically in today’s remote work environment. Being well-positioned to meet the growing need for paperless solutions in alternative investments, Altigo experienced tremendous growth throughout the year. First announced in mid-2019, $200 million in transactions representing 600 subscriptions have been submitted through the platform. Altigo currently supports nearly 100 offerings spanning a range of alternative investment products—such as 1031 Exchange DSTs, Non-Traded REITs, Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds, and BDCs— with 40 new offerings added to the platform just last quarter.

The alternative investment offerings available on Altigo represent 50 well-known sponsors including Inland, Bluerock, Cantor Fitzgerald, Capital Square, Greenbacker, and more. While Altigo began with alternative product sponsors in mind, the platform matured over the past year to include a robust feature set designed specifically for BD firms. Most notably, broker-dealers can now provide reps with access to all firm-approved offerings in one place, which facilitates increased rep productivity and compliance control. This ease of use has attracted seven new broker-dealers to the platform this year, including Coastal Equities, Colorado Financial Services, Emerson Equity, Great Point Capital and Lightpath Capital.

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Altigo Automates Custodian Documents for Alternative Investments

Altigo, AltsTech, AltsTech Companies, AltsTech News

Altigo Automates Custodian Documents for Alternative Investments

November 11, 2020 

WealthForge announced today that Altigo, their electronic processing platform for alternative investments, has added automation for custodian forms. Users of Altigo will be able to select from custodians including Pershing, RBC Wealth Management, Equity Trust Company, Mainstar Trust, Millennium Trust, NuView Trust, Vantage, and CNB Custody, with support for more custodians coming soon. With custodian document support, Altigo saves users from having to compile documents from several sources, use more than one tech system, or inconvenience their clients with multiple mailings and follow-up requests.

“Custodians are a key participant in the alternative investment ecosystem. But paper documents and medallion wetsignature guarantees present a bottleneck in achieving more efficient processing of alternative investments,” says Bill Robbins, CEO of WealthForge. “We are working with forward-thinking custodians to automate the process, taking the industry another step past simple subscription automation and toward full straight-through processing.”

With Altigo, reps and advisors can select the investment, client, and custodian during the online order entry process, which will automatically pull in required forms such as letters of authorization or direction of investment in addition to the standard subscription agreement and home office-required documents. These forms will be pre-populated with information collected during order entry and compiled into a single subscription package that is automatically sent to clients for electronic signature and to the custodian, sponsor, and financial services firm for completion.

Custodians understand the need for automation and are working with their advisor clients and technology providers like WealthForge to innovate:

“A collaborative approach to solving the clunky, irritating and paper-intensive process is essential in eliminating the primary constraint causing unnecessary friction throughout the alternative investment industry. By synchronizing a united effort, we are on the verge of the long awaited disruptive digital transformation that will continue to fuel the rise of private market investor adoption,” says J.P. Dahdah, Founder & CEO of Vantage.

“Custodians play an integral role when it comes to automation. We have to work together to standardize the operational process and accept digital transactions and electronic signatures for alternative investments,” says Michelle Thomas, VP of Marketing and Business Development at CNB.

“Mandating physical copies of investment documents isn’t feasible in today’s work-from home environment, and won’t be the norm going forward. It’s our job to not only make advisors and reps jobs easier by holding the types of investments they use, but also by helping to create a more seamless process,” says Jean Meyer, President at Mainstar Trust.

With the addition of custodian support to Altigo, WealthForge continues its quest to provide the most flexible and intuitive solution for conducting alternative investments. With features like the transaction activity dashboard, electronic signature and the ability to pull investor data from an integrated CRM or previously completed investment into a new subscription, Altigo is designed to enable remote work and create productivity improvements and operational efficiencies that increase transaction speed and client satisfaction.