Following trends in the US to open up private markets to a wider investment pool, the UK sees the entry of a new private equity funds investment platform, inviting smaller family offices, pensions funds, and HNWs to join the institutional heavyweights.

Amid the wider hunt for returns that are taking investors deeper into illiquid territory, UK-startup Titanbay has launched a private equity investment platform to give small and medium-sized institutional and private investors more access to top-flight private equity funds.

Soft-launched in the spring and making a full entry this week, the platform is backed by around 30 investors and advisors, some previously at Morgan Stanley and Bain & Company, along with other industry firms.

The company reckons that there is $50 trillion in underserved capital from smaller institutions and HNWs ready to flood into private markets. Private equity has long been the preserve of large institutional investors but lately technology driven startups have been forging a gateway into a broader community of investors.

One launched from New York is iCapital Network, which acquired wealth advisory business Artivest in May on top of expanding business links with Schwab Advisor Services last October in a run of alliances that signal the liberalising of access to private investment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also played a part late last year when the US regulator revisited the definition of an accredited investor and who is eligible to participate in private capital markets.

There has generally been more resistance to opening up private markets for UK investors mainly on FCA concerns that investors’ expectations - when the steer is more towards the retail end - won’t match the liquidity restrictions that private markets present.

Titanbay’s UK entry will give smaller investors access to eight to 12 hand-picked private equity funds. The group said that it is aiming to bring down the barriers that have traditionally ruled these investors out, such as high minimum-investment stakes and complicated investment processes.

“Qualified investors can access the same top-tier private equity funds as the largest institutional investors with low investment minimums and low fees,” the firm said, giving them complete control and flexibility over where and how much to invest.

The group told WeathBriefing that the main competition will come from private banks offering similar access, but where it hopes to differentiate is by having a platform developed by experts in the private equity space.

The London-based team will be headed by Thomas Eskebaek, previously at Bain & Company and Eight Roads. The COO is Laura Heely, who moved into technology strategy after starting her career in investment advisory at JP Morgan. Former managing director at Capital Group, Adam Harrison, will head investor relations.

Fund selection is led by the group’s Investment Advisory Board, which includes Thomas Schleicher, CIO of KIRKBI, the Kirk Kristiansen family’s private holding and investment company, and Oliver Burgel, former chief executive of Barings Europe.

“Investing well in private equity requires access, diversification and discipline,” CEO Eskebaek said. “We estimate that the cost to smaller institutional investors such as pension funds, trusts, charities, institutions and family offices of being effectively excluded from strategically investing in private equity runs into hundreds of billions of dollars per year."