The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Corastone
Corastone, a US private markets platform, is bringing industry big-hitters KKR and Franklin Templeton on board. Apollo and Morgan Stanley have also gone live on the system. 

The platform gives end-to-end automation and real-time data.

“Through partnerships with leading institutions, Corastone is transforming the client experience for alternatives by condensing manual workflows,” the firm, founded in 2017, said in a statement yesterday.

Subscriptions are already live on the platform, Corastone said. Capabilities for handling capital calls, valuation updates, redemptions and transfers will follow. 

According to Pitchbook – describing Corastone as a financial software firm – peers in the space include iCapital, a technology platform for alternative investments such as private equity, CAIS, which is a similar firm based in the US. Corastone is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Several firms – another is Germany-based Moonfare – have arisen to make the business of distributing alternative assets to end-investors. Prior to the financial crash, investment banks dominated this business.

"This milestone validates our vision for how private markets should operate: faster, more transparent and ready to scale. We look forward to powering innovation and efficiency for all market participants,” Rashad Kurbanov, co-founder and CEO at Corastone, said. 

Doug Krupa, head of global wealth solutions in the Americas, said: "Innovations in product structure are making high-quality private markets investments more accessible, but complex operational processes continue to create barriers to entry, ultimately impacting the investor experience. We are pleased to collaborate with this group of industry leaders to support Corastone’s growth in unlocking greater participation in the private market ecosystem.”