The latest product and service offerings, including funds, in the wealth and asset management sector.

S4S Ventures
S4S Ventures, aka S4S, a new venture capital firm investing in technology companies focused on the marketing and advertising industries, has launched and aims to raise as much as $150 million.

The firm intends to invest in companies across five principal areas in different technologies covering marketing, advertising, data, creativity and emerging digital media and content. S4Capital, is a business founded by advertising luminary Sir Martin Sorrell, and Stanhope Capital Group, the European wealth management house founded by Daniel Pinto.

S4S is particularly interested in supporting companies providing solutions for: (a) acceleration of programmatic advertising across connected TV, gaming and digital audio ecosystems, (b) data warehousing, ingestion and analysis for the purposes of identity resolution, (c) transformation of content development and underlying workflows; (d) monetization of metaverse opportunities, and (e) emerging digital media capturing the attention of Generation Z.

The firm’s fund will invest globally, but with an emphasis on the US, Europe and the Middle East, it said in a statement. 

Deal activity and public offerings in the advertising and marketing technology industry are rising as the sector is boosted from accelerated digitisation, S4S said. Global digital advertising spending in 2021 totalled $491.7 billion, a 29.1 per cent year-on-year rise, according to research firm eMarketer. “Martech”, “adtech” and computational creativity sectors are all growing by double digits. 

The firm said there was an unprecedented number of IPOs within the ad/martech sector, with 18 companies completing issuances in the US, with stories such as Braze (a martech company) reaching a $6 billion market cap.

Cushon Master Trust
Cushon Master Trust, a UK-based pension plan dedicated to achieving “net zero” carbon emissions, has partnered with fund managers Wellington Management and Lombard Odier Investment Managers.

Wellington Management and Lombard Odier Investment Managers will manage listed bonds focusing on the most promising companies that are accelerating towards net zero with the aim of supporting that transition. Wellington will manage impact bonds with a climate and social focus whilst Lombard Odier Investment Managers will manage bonds focused on positive climate impact and funding companies working towards a green society, Cushon said in a statement.

Examples of projects that the fund managers will invest in include companies working towards creating a greener society, such as those pursuing innovations in alternative energy, and funding academic institutions that are developing tools and research to support social inequality reduction goals, such as Howard University.