Allocate Announces $5M Seed Round to Expand Access To Venture Capital Funds

SAN FRANCISCO, July 22, 2021  /PRNewswire/ -- Allocate, a platform that enables investors to discover and invest in high-quality venture funds, announced a $5M seed round with participation from Urban Innovation Fund, Tusk Venture Partners, Basis Set Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Broadhaven Ventures, Fika Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Supernode Ventures, and Anthemis Group.

While the venture capital ecosystem has expanded dramatically, investing in institutional quality venture fund managers continues to be reserved primarily for institutions and industry insiders. For the estimated 8,000-11,000 global family offices and over 16MM accredited investors that control approximately $42T in assets, it remains challenging to discover and access fund opportunities. Selecting suitable funds to invest in requires deep domain expertise, relationships, and the ability to make significant commitments that often exceed $1MM. 

Allocate was founded early this year to solve the variety of friction points within fund allocation and capital formation activities.   

Allocate's initial product works by curating highly vetted venture fund products for wealth advisors, family offices, and qualified individuals and providing them with an end-to-end experience spanning discovery, assessment, investment, and post-investment tracking. Through Allocate feeder vehicles that aggregate individual commitments, investors can invest in top funds at much lower minimums without the cost overhead found in current traditional solutions. 

Allocate enables approved fund managers to efficiently access retail capital without the hassle of managing smaller checks or the inefficiency of traditional retail fundraising.  

"Over the past 22 years, I've closely observed the continued evolution of the venture capital industry, said Samir Kaji, CEO, and co-founder of Allocate. "Unfortunately, despite the significant increase in retail demand for venture fund investing, there are so many friction points that eliminate the ability for the largest population of qualified investors to participate. We are excited to provide a broader set of participants with a systematic and institutional manner to invest, which will have the added benefit of a healthier and more efficient venture capital ecosystem". 

"The Allocate team brings an amazing blend of experience, expertise, and relationships to provide investors of all types with a structured and thoughtful way to invest," said TX Zhuo, managing partner at Fika Ventures. "Allocate is taking an asset class that's traditionally been reserved for a small group of well-connected institutions and investors and making it accessible to a broader set of participants."

"We have been active in venture fund investing on behalf of our clients for many years and have seen first-hand the increase in demand for high-quality venture capital products," said Sandeep Sardana, President, and CEO at BluePointe Capital. "We believe Allocate has an enormous opportunity to make venture capital a staple of non-institutional investor portfolios." 

Founded by Samir Kaji and Hana Yang in 2020, the founding team is uniquely positioned to unlock access to the new era of venture capital investing. The two co-founders have worked closely with over 1,000 venture fund managers in their careers. Before launching Allocate, the team previously had tenures at SVB Financial Group, SVB Capital, First Republic Bank, Kauffman Fellows, Fairview Capital, CircleUp, Gradifi, and Vistaprint.

Contact: Rachel Livingston, [email protected]

SOURCE Allocate