Aqua has raised a $15 million Series A led by Arthur Ventures, bringing total funding for its alternative investment infrastructure platform to $18.8 million. The Series A included participation from Alumni Ventures and follows a $3.8 million seed round backed by Google’s AI Fund, Y Combinator and other investors.
Aqua launched alongside the financing as a turnkey alternative investments platform designed for wealth managers, registered investment advisors, banks, trust companies, family offices, asset managers and fund sponsors.
The platform is intended to replace the collection of spreadsheets, disconnected marketplaces and manual workflows that many firms currently use to build and operate alternative investment programs.
Aqua brings together fund creation, operational workflows, investment lifecycle management, marketplace access, document intelligence and investor servicing in one environment.
The model is designed to give wealth management firms infrastructure for developing their own customized alternatives programs rather than simply directing advisors toward a marketplace of funds.
Aqua’s view is that as access to private markets and alternative assets broadens, firms will increasingly need technology capable of managing the operational complexity surrounding those investments.
The new capital will be used to accelerate business and platform development, expand engineering and partnerships teams, and deepen integrations with custodians and fund sponsors.
Aqua’s leadership team includes executives with backgrounds in wealth management, alternative investments and fintech. Co-Founder and CEO Rohan Marwaha previously developed technology and alternative investment solutions for major alternative asset managers.
Head of Growth David Coyle has more than 25 years of experience driving technology adoption at advisory firms, while Head of Growth Partnerships Joe Ujobai has more than 35 years of financial services and technology experience, including private banking and international expansion.
KEY QUOTES:
“Demand for alternatives has grown fast, but most firms are still trying to meet client needs with spreadsheets, fragmented processes and manual solutions. Firms have already transformed the way they manage traditional investments through technology. As access to alternatives becomes increasingly democratized, they need similar infrastructure to build repeatable, scalable alternatives strategies. We built Aqua around the way today’s advisors operate, so they can develop customized alternatives programs without having to manage the systems behind them.”
Rohan Marwaha, Co-Founder and CEO of Aqua
“Many firms still think a marketplace is the same thing as an alternatives strategy. It isn’t. Advisors need more than access to alternatives; they need a repeatable way to educate clients, manage operations, and deliver alternatives with confidence as part of a broader wealth strategy. Aqua is the enablement engine ushering in the next generation of alternative investing.”
David Coyle, Head of Growth at Aqua
