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Asset Class Secures $11.6 Million Series A Funding Led By Canapi Ventures to Help Democratize Private Capital Investing

11 July 2024

[DUBLIN] – Asset Class, a financial technology (fintech) company headquartered in Dublin with offices in New York and London, announced today that it has completed an $11.6 million Series A funding round. The round was led by fintech-focused venture capital firm Canapi Ventures, with participation from new and existing investors, including Live Oak Ventures, Plexus Capital, and Total Technology Ventures.

Formed in 2020, Asset Class provides a range of innovative, custom investment management software solutions to clients across financial sectors, with a focus on private equity, venture capital, financial advisory, and commercial lending. Since announcing a seed round of $3 million from Angel Oak Ventures last year, Asset Class has achieved impressive growth as private equity and venture capital fund managers and commercial loan lenders have turned to the firm’s bespoke solutions that help raise capital easily and efficiently and manage the complete end-to-end investor lifecycle.

Asset Class now services more than 300 funds, totaling $33 billion in assets under management, and has built a network of over 15,000 accredited investors.

“As we’ve grown, we like to say that the venture capital, private equity, and commercial lending firms we work with come for the technology we provide and stay for the network we offer,” remarked Ferdinand Roberts, CEO and founder of Asset Class. “Our client-first approach has led us to achieve incredible growth, and this new round of funding will only propel us further on our mission to offer a completely integrated, end-to-end investment management platform in the alternatives space.”

The growth capital will allow Asset Class to expand its employee headcount, specifically in the areas of software and business development. Asset Class intends to capitalize on positive tailwinds impacting the industry, which include growth in the number of private capital funds and accredited investors seeking access, a digital-first landscape, and trillions of dollars ready to be deployed into the alternative fund strategies that Asset Class serves.

“We have been extremely impressed with the growth of Asset Class over the past year,” said Neil Underwood, general partner at Canapi Ventures. “The company’s unrivaled ability to bring secondary market liquidity to the private capital markets and provide fund managers with better investor oversight has positioned the company at the forefront of the industry, opening up many exciting opportunities for the future. We are excited to help them strengthen their position to become the preeminent operating platform for investment management as the alternatives space continues to accelerate.”

Live Oak Ventures, the investment arm of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc., participated in the round to support solutions for its venture capital and private equity customer base.

“We believe there are exciting applications of embedded banking in partnership with Asset Class, and as an investment advisor to Canapi Ventures, Live Oak sees firsthand the need for modern, integrated solutions for alternative investment funds,” said Stephanie Mann, Chief Strategy Officer at Live Oak.

About Asset Class

Asset Class is a fintech company with offices in Dublin, New York, Atlanta, and London. The company delivers bespoke and packaged software to the financial services sector in Europe and the U.S., with a focus on the asset management, commercial lending, and wealth management sectors globally.

For more information, please visit www.assetclass.com.

About Canapi Ventures

Canapi Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage fintech companies. Our partners have been at the forefront of financial services innovation as operators, investors, bankers, advisors, and regulators. Our venture capital model connects high-quality fintech companies to our extensive network of banks and strategic partners. Canapi Ventures is advised by CenterHarbor Advisors and Canapi Advisors, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOB). For more information, visit www.canapi.com.

Contacts:

Asset Class:

Sam Roberts

press@assetclass.com

United States: 332-223-4010

Ireland: 353-1-592-5888

Canapi:

FGS Global

Chris Kittredge / Danya Al-Qattan / Kevin Siegel

Canapi-SVC@sardverb.com

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Frequently asked questions

What is Asset Class?

Asset Class is a platform built for private capital firms. It combines CRM, investor relations, fundraising, and portfolio management into a single connected platform built on Salesforce infrastructure, serving PE, VC, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, and wealth management firms.

Who uses Asset Class?

Asset Class is used globally by private capital firms across private equity, venture capital, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, registered investment advisers, wealth managers, corporate venture capital arms, and fund administrators, from emerging managers to large multi-strategy firms.

What problem does Asset Class solve?

Asset Class solves fragmented workflows at private capital firms by bringing CRM, investor relations, fundraising and portfolio reporting into one system of record, where every piece of data is connected, auditable and real-time. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, answers plain-language questions on any record and drafts reports and follow-ups for your team to approve. Every answer cited to source.

Is Asset Class built on Salesforce?

Yes, Asset Class is built on Salesforce's Force.com platform, inheriting the world's leading CRM engine, enterprise-grade security, and access to thousands of pre-integrated apps on the Salesforce AppExchange. Existing Salesforce clients can easily deploy Asset Class within their current org.

How does Asset Class help private capital firms grow?

Asset Class helps private capital firms grow by automating fundraising, investor onboarding, capital calls, distributions and portfolio reporting on one platform, so teams can spend their time on deals and investor relationships. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, ranks your book by opportunity with its Relationship Score and drafts tailored follow-ups for your team to approve, so firms engage the right LPs first.

What is Athena in Asset Class?

Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, gives every member of your team their own Claude-embedded AI agent for investor relations, business development, finance, compliance or portfolio management. Each agent works only within that person's permissions. Athena reads your firm's data, drafts the work and queues it for review. Your team approves, amends or rejects each item, and the decision, approver and timestamp are recorded.

Which AI model does Asset Class use?

Asset Class uses Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, embeds Claude across the platform and connects it to your records, documents and actions. Asset Class accesses Claude through Anthropic's commercial API, so your firm's data is never used to train AI models. Each agent can only see and act on data its user is permitted to access.

Does Asset Class automate data entry?

Yes, Asset Class captures data from the sources your firm already has. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, scans subscription agreements, side letters, statements, notices, meeting transcripts, email, calendars and external data sources, then stages the extracted details on the right record. Nothing Athena stages updates a record until a permitted user signs off, and each approver is logged.