Securitize, an asset tokenization firm that is also a registered broker-dealer, has announced it will buy Onramp Invest, a digital asset wealth platform.
Jamie Finn, president and co-founder of Securitize, told RIA Intel that Eric Ervin, co-founder, will continue to run Onramp, and report to Securitize CEO and co-founder Carlos Domingo.
Finn said that the companies are still working out the details, but for the time being, Onramp will continue to operate with its current branding.
With the merger, Securitize said in its announcement that RIAs will be able to use the same Onramp Invest dashboard that they’re already familiar with to offer their clients investments in top performing alternative asset classes such as private equity, private credit, secondaries, and real estate. Having direct access to Securitize’s alternative investment portfolio will allow Onramp’s RIAs to offer their clients “institutional share classes from top alternative asset managers, lower minimum investments, lower fees, and access to liquidity,” according to the announcement.
“I mean, our minimums are like $10,000 or $20,000. These things are normally a quarter of a million bucks, even if you get it through a feeder through Morgan Stanley, and you have enough money sitting with them. So it’s really a pretty dramatic expansion of access,” said Finn.
Securitize operates as both a primary and secondary marketplace for tokenized assets. The acquisition follows a partnership Securitize and Onramp announced in March through which RIA members could access tokenized private equity feeder funds that Securitize offers with KKR and Hamilton Lane.
2022 was a tumultuous year for Onramp. Co-founder and CEO Tyrone Ross Jr. abruptly left the company, and Onramp faced a cash crunch and asked investors for $5 million, before raising $7 million in a Series A round of funding.
“Our business is about expanding access,” Finn said. “We see the RIA channel as important, and we want to service it in a way that they’re comfortable. The combo with Onramp gives us the ability to bring great products from great asset managers in small bites to RIAs all over the country."
