How startups are helping wealth managers identify and capture net new assets

We at Citi Ventures have written previously about the democratization of wealth management and how technology, specifically AI, has changed how banks garner new assets and improve the client experience.

Through previous investments in companies like Unlimited and Vega, we have detailed how technology has transformed a purely relationship-led model of asset gathering into a more systematic model built around products, platforms and client triggers.

This transformation has accelerated as banks have leaned into agentic AI, creating a host of new opportunities for financial services companies as well as startups in the space. Startups are now helping banks capture assets that sit outside traditional manager-client relationships, such as through private shares, thematic ETFs and fixed income solutions.

Asset financing

The first area startups are targeting for disruption is asset financing. Many affluent clients have substantial wealth locked in financial assets, including public securities, private company shares and alternative investments. These clients often want liquidity without triggering tax events or disrupting long-term investment strategies. While wealth managers have historically offered securities-based lending to the top of the market, the process is often manual and technical, preventing them from expanding this offering to a wider client base.

Startups are building technology-enabled, scalable platforms to solve for this, focusing on solutions for Lombard lending, loans granted against assets like stocks and bonds, as well as private asset financing. For incumbent banks, partnering with these fintechs is an attractive proposition to deepen client relationships and increase wallet share, creating a natural bridge between their lending and investment management divisions.

Companies on our radar:

• Firenze: Provides integrated Lombard lending solutions for wealth managers.
• Pluto: Offers credit backed by alternative assets and a Wealth Equity Line of Credit to help investors meet liquidity needs.
• SyntheticFi: Has a securities-based lending solution for financial advisors and wealth managers.

Specialized ETFs

Specialized ETFs, with actively managed strategies that offer alternative exposure, particularly to private markets and pre-IPO companies, have been on the rise.

Startups that act as specialized ETF originators are thus well-positioned to help capture rising client demand. By partnering with startups, incumbent banks and wealth managers can offer differentiated investment products around themes such as AI, infrastructure and climate tech without having to build every capability in-house.

Companies on our radar:

• DawnGlobal: An investment management company that creates actively managed thematic ETFs.
• HANetf: Provides a full suite of white-label solutions for asset managers to launch and manage thematic ETFs in the European Union.
• Unlimited: A Citi Ventures portfolio company, it created an actively managed ETF using machine learning to track an index of alternative asset funds.

Brokerage and fixed income solutions

Clients face myriad options when it comes to fixed income and brokerage accounts, with demand for access to bonds, yield products and sophisticated fixed-income portfolios climbing during higher interest rate environments.

Startups are using technology and transparency to create next generation trading platforms that help retail investors discover bonds, execute trades and construct portfolios. For banks, these tools are powerful for asset gathering, allowing them to serve emerging or newly-affluent clients with superior digital experiences that can lead to higher-touch advisory and private banking relationships.

Companies on our radar:

• OpenYield: A bond marketplace bringing an automated, equity-like trading experience to fixed income.
• Moment: Uses an AI operating system for fixed income and investment management.
• lemon.markets: Offers a proprietary API to help banks create customer-centric and compliant investment products.
• DriveWealth: Has a technology platform powering a brokerage-as-a-service offering for U.S. stocks.

Private shares

The private secondary market has rapidly evolved from a niche liquidity solution to a fundamental component of the capital markets infrastructure, a shift largely enabled by tech-savvy startups. As timelines for traditional exits like IPOs have been drawn out, startups have built the infrastructure to provide alternative liquidity avenues for venture-backed companies. This innovation has fueled the secondary market's recent growth, cementing it as a permanent fixture alongside public listings and acquisitions.

For incumbents, the strategic question has shifted from "should we be here" to "where do we play." In 2025, high-profile bank acquisitions of private share marketplaces proved that this is a growth area. The next frontier is the transaction layer, where startups have worked to create underlying data and infrastructure networks. This is the area where most innovation is currently taking place, with startups iterating on the critical plumbing for pricing intelligence, institutional trading rails and the compliance and settlement systems.

Another related and fast-growing area is the administration of private company equity. For founders, employees and early investors, managing illiquid holdings can be complex. This creates an opportunity for platforms that digitize and automate cap table management, equity administration and custody. These companies become the system of record for a high-value, hard-to-reach client base. When a liquidity event like an IPO or acquisition occurs, the administrator is in a good position to offer wealth management services to a new class of millionaires.

In response to this opportunity, Citi is pioneering its own advanced solution. The firm recently launched Digital Depositary Receipts, an industry-first innovation that applies Citi’s market-leading depositary receipt productto private shares and tokenizes them on a regulated blockchain. Digital Depositary Receipts give global investors direct and transparent access to private company shares via a fully regulated security. This initiative leverages cutting-edge technology to simplify private markets for investors and offer private companies efficient distribution and transfer without the need of public listing. This institutional-grade alternative positions Citi as a technology leader in building the next generation of infrastructure for private capital markets.

Companies on our radar:

• Augment: trading platform where investors can buy and sell private stock in late-stage, pre-IPO companies.
• Monark: a company building the rails connecting brokerage firms and wealth platforms to private markets.

The road ahead

Banks’ ability to grow net new assets will depend on how well they access fragmented capital pools and turn them into lasting client relationships. Startups are key enablers, using technology, AI and innovative products to unlock assets that are often held away, illiquid or constrained by complicated processes. For incumbents, success will require embracing startups with platforms that are safe, secure and can scale in enterprise environments.