Germany-based investment platform Moonfare raises €107.89M in Series C round led by Insight Partners

Berlin-based Moonfare, a digital private equity investment platform that provides access to top-tier private markets investment opportunities, has raised $125M (approx €107.89M) in its Series C round of funding. 

With this funding, the company has now raised a total of $185M (approx €159.68M) in funding to date.

Investors and capital utilisation

The current round was led by New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners. Moonfare’s existing investor Fidelity International Strategic Ventures also participated in the current round. Fidelity has also entered into an exclusive distribution partnership with Moonfare.

Insight Partners’ Managing Director Matt Gatto says, “In an impressively short time, Moonfare has established itself as the international leader in an extremely large and expanding market. They have curated a selection of the world’s top private equity and venture capital funds and enabled access for individual investors through a digital platform that provides a seamless user experience and is built for scale. We look forward to partnering with Moonfare on their continued growth.”

The raised capital from this round will be used to develop Moonfare’s innovative investment solutions as well as accelerate its international expansion.

Moonfare founder and CEO, Dr. Steffen Pauls says, “We are excited for this round of funding and the opportunity to leverage the capabilities and network of our new partners at Insight Partners. We will transform the business into a global champion for individual investors in the years to come.” 

The company also plans to double the size of its global team with over 80 full-time employees in the tech and product departments alone.

Making investment in private equity more flexible

According to CapGemini World Wealth Report 2021, the number of households with more than $1M to invest is growing globally, exceeding 20 million households in 2021 and controlling over $80T of assets. Such investors have direct access to alternative investments, such as private equity and venture capital funds, to diversify their portfolios and realise the potential for higher returns. 

However, individual investors are under-exposed to these private strategies, as access has been limited by high minimum investment requirements, regulatory restrictions, and administrative burdens.

This is where Moonfare steps in. 

Founded in 2016 by Alexander Argyros, Heinrich von Liechtenstein, and Steffen Pauls, Moonfare makes it possible for qualified individual investors to invest directly in top-tier private equity and venture capital funds at low minimums. It allows clients to register and invest in as little as 15 minutes and with minimums as low as $60,000. 

The firm claims to be the only private market fund platform globally that transacts with individual investors directly and through family offices, banks, and other advisors. 

To date, Moonfare has offered 42 private market funds from top general partners worldwide with an emphasis on private equity buyouts, US tech funds, and real asset categories like infrastructure. The Moonfare investment team conducts ground-up due diligence on all funds. Fewer than 5 per cent of available funds pass this process and make it onto the Moonfare platform.

The firm also offers a digital secondary market that allows investors to sell their existing stakes, bringing liquidity to a traditionally illiquid asset class and removing a key obstacle to investing for individual investors.

Besides, Moonfare also works as a distribution partner, offering private markets funds through banks and asset managers, including Berenberg, one of the oldest private banks in Europe, and Fidelity International.

Currently, the platform is operational in 13 countries across Europe and Asia and has offices in Berlin, Hong Kong, London, and Luxembourg.

€1B assets under management

Earlier in September 2021, the platform reached its first €500M assets under management (AUM) in three years, but took only eight months to double that – smashing through the €1B AUM milestone.

Last year in February 2020, before the pandemic, Moonfare hit €250M AUM to put itself among the top five German wealth management platforms.

The company currently has approx 1,800 clients and has listed funds on its platform including those from EQT Partners AB, Cinven, KKR, and The Carlyle Group. It serves investors in countries like Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, France, Austria, and Luxembourg.