Yesterday Hamilton Lane partnered with crowdfunding platform Republic with the aim of offering private investors the opportunity to invest in tokenized funds during the first half of 2025. Hamilton Lane is the private markets asset manager with $947 billion in assets under management.
The asset manager has been a pioneer in the tokenized fund space, with one of its first initiatives announced in 2022 as a collaboration with tokenization firm Securitize. Since then Hamilton Lane has been involved with several tokens, but to date the focus has been on institutional and accredited investors. Hence, the retail investor target is novel.
The asset manager’s data shows that private markets have outperformed public markets in 19 out of the past 20 years. However, the higher returns come with higher risks. The tokenization partnership with Republic will allow retail access as well as fractionalization.
Even for accredited investors, tokenization can potentially allow access to a fund at a far smaller domination than conventionally. For example, last August Securitize launched a tokenized version of the Hamilton Lane Secondary Fund VI. The minimum investment in the token for qualifying investors is $10,000 compared to the usual $5 million.
“The historic performance and diversification benefits of the private markets are real,” said Victor Jung, Head of Digital Assets at Hamilton Lane. “Globally, there are over 140,000 private companies with annual revenues over $100 million, versus approximately 19,000 public companies with the same annual revenues, and we believe that investors shouldn’t be required to have a high income or millions in net worth to access these assets.”
Allfunds Blockchain and Apex partnership
Meanwhile, in December Hamilton Lane confirmed another blockchain collaboration with Allfunds and Apex. Spanish fund distribution platform Allfunds has a blockchain arm, which has partnered with Hamilton Lane for tokenization to expand access to its funds in Europe. Jung described this path as addressing “barriers to entry” and providing a “cheaper, better and faster” solution. Blockchain savvy fund administrator Apex will serve as the transfer agent.
