GoalVest Advisory Introduces Venture Growth Fund for RIAs, Expanding Access to Late-Stage Private Investments

In a significant development for the wealth management industry, GoalVest Advisory, a female-founded registered investment advisor, has announced the launch of its Venture Growth Fund. This new fund is specifically designed to provide high-net-worth investors and registered investment advisors (RIAs) with access to late-stage venture capital investments, an asset class that has traditionally been difficult for many investors to enter.

The introduction of this fund comes at a time when companies are increasingly choosing to remain private for longer periods, creating a growing opportunity in the late-stage venture capital market. GoalVest's initiative addresses a gap in the investment landscape, offering RIAs and their clients the chance to participate in what the company believes are some of the most sought-after venture deals.

The Venture Growth Fund will focus on mid-to-late stage venture-backed companies, following GoalVest's existing strategy of multi-channel deal sourcing. The fund aims to create a diversified portfolio across various thematic market trends, including artificial intelligence, software as a service (SaaS), climate technology, defense, financial technology, and consumer sectors. This approach could potentially offer investors exposure to high-growth areas of the economy that are often not accessible through public markets.

Sevasti Balafas, Founder and CEO of GoalVest Advisory, emphasized the importance of this offering, stating, "Almost 90% of US companies are private, so giving clients the ability to invest in venture capital has been an effective way to capture growth and, we believe, has differentiated us from our RIA peers." This statistic underscores the vast potential of the private market and the value that access to these investments could bring to investors' portfolios.

The fund's structure is tailored to meet the needs of RIA clients, with features that set it apart from traditional venture capital funds. These include a more accessible minimum investment threshold of $250,000, a shorter lock-up period, and a focus on de-risked, mid-to-late stage companies. These characteristics make the fund more attractive to a broader range of high-net-worth investors who may have previously been unable to participate in such investments.

Blair Cohen, Chief Investment Officer of the Venture Growth Fund, pointed out the timeliness of this offering, noting, "The timing is ideal for these types of investments given the depressed valuations we are seeing in the private markets right now." This observation suggests that investors may have the opportunity to enter the market at a potentially advantageous point.

The launch of this fund could have far-reaching implications for the wealth management industry. By providing RIAs with access to the Venture Growth asset class, GoalVest is enabling these advisors to offer their clients a more diverse range of investment options. This could potentially lead to improved portfolio performance and risk management for high-net-worth individuals.

Furthermore, the fund's focus on late-stage venture investments, with their shorter investment horizons of two to four years, addresses a common concern among investors regarding the lengthy lock-up periods typically associated with venture capital. This feature may make venture investing more palatable to a wider audience of investors who desire liquidity within a shorter timeframe.

As private companies continue to delay going public, the importance of accessing late-stage private investments is likely to grow. GoalVest's Venture Growth Fund represents a significant step in democratizing access to this asset class, potentially reshaping how RIAs and their clients approach portfolio construction and wealth management strategies in the years to come.