Brokerage-integrated infrastructure for private markets
Ben Haber, CEO of Monark, on building the DTCC for the private markets
The key insight is that private market access works better as infrastructure than as a standalone consumer app. The hard part is not just finding investors or just finding deals, it is proving to issuers that a platform already controls real distribution, while also giving brokerages a product that plugs into the accounts and apps investors already use. Monark is built around existing brokerage and wealth channels so it can bring issuers a network, not a cold start.
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Direct to consumer alt platforms have historically faced high customer acquisition costs, then drifted upmarket toward wealthier investors or institutions. That breaks the promise of broad retail access, and it also makes it harder to win the best assets, because top issuers prefer channels with proven scale.
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Monark avoids that by selling into brokerages, clearing firms, and wealth platforms. Its API handles suitability checks, money movement, reporting, and in some cases custody inside the investor's existing brokerage account, which removes the friction of opening a separate alt investing account.
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This mirrors how larger private markets platforms have won. iCapital grew by becoming the operating layer between asset managers and wealth distributors, with over 2,100 live funds from 750-plus managers, e-subscription workflows, and feeder structures that lower minimums for advisors and their clients.
The next phase is a shift from isolated alt investing apps toward private assets appearing inside mainstream brokerage and advisor workflows. If that happens, the winners will be the companies that own integrations, compliance plumbing, and issuer distribution at network scale, because those are the pieces that make supply and demand arrive together instead of one painful channel at a time.