Aqua, a next-generation alternatives infrastructure provider, has launched what it describes as the industry’s first turnkey alternative investments platform (TAIP), alongside $18.8m in total funding to support the rollout.
The capital was raised in two stages: a $3.8m seed round backed by Google’s AI Fund, Y Combinator and other investors, followed by a $15m Series A round led by Arthur Ventures with participation from Alumni Ventures.
Aqua intends to put the funding towards accelerating business and platform development, growing its engineering and partnership teams, and deepening its integrations with custodians and fund sponsors.
The platform is built for wealth managers, RIAs, banks, trust companies and fund sponsors that want to construct, run and expand institutional-grade alternatives programmes.
It is designed to replace the fragmented marketplaces, manual processes and spreadsheets that many firms currently depend on, bringing fund creation, operational workflows, investment lifecycle management, marketplace access, document intelligence and investor servicing together within a single environment. This unified approach is intended to let firms design their own alternatives strategy and grow it at a pace that suits them.
Aqua positions itself as addressing a shift taking place across the alternatives space more broadly. Where the sector’s initial growth phase was largely about widening access, the company argues the next stage requires scalable infrastructure to help firms manage alternatives effectively, a gap it says its platform is built to close.
Aqua’s leadership brings together backgrounds spanning wealth management and financial technology. Co-founder and chief executive Rohan Marwaha previously developed solutions across technology and alternative investments for major alternative asset managers, while David Coyle has spent more than 25 years driving technology adoption within advisory firms.
Head of growth partnerships Joe Ujobai has over 35 years of experience in financial services and technology, including leadership roles in private banking and international expansion. Together, the team frames its approach to alternatives infrastructure as coming from direct industry experience rather than an outsider’s perspective.
Aqua Co-Founder and CEO Rohan Marwaha said, “Demand for alternatives has grown fast, but most firms are still trying to meet client needs with spreadsheets, fragmented processes and manual solutions. Firms have already transformed the way they manage traditional investments through technology. As access to alternatives becomes increasingly democratized, they need similar infrastructure to build repeatable, scalable alternatives strategies. We built Aqua around the way today’s advisors operate, so they can develop customized alternatives programs without having to manage the systems behind them.”
Aqua Head of Growth David Coyle said, “Many firms still think a marketplace is the same thing as an alternatives strategy. It isn’t. Advisors need more than access to alternatives; they need a repeatable way to educate clients, manage operations, and deliver alternatives with confidence as part of a broader wealth strategy. Aqua is the enablement engine ushering in the next generation of alternative investing.”
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