Savvy Wealth opens pre-IPO private markets program to advisors

Savvy Wealth, a New York-based AI-native RIA, launched a private markets program Thursday that lets advisors place qualified-purchaser clients with pre-IPO venture and growth managers through one commitment. Later vintages are expected to add private equity, income strategies and infrastructure. Fees, minimums and the managers on the roster were not disclosed. InvestmentNews first reported the launch.

Savvy built the program with Allocate, a private markets technology platform that reports $5.8 billion on its platform and more than 400 advisory firms as clients. The two will work together on manager selection and portfolio construction, with Savvy's investment team overseeing due diligence.

For advisors on Savvy's platform, the change is operational: one commitment replaces fund-by-fund subscriptions, with consolidated reporting and tax documents sitting alongside the client's other holdings.

Savvy's pitch is that companies are staying private longer, so more growth happens before an IPO. The firm, citing Apollo's chief economist, said private companies now outnumber public ones among US businesses with more than $100 million in revenue. Anshul Sharma, Savvy's chief investment officer, said clients "read about private companies valued in the tens of billions that they've never had a chance to own, and they're asking their advisors about it."

Under the Investment Company Act of 1940, an individual generally needs at least $5 million in investments to be a qualified purchaser, a stricter test than accredited-investor status. That bar likely limits the program to a small slice of any advisor's client base.