ROYC: How to Capture the $3 Trillion Opportunity for Private Markets in Wealth Management
Not only institutional investors, but also private investors.
Three trillion dollars are expected to flow from wealth management into private markets. A source of complexity—and for some, a constraint—but also a major opportunity. ROYC was founded out of an awareness of this ongoing “revolution”: a digital platform offering independent selection and inclusive access.
Founded in 2022 by a team with experience at Blackstone, Nordea, Klarna, and Partners Group, ROYC positions itself as the leading European B2B platform for access to private markets, starting from the Nordic countries. The team currently consists of 35 professionals.
Its value proposition is built around three distinctive pillars:
- Scalable technology platform: automating KYC, subscriptions, capital calls, reporting, and real-time onboarding, reducing risks associated with spreadsheets and manual processes.
- Independent fund selection: a curated menu of top-tier funds, with no retrocessions or conflicts of interest.
- Simplified access: feeder funds starting from €100,000, enabling diversification even for private clients with mid-to-high net worth portfolios.
“Democratizing access that for years was reserved for institutional investors such as foundations, pension funds, and insurance schemes, because entry barriers were too high and time horizons too long, combined with significant operational complexity,”
says Lorenzo Maria Russo, Business Development Lead – Italian Market at ROYC, speaking to FundsPeople.
The Profile
As mentioned, ROYC is a European fintech platform designed to enable banks, wealth managers, multi-family offices, and large family offices to efficiently offer private market investments to their end clients.
Headquartered in Sweden and operating across several European markets, ROYC provides a fully B2B infrastructure that integrates seamlessly into the workflows of professional financial advisors. Its technology, regulatory expertise, and fund access simplify client onboarding, investment management, and ongoing oversight in a transparent and compliant manner.
“Italy represents a key market for ROYC, with strong inbound interest from institutional players. The maturity of the local wealth management ecosystem, combined with growing demand for high-quality alternative investment solutions, makes the Italian market particularly promising within our growth strategy,”
explains Lorenzo Russo, Business Development Lead – Italian Market at ROYC.
He adds that ROYC’s team collaborates with leading asset managers and distributors across Europe to provide curated access to private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and real assets.
“Our medium-term objective is to become the leading private markets platform in Europe. Today, we are already the largest scalable non-U.S. infrastructure for accessing private markets, and we are rapidly expanding both our reach and our functionality,”
he notes.
Three Trillion Dollars to Democratize
Within the global wealth management landscape, private markets are emerging as one of the fastest-growing areas, with expected annual growth of 12% through 2030 and a fundraising potential exceeding three trillion dollars from individual investors alone. This is clearly documented in a report by BCG in collaboration with ROYC entitled “Capturing the $3 Trillion Private Markets Opportunity in Wealth Management.”
Although individual investors account for roughly half of global assets, only 23% of private market assets are currently attributable to this segment. According to BCG and ROYC, this gap is driven by still-high barriers to entry: minimum investments in the millions, manual operational processes, regulatory inefficiencies, and limited financial education around private markets.
Why Now?
Europe and Asia are undergoing a phase of alignment with the U.S. market. In particular, regulatory frameworks such as ELTIF 2.0 and the increasing adoption of digital tools are accelerating the penetration of alternative investments among sophisticated retail investors.
At the same time, platforms such as ROYC enable distribution partners—banks, advisory networks, and consultants—to operate through white-label models, integrating the solution into their own ecosystems via Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings that cover every stage of the fund lifecycle.
As highlighted further in the report, the systematic integration of private markets into wealth management delivers several benefits:
- Higher client lifetime value (LTV), driven by superior performance and lower volatility.
- Stronger client retention, supported by the illiquid nature of private investments.
- Strategic integration into advisory propositions, discretionary mandates, and tax and estate planning.
“Private markets are not just a trend; they represent a long-term structural opportunity. Historically, they have generated annual outperformance of 3–4% versus public markets, net of fees, while also delivering significant portfolio diversification benefits,”
emphasizes Mathias Leijon, Founder & President of ROYC.
According to Leijon, as opportunities in listed markets erode, private capital is playing an increasingly central role in long-term wealth management strategies.
However, access remains complex.
“Investors face challenges related to onboarding, management, and oversight. ROYC addresses these pain points by making private markets more accessible, easier to manage, and more transparent—within a professional and compliant framework,”
he continues.
Finally, the team reiterates that with the growing adoption of ELTIF 2.0, financial education is becoming a critical factor across all European markets.
“Italy is no exception, but the wealth professionals we work with are highly sophisticated and engaged. They recognize the value of private markets and are actively seeking tools and partners to distribute them effectively,”
they conclude.
This article is a translation of an interview originally published in Italian by FundsPeople.
For the original version, please refer to the source.