New York City-based alternative investments firm CAIS announced Wednesday that it received $170 million in a Series D financing round led by Vista Equity Partners.
Additional funding was provided by AllianceBernstein, funds managed by Blue Owl Capital, Carlyle, Fortress Investment Group, Golub Capital, Lord Abbett and Royal Bank of Canada, CAIS said.
CAIS said the funds will be used for growth, platform expansion, scaling AI and technology capabilities, exploring “strategic opportunities” and continuing innovation.
This latest investment round values CAIS at more than $2 billion and boosts total capital raised to almost $600 million, the firm said.
“When strategic investors of this caliber back CAIS, it reflects their conviction in both the market opportunity and category leadership,” Matt Brown, CEO and Founder of CAIS, said in a news release.
He added, “Together with the independent wealth community, we have built the platform technology and client service model this industry deserves, and our biggest chapter is still ahead.”
As part of the funding round, David Breach, President of Vista Equity Partners, joined the CAIS Board of Directors “effective immediately,” a CAIS spokesperson told Wealth Solutions Report. Blue Owl, Lord Abbett, Fortress and Carlyle will send representatives to observe the board.
This investment follows a $50 million 2020 Series B investment by Eldridge in 2020 and a $340 million Series C financing round led by Apollo and Motive Partners in 2022, with additional investment from Franklin Templeton, Reverence Capital Partners and Hamilton Lane, CAIS pointed out.
“CAIS has built a trusted technology platform that is transforming how independent advisors access, evaluate, and manage alternative investments,” Breach said in the news release. “By embedding AI and agentic capabilities into the advisor workflow, CAIS is creating a more intelligent, connected, and scalable experience.”
AI Strategy
CAIS said it is entering the agentic phase of its AI strategy, creating intelligent tools for advisors using the platform, embedding AI throughout the firm and scaling its software lifecycle.
CAIS’ AI research agent, CAISey, provides advisors with platform data and insights via conversational prompts. Through its integration with Anthropic’s Claude, CAISey connects into an advisor’s workflow, CAIS said.
FT Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor and Sidley Austin served as legal counsel to CAIS for the transaction, CAIS said.
CAIS’ alts platform serves more than 2,500 wealth management firms, representing over 65,000 financial advisors who oversee about $8.5 trillion in end-client assets, according to CAIS.
Growth Data
The CAIS platform achieved a 53% year-over-year increase in transaction volume in the first half of 2026, with total platform assets growing 55% over the same period, it said.
The firm said it has a three-year organic revenue compound annual grow rate (CAGR) of 37%.
Since 2025, CAIS says, it has onboarded over 425 RIAs and independent broker-dealers with over $1.8 trillion in assets, including AE Wealth Management, AllianceBernstein, Beacon Pointe Advisors, &Partners and OpenArc.
Also in the first six months of 2026, transaction volume grew 60% year over year among existing wealth firm clients, including Baird, Wealth Enhancement Group, Mariner and Edward Jones, according to CAIS.
CAIS announced in September that it further expanded alternative investment strategies from several global asset managers that were made available on its Marketplace, increasing options for advisors looking to create more diversified client portfolios. That expansion featured alts strategies from asset managers including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Nuveen, CAIS said.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
