Diversification, competitive returns and access to high-quality companies before they go public: private markets are a fast-growing asset class. Still, issues of accessibility, trust and operational complexity remain. The solution? Strengthening infrastructure, digitizing processes and tailoring distribution models. This is what Mathias Leijon and Lorenzo Maria Russo, respectively Co-Founder & President and Business Development Lead Italy at ROYC, an independent operating system for private markets, explain in this interview.
Let’s take a snapshot of private markets. How are demand and supply evolving?
Mathias Leijon: “Private markets are a mega-trend that continues — and will continue — to grow, the result of dynamics that have developed over decades. Today the segment is worth around 13 trillion dollars, spanning private equity, private credit, infrastructure and venture capital, and it is steadily moving closer to the size of public markets.
Public markets, meanwhile, are increasingly dominated by indices, passive funds and algorithms, while private markets are becoming more competitive. The main advantages lie in risk diversification, lower overall costs, and the fact that more and more high-quality companies are choosing to remain private for longer. This leaves public investors with access to only a limited part of their growth story.”
What problem are you solving for GPs and wealth management networks? And what sets you apart from a simple “subscription portal”?
M.L. “The real obstacle is not lack of interest, but the fragmentation of infrastructure. Today there are more than 30,000 funds in the private market, but accessing them requires time, manual procedures and very high minimum tickets. KYC and anti-money laundering checks, along with subscription processes, are still carried out in a traditional way, creating frictions that discourage both investors and managers.
This is where ROYC positions itself as something radically different from a simple ‘subscription portal.’ We are not a marketplace where whoever pays gets distributed. Instead, we carry out a curated selection of funds, based on institutional-level due diligence and run by a team with experience at firms such as Blackstone, Hamilton Lane, UBS and Ardian.
Our model provides investors and distribution partners not only with access, but also with credibility and clarity. Part of our work is also educational: we train banks, bankers and wealth managers to use the platform effectively and to guide their clients through the private markets.”
How do you balance platform fees, structuring costs and servicing with the need to keep the total cost of ownership low for banks and advisory networks?
M.L. “Our goal is to reduce friction and therefore transaction costs. These costs are not only financial: they also mean time, operational complexity, frustration and sometimes lack of trust. Removing these barriers is the key to making the entire private markets ecosystem more efficient.
The ROYC infrastructure was designed with this in mind: it is scalable, so marginal costs remain almost negligible even when thousands of new clients are added. Onboarding half a million or even a million clients does not imply a significant cost increase, provided the right technology and expertise are in place to guarantee stability and efficiency.
Equally important is transparency. In public markets, managers have been quick to emphasize the costs of private investments, but not always the net returns. For investors, the real question is: what do I get after all the costs I’ve paid? Our mission is to provide a clear answer — showing that once frictions are reduced, private markets can deliver superior net performance.”
What new functionalities or modules are you planning to launch, and which use cases are growing the fastest in your view?
M.L. “We carried out the largest Seed Round in Europe in our field and built a technology team with proven expertise. This enabled us to accelerate the development of our infrastructure and create a platform that already covers the entire operating cycle of private market investments. It automates processes such as due diligence, KYC, capital calls, reporting and portfolio monitoring. Because these systems are designed around each client’s needs, adoption is possible not only for large private banks but also for advisory networks and family offices.
On the product side, our focus is on solutions that allow clients to enter private markets with greater flexibility: semi-liquid funds, evergreen vehicles and other structures that democratize access while maintaining high-quality deal pipelines. We would never propose a manager without a solid pipeline of deals, because otherwise a semi-liquid vehicle simply cannot deliver.
The fastest-growing use cases are precisely those linked to the adoption of these hybrid models, which enable advisors and investors to approach alternative asset classes without the traditional barriers of extreme illiquidity and very high minimum tickets.”
Let’s turn to your plans for Italy. What makes you believe the Italian market is “ready” for your solutions?
Lorenzo Maria Russo: “Italian HNWIs are looking for returns, diversification and, above all, access to opportunities before IPOs. The issue is not demand — which is already strong — but rather the lack of adequate infrastructure to channel it. Today, investors who want exposure to private markets face significant barriers: identifying opportunities among thousands of funds, overcoming very high minimum tickets, and navigating subscription processes that are still too complex and not scalable.
In Italy, risk perception also plays a key role. Even when an opportunity looks compelling, investors often see more risks than benefits. This makes trusted intermediaries — private bankers, family offices and financial advisors — essential to the relationship, rather than direct B2C models.
Research from leading global players such as BlackRock confirms the trend: there is a strong push to increase allocations to private markets, and much of that growth will come from the private wealth channel. For this reason, the Italian market can indeed be considered ready, and ROYC aims to position itself as the digital infrastructure that turns this demand into tangible investments.”
Distribution targets. Private banks, advisory networks, SIMs: who will you start with, and what is your specific value proposition for each channel?
L.M.R. “Our approach changes depending on the counterpart. ROYC works with independent financial advisory firms, private banks and multi-family offices, tailoring our offer to the needs of each channel.
For advisory firms and networks, adoption is rapid. Thanks to our revenue-sharing model, there are no upfront costs: everything they earn additionally from this service is a benefit for them and a benefit for us. This makes onboarding almost immediate: advisors can present ROYC’s curated selection of private market funds to their clients, often leading to conversions within days or weeks.
For private banks, the process is longer and more complex. These institutions manage thousands of clients and cannot rely on manual processes for KYC, capital calls, reporting and monitoring. It’s simply not scalable — you cannot hire one new person for every ten new clients. Here ROYC steps in with a white-label infrastructure, automating processes so that banks can scale efficiently without inflating their operational costs.
With multi-family offices, the approach is fully bespoke. Some already have direct exposure to private markets and demand sophisticated solutions, while others require more guidance. In both cases, ROYC provides customized investment programs, even integrating existing allocations into our monitoring tools.”
L.M.R. “Our Mid-Year Outlook identifies four main areas. At the core are the flagship private equity strategies — buyout, growth and secondaries — which remain the long-term backbone thanks to their reliability and solid track record.
A second area of strong interest is private credit, especially valued by family offices for its resilience, yield and relative liquidity. We have seen significant flows toward leading players in this segment.
Then there is infrastructure, which is increasingly recognized as the ultimate defensive asset: it generates stable cash flows and provides effective protection against inflation.
Finally, semi-liquid and evergreen funds represent a gateway to private markets for clients seeking more flexibility. However, their effectiveness depends entirely on the quality of the manager and the strength of the pipeline. Without that, these products cannot sustain themselves.
In your opinion, what is the most common mistake wealth managers make when approaching private markets, and how do you help them overcome it?
L.M.R. “One of the most common mistakes is assuming that a bank’s interests are always aligned with those of the client. Too often, investors are offered only mainstream funds that are easier to distribute, not necessarily those with the best performance or the most suitable profile.
There are also two widespread misconceptions among Italian investors: the belief that private markets are ‘too illiquid’ and the perception that they are ‘riskier’ than other asset classes. Both stem from limited knowledge and from exposure to only a narrow range of products.
ROYC addresses these issues on two levels. On the one hand, we apply institutional-grade due diligence, screening thousands of funds and narrowing them down to a carefully selected shortlist. On the other, we provide educational support for wealth managers and advisors, helping them communicate opportunities to clients in a transparent and comprehensible way.
We are not a marketplace where managers pay to be distributed. Our goal is to equip partners with the tools to build a thoughtful portfolio, with a balanced risk profile and expected returns above public markets — making the investor experience not only more accessible, but also more understandable.”
