Joining me in the studio is Co-Founder and CEO of AltNovel, Stergios Voskopoulos. Stergios, thanks so much for joining us today.
It's great to be here.
You have described AltNovel as a novel approach to private capital. What was the motivation behind setting it up, and what are you actually doing differently from traditional wealth managers or private banks?
We have been running wealth for family offices in the past, and also worked at fund managers, and we realised that there is a significant gap in how private wealth is being allocated into private markets. When we say private markets, we mean private equity, private credit, real assets, digital assets — and also liquid alternatives like hedge funds. This gap is what we are aiming to fill, by providing solutions across the board using technology, so that wealth can be properly allocated across different asset classes and not only stocks, bonds, or cash.
Given the macro backdrop we're sitting in right now, how do private markets add resilience to a portfolio?
If you have a portfolio that consists only of bonds and stocks, we've seen that they are highly correlated during certain periods of turbulence. Stock market indices are also highly concentrated in a handful of stocks, which makes them more volatile and exposed to market risk. We believe that modern portfolio construction — as practised by the world's great endowments and pension funds — should include a certain percentage in private markets, depending on the risk-return characteristics of the investor.
Within private markets, which is a wide spectrum, where are you seeing the greatest opportunities right now?
We believe in diversification first — so we look to be allocated across all different asset classes, and we take a long-term approach, which means we can be patient and wait for returns to materialise. But if I had to pick three right now: first, despite what some in the market are saying, private credit remains a major financial innovation from a risk-return perspective — it's a very attractive asset class if you know how to invest and select the right managers. Second, GP-led secondaries, because there is a real liquidity need right now for fund managers to provide liquidity to their LPs. And third, anything AI-related from a growth equity perspective — selectively. That could mean not just the pre-IPO stage, but somewhat earlier.
When you're advising clients on this long-term approach, how do they actually access these opportunities through AltNovel?
What we are innovating with AltNovel is providing access to smaller high-net-worth individuals and family offices by managing the balance between fund demand, supply, and minimum ticket sizes. We can also aggregate investors into our own structures, giving them better exposure to a range of fund managers through a single investment.
You mentioned digital assets earlier. Bitcoin has had a tough start to the year — both price pressure and volatility. How do you approach digital assets specifically?
We believe Bitcoin and crypto are here to stay, and blockchain as a technology we believe in strongly. Bitcoin is down around 50% from its highs, but taking a long-term view, we believe it will continue to grow. It's digital gold. I'd echo what Larry Fink says — it's not a trading instrument; it's more of a hedge and a long-term high-growth asset class. Internally, we partner with experts and best-in-class fund managers to structure solutions in the form of multi-asset, multi-strategy hedge funds, which generate a better risk-return profile than a direct Bitcoin investment or even an ETF.
So essentially helping to dampen some of the volatility that investors might see by going directly into the market.
Exactly. For investors who want exposure to crypto but with lower volatility, we structure the solution in a way that meets their specific volatility requirements.
You're set up in the Abu Dhabi Global Market. What drove that decision, and where are you seeing investor appetite from this region specifically?
I've been in the region on and off for 21 years, and we have always been capital providers. What we're seeing now is that the Middle East — and Abu Dhabi specifically, through ADGM — is becoming a capital formation hub. It's where East and West meet. For us, being in Abu Dhabi is strategically important because it allows us to access opportunities globally — both West and East — while also catering to investors across the region and into Eastern markets.
Do you see different appetites from investors globally? You have investors in Asia, Europe, the Middle East — are they looking for different things, or are the fundamentals the same?
Even people from different neighbourhoods can look at things differently, so of course geographies matter. Asian investors want exposure to Western markets for diversification. And now we're seeing European investors seeking more exposure not just to the US but to Asia for additional alpha. There are two main drivers: understanding the opportunity set in your own territory, and diversification beyond it. And then there is the relationship factor — the trust and confidence investors have in our advice and what we put together. That's what ultimately enables them to make the decision to invest across different asset classes and geographies.
Stergios, thanks so much for joining us today. I love what you're doing — really providing access for investors from your home base in Abu Dhabi. Thanks so much for coming on.
It's great to be here. Thanks for the invitation.
