Matt Brown, CAIS: A Fintech Unicorn Democratizing Alternatives & Educating/Empowering Financial Advisors.

Our guest today is Matt Brown. Matt is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of CAIS. Found in 2009, CAIS, a fintech leader, empowers over 4,000+ unique advisor firms/teams who oversee more than $2T+ in network assets. Founded by a financial advisor, CAIS considers itself the first truly open marketplace for alternative investments, where financial advisors and asset managers can engage and transact directly. CAIS offers access to alternative strategies ranging from hedge funds to private equity/credit to real estate, digital assets, structured notes and more. CAIS is unique in that all funds on the platform undergo Mercer’s due diligence and ongoing monitoring. They also offer an education platform called CAIS IQ, which helps educate advisors on alternative investments. In today’s episode, we start in 2009 and discuss how difficult it must have been to launch CAIS during the great financial crisis. We then discuss the CAIS platform, competition, the democratization of alternatives and CAIS’s value proposition. We later get into distribution (and why it isn’t a negative term), their recent high profile fundraise and what they plan to do with the money to grow. Other topics range from artificial intelligence to the power of data, the accredited investor rule, CAIS IQ education platform, the importance of reporting and the value of soft skills. Our hosts today are Steve Curley, CFA & John Bowman, CFA of CAIA Association. Please enjoy the episode. Follow us on Twitter & LinkedIn.