Yieldstreet secures $400M to scale its alternative investing platform

Yieldstreet obtained $400 million in new capital from Monroe Capital to scale its consumer-focused alternative investments platform.

Why it matters: With public markets lagging, investors of all sizes are looking for ways to increase yield — and betting on private markets is one way to do that.

How it works: Yieldstreet offers a platform that allows retail investors to back alternative assets like art, real estate and private credit.

• “We built technology that enables us to take any type of asset — whether it's real estate, or art, or legal finance, or private equity or venture — and push that through the pipes to an end user turned investor,” founder and president Michael Weisz says.
• To date, it has grown to 400,000 members who have invested more than $3.5 billion, and it has returned over $1.5 billion in principal and interest to investors, according to Weisz.

Yes, but: Before making assets available to users, it must commit some upfront cash to gain access to those investment opportunities — and that’s where this new capital comes in.

• “There are liquidity issues in the market, there's a lot of volatility in the market, and having the ability to [invest] immediately… will allow Yieldstreet to participate in some of the most sought-after investments,” Weisz says.

Of note: The $400 million from Monroe Capital is structured as a warehouse facility, meaning it’s not corporate debt but secured by the assets Yieldstreet chooses to invest in.

• The company had previously raised more than $225 million in equity financing — including a $100 million Series C round last summer — from investors that included Edison Partners, Mayfair Equity Partners, Tarsadia Investments, StepStone Group and Greycroft.