Alto, An Alternative Investment Platform For IRAs, Raises $2.8M

Fintech startup Alto announced Wednesday it raised $2.8 million in a seed funding round to expand its offering and bring on more partners for its investment platform.

The Nashville, Tennessee-based company’s platform is designed to help investors add investments such as startups, real estate, loans, digital assets and other alternative assets to their IRAs via the Alternative IRA from Alto.

Alto said it has now raised a total of $3.8 million. The company’s investors include NerdWallet co-founder Jake Gibson; Foundation Capital; Sequoia’s Scout Fund; Amplify.LA; First Check Fund; and Green D Funds.

The company launched in 2018.

Investing Retirement Dollars In Alternatives

While individual investors have had the ability to invest in alternatives with an IRA, only about 1 percent of IRA assets are invested in this way, according to Alto.

“The vast majority of investors have no idea they can use their retirement savings to invest in alternative assets like startups and real estate while maintaining the tax advantage of IRAs,” Alto CEO Eric Satz said in a statement. “And even when they do know they can invest in alternatives, they choose not to due to the confusing process and arduous amounts of paperwork.”

The AltoIRA platform gives IRA account holders the option of investing in alternative assets of their choosing — or in deals sourced by the startup’s investment platform partners, which include AngelList, Groundfloor, Republic, Silicon Prairie, Wefunder and Yield Street.

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