Alto and Passthrough Open Retirement Accounts to Private Fund Investing

Alto, a self-directed IRA platform, and Passthrough, a private capital technology provider, have partnered to expand access to retirement funds for private fund managers. The collaboration aims to simplify the use of IRA capital in private market investments, making it easier for investors and fund sponsors to connect.

Making Private Capital More Accessible

Traditionally, private fund managers relied on institutional investors or high-net-worth individuals for funding, due to the administrative challenges of onboarding retirement accounts. Alto and Passthrough aim to simplify this process. Alto provides the IRA infrastructure, allowing investors to direct retirement dollars into private market deals, while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

Passthrough complements this by managing investor onboarding, documentation, and verification processes. By automating tasks such as Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, fund managers can focus more on their investment strategies and less on administrative work. The combined solution helps reduce delays and paperwork, making it easier for managers of smaller or mid-sized funds to scale efficiently.

For investors, this setup allows a more seamless pathway to access private market opportunities within tax-advantaged accounts. They can invest through IRAs without the traditional operational headaches, while fund managers gain access to a broader pool of capital that was previously difficult to reach.

Why This Matters for Retirement Investors and Fund Managers

Retirement accounts collectively hold trillions of dollars in the U.S., yet most of these assets are invested in public markets. By enabling IRA capital to flow into private funds, Alto and Passthrough are opening new opportunities for diversification and long-term growth. Investors can include private equity, real estate, and other alternatives in their retirement portfolios, which could enhance returns and balance risk over time.

For fund managers, access to retirement assets represents an expanded investor base. Many IRA holders have long investment horizons, making them suitable participants for less liquid private investments. The collaboration also aligns with the broader financial technology trend of integrating digital tools to make complex financial processes more efficient, transparent, and scalable.

The move also reflects a regulatory environment increasingly supportive of broadening retirement investors’ access to private markets, provided safeguards are in place to protect investors and maintain compliance.

By partnering, Alto and Passthrough are tackling a major hurdle in private market fundraising: administrative complexity. Their collaboration gives fund managers access to retirement capital while providing investors with a streamlined, regulated way to deploy IRA funds into private opportunities. The initiative underscores the growing role of technology in connecting investors to alternative investments and represents a step toward democratizing private markets, making opportunities once reserved for institutions more accessible to a broader range of participants.