Unlocking the liquidity: why we invested in Pluto

Private markets have a liquidity problem, and it's getting worse.

Alternative assets now sit at the center of wealth portfolios, not the edges. But the infrastructure hasn't caught up. Capital calls come without warning. Secondary markets are thin or non-existent. Traditional lending wasn't built for the structure, duration, or governance of private assets.

This is why our Ventures team just invested in Pluto.

Who they are

Pluto builds lending infrastructure for private market assets. Their platform connects directly to investor portfolios and embeds within existing wealth management workflows, targeting the capital call financing gap that affects virtually every private markets investor.

We invested alongside Portage, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, and Broadhaven Ventures—a syndicate that brings complementary perspectives across wealth management, private markets, and credit.

What they do

Pluto built a lending platform designed specifically for private market assets. The platform connects directly to investor portfolios, tracking positions, capital calls, and commitment schedules, then embeds within existing wealth management workflows.

By starting with capital call financing, Pluto targets a recurring pain point: the gap between when capital is called and when liquidity is needed. The platform automates what's currently a manual, fragmented process, providing on-demand access to credit backed by alternative asset positions.

This infrastructure becomes the foundation for broader wealth-backed credit solutions, extending the portfolio-backed liquidity that already exists in public markets into the alternative asset space where it's largely been absent.

Why we invested

This is a structural opportunity, not just a product improvement. Alternative assets are the fastest-growing segment of wealth portfolios, yet lending against these assets remains largely unaddressed at scale.

The shift is already underway. Advisors now need to guide clients on credit and liabilities as part of wealth management, not just asset allocation. But most existing tools are fragmented or built for public securities. Pluto gives them infrastructure that actually works with the portfolios their clients hold.

We're backing Pluto as they build the credit infrastructure that private markets have needed for years.

If you’re interested in learning more about Motive Partners, please contact us. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn for our latest investment news.

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^{Motive Partners is a private investment firm exclusively focused on financial technology and technology enabled business services companies, ranging from early-stage ventures to growth equity and buyout, primarily based in North America and Europe. The firm invests across five primary subsectors: Banking & Payments; Capital Markets; AI, Data & Analytics; Insurance; and Wealth and Asset Management; and Motive Partners portfolio companies benefit from the firm’s fully integrated, proven Investor, Operator, Innovator (IOI) model, which brings together worldclass fintech leaders and capabilities with deep industry knowledge, insight and experience. With offices in New York City, London, and Berlin, Motive Partners delivers differentiated expertise, connectivity, and capabilities to create long-term value in financial technology companies. More information on Motive Partners can be found at www.motivepartners.com.}

^{Through our Venture platform, we focus on the next generation of wealthtech and private markets infrastructure, software that sits at the core of how capital is allocated, monitored, and reported. Family offices are front and center in this shift: they steward trillions in private wealth, are increasingly exposed to illiquid and alternative assets, and yet still run on tooling that was never built for their complexity. We believe this is an important modernization opportunity in financial services.}