Alto raises $2.8 million seed round to help individual investors diversify and add alternative assets to their IRAs

Alto, a fintech startup that is helping individual investors to diversify their retirement savings with investments in startups, growth companies, real estate, loans and digital assets, has raised a $2.8 million seed round to expand its offering and integrate additional investment platform partners. This brings Alto’s total funding raised to $3.8 million. Investors include Jake Gibson, co-founder of NerdWallet, Foundation Capital, Sequoia’s Scout Fund, Amplify.LA, and First Check and Green D Funds.

According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), Americans have more than $28 trillion of assets in retirement accounts including $9 trillion in IRAs. And, while it has always been allowed to invest in alternatives with an IRA, only about one percent of IRA assets are invested that way.

Founded in 2016 by CEO, Eric Satz, the Nashville, Tennessee-based tech technology platform enables individual investors to establish a self-directed IRA and invest their savings in real world assets like private companies, real estate, and even the building or restaurant around the corner.

The Alternative IRA from Alto (AltoIRA) is an individual retirement account that gives investors the freedom to invest in alternative assets like startups, private companies, real estate, loans, and digital currencies, either directly or through one of Alto’s investment platform partners, like AngelList.

AltoIRA has taken the headaches, paper cuts, and general frustration out of alternative investing so you can focus entirely on the excitement of fueling the people, projects, and passions you know and trust. Alto also provides tools and expertise to investor looking to fuel a new venture, an entrepreneur aiming to raise money to achieve their investment objectives.

“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,” said Eric Satz, CEO of Alto. “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.”

“Alto’s platform simplifies and streamlines investing in alternative assets for both investors and issuers, making portfolio diversification available to anyone with a retirement savings account.”

Investors have the option of using their AltoIRA to invest in opportunities they have found on their own, or deals sourced by Alto’s investment platform partners, such as AngelList, Carofin, Groundfloor, Republic, Silicon Prairie, Wefunder, and YieldStreet.

Prior to founding Alto, Mr. Satz co-founded Currenex, an online global foreign currency exchange company serving banks, hedge funds, and other active traders. In 2007, Currenex sold to State Street Corp. for $564 million.