DarcMatter CEO strives to put alternative investments online

Observers ask big questions about private funds in which billions of dollars are traded daily between institutional investors without public notice. Even some wealthy individual investors looking for a place to put their money cannot get a share of the pie.

DarcMatter founder and CEO Lee Sang-hwa, who built a successful career as a BNP Paribas investment banker, dubs such a situation as “secret things happening in a league of their own.”

He said that infusing more transparency into alternative investments will help all businesses prosper.

“Historically, private funds were very difficult to access, very clandestine and all things were done offline, available to only a few institutional investors,” Lee said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

“But now, everybody is seeking alternative investment opportunities and wants to access private funds.”

DarcMatter is an online platform that allows investors — whether institutional or individual — to directly invest in private funds, such as hedge funds, private equity and venture capital.

Through the platform, they can access various private funds’ strategy, performance and information, and invest online.

Founded in 2014 in New York, the fintech firm soon grabbed attention from global financial giants with its platform simplifying its fundraising process.

Along with a number of exclusive partnerships, the company has drawn startup investments from BlackRock, Houlihan Lokey and J.P. Morgan to name a few.

Now, more than $5 billion in assets are managed through the DarcMatter platform and more than 800 companies and investors are registered on it.

Lee expects that not only his com-