How a Multi-Family Office Moved Beyond Expensive Funds and Inconsistent SPVs

Client Overview

Our client is a Central European multi-family office (MFO) serving families, foundations, and organizations with long-term investment horizons. With deep expertise in succession planning, trust structures, and alternative investments, the firm specializes in preserving and growing intergenerational wealth. A core pillar of its offering is providing meaningful access to private markets alongside traditional investments.

The Challenge

Prior to engaging with Stableton, the MFO accessed late-stage venture and pre-IPO opportunities mainly through:

• Closed-end funds with large-cap managers, reliant on their asset-selection skills.

• Single-asset co-investment SPVs offered by private banks, dependent on pipeline availability.

Both approaches came with limitations: Inconsistent access, high costs (including carry fees), and heavy reliance on third-party deal flow. For a lean team focused on core priorities, building an in-house solution was not practical.

The firm sought a partner to deliver systematic, long-term exposure to late-stage venture and pre-IPO companies with transparent economics and scalable structures.

The Solution

The Stableton Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 20 strategy provided the answer. Offering diversified access to the world’s most valuable VC-backed tech companies, the strategy matched the client’s philosophy of efficient, index-like exposure to mega-trends. Key aspects included:

• Systematic approach: Portfolio construction designed to reduce idiosyncratic risk compared to traditional PE funds.

• Efficient economics: No carry fees, transparent and aligned pricing.

• Customized structuring: Stableton created a bespoke share class within its existing fund, tailored to local feeder requirements with attractive commercial terms.

• Collaborative design: The MFO and Stableton aligned on lock-up terms, distribution strategy, and long-term objectives, ensuring a solution that could serve both discretionary portfolios and future external investors.

Results & Impact

Although the partnership is in its early stages, it has already delivered clear benefits:

• Strategic integration: The Stableton Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 20 strategy is now part of the firm’s discretionary mandates as a long-term allocation to growth equity and late-stage VC.

• Platform for scale: The MFO plans to build a fund-of-funds product centered on Stableton’s strategy, extending the solution beyond its family office portfolios to a broader investor base.

• Foundation for growth: The collaboration has opened the door to potential joint investor events, and a deeper role for Stableton in supporting the firm’s private markets expansion.

Key Takeaway

By partnering with Stableton, this MFO has positioned itself as a regional innovator in private market access, offering clients systematic exposure to private blue-chip tech opportunities that were once reserved for the largest institutional investors.

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