Most family offices oversee portfolios that combine public equities, fixed income investments, and a wide range of alternative assets. For Ultra-High-Net-Worth families that seek to preserve and grow their wealth, these investments provide portfolio diversification, access to the potential for an illiquidity premium, and a hedge against market volatility.

But as we outline below, alternative investments come with operational complexity: capital calls, distribution schedules, cash flow planning, valuation assessments, and liquidity risk - all elements to be managed across multiple managers, custodians, and jurisdictions. 

That’s where Masttro comes in. The powerful yet intuitive platform seamlessly centralizes these complex details into a single, secure view for family members, wealth managers, and advisors.

"With Masttro we have the tools to manage assets that are nontraditional, and that’s translated into an opportunity to provide a much broader service than investment management.” - Henry Urquiri, Director, Futura Asset Advisors (MFO)

Key Takeaways

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Centralize all alternative assets with Masttro to track private equity, real estate, hedge funds, credit, and more in one secure view.
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Automate key workflows like ingesting documents, tracking capital calls, and updating valuations in real time.
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Manage risk and liquidity with an up-to-date view of all liquid vs. illiquid assets.
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Integrate direct data sources from connected banks, custodians, and multi-entity structures.
Types of Alternative Investments for Family Offices

Key Alternative Investment Categories in Family Office Portfolios

Family offices have steadily expanded their allocations to alternative investments over the past decade. According to the JPMorgan Global Single Family Office 2024 Report, alternatives now account for roughly 45% of the average family office portfolio. This shift reflects a clear strategy: wealthy families are seeking higher returns, portfolio diversification, and a hedge against market volatility through private equity, venture capital, real estate, hedge funds, and other illiquid assets.

At the same time, case studies show that family offices often manage hundreds of alternative positions across multiple custodians, making tracking capital calls, NAVs, and performance reporting a major operational challenge. Platforms like Masttro emphasize the importance of technology in consolidating these assets, automating document processing, and providing real-time visibility into illiquid holdings.

The table below outlines the main categories of alternative assets that family offices typically invest in, along with why these investments are central to long-term wealth strategies.

Asset Class Description How Family Offices Manage It
Private Equity Buyouts, growth equity, and co-investments in private companies. Benchmarked against equity indices like S&P 500 or MSCI Europe. Masttro ingests capital statements, monitors commitments, and automates distribution reporting in real time.
Venture Capital Early- and growth-stage private investments, often in sectors like AI, digital assets, and energy transition. AI modules and direct data feeds keep allocation and valuations updated, with alerts for capital calls.
Real Estate Residential, commercial, and specialty assets, including data centers and digital infrastructure. Consolidated with other asset classes to show cash flow, yield, and valuation reporting.
Hedge Funds Macro, long/short equity, event-driven, and multi-strategy funds that reduce correlation with public markets. Benchmarking, stress testing, and historical return analysis to assess results during fluctuating markets.
Private Credit & Debt Direct lending, mezzanine, syndicated loans, and private credit funds. Tracks repayment schedules, interest flows, and borrowing activity alongside liquid and illiquid assets.
Infrastructure Investments in energy, transportation, utilities, and renewable projects. Managed for long-term, inflation-linked cash flows and impact-driven allocations.
Natural Resources Timber, agriculture, commodities, mining, and water rights. Integrated into total portfolio reporting for diversification and inflation hedging.
Digital Assets Cryptocurrencies, blockchain ventures, and tokenized assets. Monitored as an emerging asset class with tailored reporting and risk management controls.
Collectibles & Passion Assets Art, wine, classic cars, sports teams, and other legacy-driven assets. Tracked for valuation, insurance, and estate planning purposes as part of total net worth reporting.

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Additional Asset Classes Tracked by Family Offices

Other asset classes within the wealth data and allocation categories in Masttro’s platform:

  • Infrastructure - Equity and debt in transportation, utilities, renewable energy, and large-scale projects.
  • Natural Resources - Agriculture, timberland, energy production, and commodities.
  • Structured Products - Tailored risk/return instruments linked to equity markets, fixed income, or alternative benchmarks.
  • Digital Assets - Cryptocurrencies, tokenized securities, and other blockchain-based assets with dedicated cybersecurity measures.
  • Passion Assets - Art, collectibles, vintage cars, and other non-financial holdings tracked as part of the total balance sheet.
  • Impact / ESG Investments - Allocations aligned to social and environmental goals, integrated into overall portfolio allocation.
  • Listed Equities — Publicly traded stocks held alongside alternatives to maintain liquidity balance.

Eight Challenges for Family Offices in Managing Alternative Assets

There are multiple challenges for family offices in managing the complexities of alternative assets - here we highlight eight key challenges:

  1. Liquidity Risk - Balancing liquid and illiquid assets to meet capital calls, distributions, and ongoing family commitments.
  2. Capital Call Management - Coordinating payments across multiple private equity, venture capital, and private credit funds.
  3. Portfolio Allocation - Understanding exposures across public equities, private markets, and fixed income investments.
  4. Succession Planning - Ensuring wealth transfer and estate planning structures are in sync with portfolio strategy.
  5. Tax Planning - Coordinating across jurisdictions and asset classes for compliance and efficiency.
  6. Data Ingestion - Aggregating data from custodians, fund managers, and specialized platforms.
  7. Regulatory Risks - Staying ahead of evolving regulations and geopolitical tensions that affect private markets.
  8. Stress Testing - Modelling scenarios for market downturns, secular trends, and changing market conditions.

How Masttro Delivers a Unified Alternative Investment View

Masttro is designed for family offices to consolidate all financial and non-financial assets into one secure platform. The platform:

  • Uses AI modules to automate document ingestion for NAV statements, capital calls, and distribution notices, plus automate repetitive tasks to streamline reporting. 
  • Connects directly to custodians, private market administrators, and banks with secure daily transaction-level feeds, bypassing the need for third-party intermediaries.
  • Supports multi-entity capabilities for dynasty trusts, intercompany transactions, and inter-family transactions.
  • Integrates automated workflows for cash flow projections, portfolio allocation analysis, and valuation updates.
  • Secures sensitive data with military grade cybersecurity and data encryption at all times, supported by Swiss-based private cloud architecture, and granular permission controls to manage individual users.
  • Delivers powerful custom reporting capabilities through web and mobile, with an intuitive user interface that ensures adoption by both family office professionals and family members.

A Central View for Alternative Assets

From private equity and venture capital to real estate, hedge funds, private credit, and beyond, alternative assets have brought additional complexity to family offices. It’s why Masttro was founded back in 2010: to enable family offices to track every asset in context, both liquid and illiquid, from a single platform that provides one source of truth.

Masttro’s success in delivering this consolidated view allows wealth managers to act quickly in changing market conditions. The platform supports succession and estate planning, and enables visibility for family members while simultaneously protecting sensitive data. Masttro transforms a fragmented view into a comprehensive picture of family office assets, empowering better decisions across generations.

Speak to us to find out more.

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