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Your private investment team

What we believe

We exist to simplify advisors' lives and help improve their clients' ability to reach their goals.

Core Tenets

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The private investment process is broken.

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All investors deserve access to high-quality private investments.

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Most investors are overexposed to public markets.

04

Aligned incentives are key to great partnerships.

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Who we are

Partners

We provide more than just access - we build personalized private market portfolios and work with advisors to meet client goals over the long term.

Technologists

We are expert builders who don’t accept the status quo. We have re-invented industries with technology and are obsessed with building a platform to bring private investing into the 21st century.

Investors

We are a team of seasoned investors, allocators, and operators committed to providing the best investment experience from returns to reporting, and everything in between.

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We are Opto

World-class investors, allocators, operational specialists, and technologists who are passionate about creating a better way to access private markets.

Our advisors

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David Barnard

Former Head of Private Wealth Management, AllianceBernstein

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Steve Lockshin

Founder & CEO, Advice Period

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Keri Findley

CEO, Tacora Capital

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Michael Batnick

Managing Partner, Ritholtz Wealth Management

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Isaac Applebaum

Founder & Partner, Mizmaa Ventures

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Kelly O'Connor

Founder & CEO, Lumiere Partners

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Mark Goldberg

Senior Advisor, Apollo Global Management

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James Waldinger

Founder & CEO, Artivest

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Todd Ruppert

Founder & CEO, Ruppert International

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David Barnard

Former Head of Private Wealth Management, AllianceBernstein

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Steve Lockshin

Founder & CEO, Advice Period

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Keri Findley

CEO, Tacora Capital

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Michael Batnick

Managing Partner, Ritholtz Wealth Management

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Isaac Applebaum

Founder & Partner, Mizmaa Ventures

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Kelly O'Connor

Founder & CEO, Lumiere Partners

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Mark Goldberg

Senior Advisor, Apollo Global Management

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James Waldinger

Founder & CEO, Artivest

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Todd Ruppert

Founder & CEO, Ruppert International

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Thoughtful guidance, world-class guides

Exclusive access to our network of top private market allocators, investors, and thought leaders.

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Jacob Miller & Patrick Weiss

Opto Co-Founders
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The Opto leadership team

A team of proven investors, operators, and technologists committed to helping your clients meet their goals.

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Ryan VanGorder

Chief Executive Officer
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Ryan VanGorder is Opto Investments' Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer.

Prior to joining Opto, Ryan was a Managing Director at BlackRock, leading Finance in the Asia Pacific region. Ryan has more than 20 years of financial services experience and began his career in 2001 at Quellos, a Seattle-based hedge fund of funds.

When he's not focused on building Opto Investments into a world-class business, you might bump into Ryan running or biking on a trail near you.

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Jacob Miller

Co-Founder

Jacob runs the Advisory practice. He's actively engaged in the investment committee and the development of investment frameworks to ensure client needs are reflected in our experience.

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Jacob was previously at Bridgewater Associates. He has a passion for sensible long-term investing, systematizing investment processes, and distilling complex market dynamics into clear, logical linkages that help people understand goals and performance in intuitive and actionable ways.

Jacob has been managing money for family and friends since he was 16 and is a certified market junkie. While he has a background in macroeconomics and high-yield debt, he finds the challenges and opportunities in the private market space far more interesting and important for investors and society.

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Kamal Jafarnia

Co-Founder, General Counsel

Kamal provides legal guidance and strategies to the leadership team and is responsible for ensuring that the platform remains in regulatory compliance enterprise-wide.

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Kamal Jafarnia brings more than 30 years of experience as an attorney, compliance professional, and financial industry veteran to his role with Opto Investments. He has advised public and private companies—including alternative investment program sponsors—on complex securities offerings, regulatory and compliance issues, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance.

Prior to joining Opto, Mr. Jafarnia served as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer ("CCO") at Artivest Holdings, Inc., Altegris Investments, Altegris Advisors, and as CCO for the Altegris KKR Commitments Fund. Before Artivest, Mr. Jafarnia held a multi-faceted role as Senior Vice President with New-York based W.P. Carey, Inc. (NYSE: WPC) in its managed funds business.

Mr. Jafarnia received his LL.M. in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown University Law Center and graduated from Temple University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Matt Reed

Co-Founder, Engineering

Matt leads engineering efforts at Opto, ensuring we build scalable technology solutions that support our tech-first approach to private investment management.

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Matt has 20 years of experience building mission-critical technologies for the aerospace and financial services industries.

Matt began his career building satellite flight control systems for Northrop Grumman Space Technology. Following an interest in investing, Matt transitioned to the quant finance space and joined as an early employee at Strategic Global Advisors, where he built their core software platform. Matt then joined Addepar, where he held a variety of engineering and leadership positions, most notably leading the delivery of the public API and integrations platform.

Matt holds a Master of Financial Engineering from UC Berkeley, a BS+MS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and is a CFA charterholder.

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Matt Malone

Head of Investment Management

Matt oversees Opto's investment activities, fund structuring, and new product development to ensure we stay on the cutting edge of private markets.

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Matt has over 15 years of experience across all aspects of alternative investments, including investment management, manager research, and overall product development. He serves as President of Opto's registered investment adviser and chair of its investment committee.

Matt came to Opto from a large alternative investment firm where he was a managing director in its investment management division and served as head of due diligence. Prior to that, Matt was a partner at a leading alternative investment research and diligence firm. Matt previously served as Chair of the CFA Society of Washington DC and President of the Alternative and Direct Investment Securities Association. Matt is a CFA charter holder and licensed attorney.

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Sean Mulcahy

Head of Investment Operations

As the Head of Investment Operations, Sean is focused on making the advisor investment workflow seamless and integrated.

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Sean C. Mulcahy is the Head Of Investment Operations at Opto Investments. Sean is responsible for investment operations and platform transactions, including ecosystem integrations, reporting, and client service.

He has over 15 years of experience building alternative investment technology solutions focused on the independent wealth management channel. Before Opto, Sean worked at Flow and consulted at Addepar Marketplace. Previously, Sean spent six years at CAIS as an SVP in the operations group. He is a CAIA charterholder and a member of the Rising Leaders Council for the Institute of Portfolio Alternatives (IPA).

He graduated from Northeastern University. In his spare time, Sean enjoys spending time with his three children.

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Joe Lonsdale

Co-Founder, Executive Chairman

Joe has seen firsthand how private investing is broken and is committed to fixing it. As co-founder and chairman, Joe is heavily involved in helping build and guide Opto, shaping our vision and strategy.

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Joe is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. Over the course of his career, he's helped found more than a dozen mission-driven companies, including Opto Investments, Palantir, Addepar, Affinity, and 8VC.

Joe is passionate about repairing broken industries and government, inculcating classical virtues, prioritizing families, and enabling a free and prosperous society where everyone can thrive.

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Mark Machin

Vice Chairman

Mark plays a vital role in enabling Opto's growth, offering strategic input and tapping his vast network and expertise to support our sourcing and investment efforts.

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Dr. Machin has 30 years of experience in investment and finance. Most recently, Mark was the President & CEO at CPP Investments, the largest pension fund in Canada and one of the ten largest in the world. During his tenure as CEO, the assets grew to nearly $500 billion with returns of over 11% per annum.

Prior to joining CPPIB, Mark had a 20-year career at Goldman Sachs, where he was Head of Capital Markets, Head of Investment Banking, and Vice Chairman of Asia ex-Japan.

Mark is a member of GIC's International Advisory Board and is also an advisor to the GIC Investment Strategies Committee. He was on the board of Sequoia Heritage from 2018 to 2020. He was voted one of Canada’s Top 10 CEOs by Glassdoor in its 2018 Employee Choice Awards.

Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts in Physiological Sciences from Oxford University and a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from Cambridge University.

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Join the team!

  • Remote-first 
  • Comprehensive healthcare
  • Investment benefits
  • Fitness, education & WFH stipends

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