Opto Investments, led by ex-CPPIB CEO, snags $145m Series A

• Other backers included 8VC, Michael Dell’s MSD Capital, Clocktower Ventures, FinVC and HOF Capital
• Opto will use the capital to secure investment opportunities for its customers, continue to scale its business and add to its 45-member team
• Opto is led by co-founder and CEO Mark Machin, the former CEO of CPPIB

Opto Investments, a New York-based provider of a technology-enabled solution for private market access for investment advisors, has raised $145 million in Series A financing. Tiger Global led the round with participation from other backers that included 8VC, Michael Dell’s MSD Capital, Clocktower Ventures, FinVC and HOF Capital.

Opto will use the capital to secure investment opportunities for its customers, continue to scale its business and add to its 45-member team.

Opto is led by co-founder and CEO Mark Machin, the former CEO of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, with with co-founder Joe Lonsdale serving as chairman.

“The world is staring down daunting challenges in this decade and beyond. Our experience in Silicon Valley and the United States innovation ecosystem is that well-funded entrepreneurs can solve these problems and create prosperity,” said Chairman Joe Lonsdale, who is also the managing partner at 8VC, in a statement. “I co-founded Opto with top talent from the technology and financial world to open up private markets to top investment advisors and their global clients like never before—and unlock new capital for the world’s greatest innovators building for the future.”

Mark Machin was most recently president and CEO of CPPIB, which manages over C$500 billion and is one of the leading private market investors in the world. Machin is also a member of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp’s International Advisory Board, Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, and an advisor to its Portfolio Strategies Committee. He was also the chair of FCLT Global, a think-tank founded to encourage the capital markets to focus on long-horizon capital deployment.

8VC is a technology and life sciences investment firm based in Austin.