A New York-based financial technology company will expand in Salt Lake County, with plans to create 200 jobs over the next seven years.
ICapital Inc. facilitates alternative investments and connects financial advisors at wealth management institutions with large asset managers.
“Our platform allows these wealth managers to get access to these advisors and not have to build their own platform,” Michael Kushner, CFO, told the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity board, which approved a tax credit incentive of up to $737,221 over seven years for the nearly $8.3 million project.
“Many firms have tried to build in-house. It is very uneconomical. So, what we’re doing at iCapital is building that industry platform that allows these two big participants to connect in.”
Alternative investments include private equity, hedge funds, real estate and private credit. ICapital also offers due diligence, education and administrative support to help advisors navigate the complexities of those investments. The company was founded in 2013 with the goal of making high-quality alternative investments accessible to wealth advisors and their high-net-worth investors and enabling fund managers to reach new sources of capital.
Kushner told the GOEO board that global private wealth now tops $150 trillion, but that figure represents only about 2 percent of alternative investments.
“So, we’re at the very beginning and the very early stages of high-net-worth individuals getting access to this very fast-growing asset class,” he said. “This asset class previously predominantly was institutional-based. Right now, what’s occurring is more financial advisors are allocating their underlying clients to this asset class.”
ICapital has more than $918.5 billion in global transaction volume facilitated on its platform, including $228 billion in alternatives platform assets. It serves over 2,900 wealth management firms and 111,000 active financial professionals. The company has 16 offices, including eight domestic offices and eight abroad.
As recently as 2019, the company had 150 employees but that figure now tops 2,000. The 200 jobs in Utah is “just the initial estimate,” Kushner told the GOEO board.
“And the demand and the growth for our services continues to exceed expectations, and we feel growing in Utah now allows us to get coverage when New York closes but actually provides some coverage into our Asian region,” he said, noting that iCapital has offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore and will open one in Australia by year-end.
“We’re excited for your expansion here in Utah, and we’ll do whatever we can help to make sure you get the talent you need to go beyond the 200 jobs you have here,” Jesse Turley, chairman of the GOEO board’s incentives committee, told Kushner.
The expansion project is projected to generate total new wages of over $92 million over seven years, and new state tax revenue is expected to be nearly $3.7 million during that time.
“Investing in the fintech industry positions Utah as a leader in cutting-edge financial solutions, diversifies our economy, attracts top talent, and lays a strong foundation for long-term growth,” Jefferson Moss, GOEO executive director, said in a prepared statement. “Fintech companies like iCapital make financial services more efficient and inclusive, reinforcing Utah’s role as a hub for technological progress and economic opportunity.”
“Salt Lake City is thrilled for iCapital’s expansion, which reflects our city’s strength in technological innovation and forward-thinking entrepreneurship,” said Lorena Riffo-Jenson, director of Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development. “As we continue to grow our fintech sector, we’re not only fueling economic momentum. We’re creating high-quality jobs that support families and strengthen our communities. This is human-centered economic development in action, and it’s exactly the kind of progress we strive for.”
GOEO does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that an incentivized company meets the obligations in its contract with GOEO, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes the company paid to the state.