In a groundbreaking development for the finance and technology sectors, Corastone, a cutting-edge private markets platform, has officially launched with an ambitious mission to redefine private market investment. The platform, lauded as a "hyperscaler" for private market investing, brings together some of the world's most renowned financial institutions like Apollo, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, and KKR, heralding a new era of efficiency, accessibility, and innovation in funds management.
As a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of international experience in diverse industries, I can’t stress enough how revolutionary such a step is for private markets. For entrepreneurs, startup founders, and business owners, the impact of this innovation is massive. Let’s unfold what makes Corastone a game-changing initiative and how it shapes the future of alternative investments.
Why Corastone’s Launch Matters for Private Markets
For years, private market investments, such as venture capital, private equity, and real estate, have been marred by inefficiencies, high costs, manual processes, and barriers to entry for smaller players. The launch of Corastone, however, promises to overhaul these bottlenecks with technology. By implementing a permissioned blockchain infrastructure, Corastone is not just transforming how private investments are handled but also positioning itself as the industry's frontrunner for democratizing access to private markets.
One of the standout features of the Corastone platform is its holistic approach. It connects General Partners (GPs), wealth managers, and fund administrators via a single digital infrastructure. This ensures streamlined workflows, real-time data integration, and the elimination of outdated, manual processes. Such advancements underscore new opportunities not just for institutional investors but also for high-net-worth individuals, solopreneurs, and even small fund managers to navigate and participate in the private market ecosystem.
So, how could this change your game as a business founder or entrepreneur? Let's break this down further.
Key Highlights of Corastone’s Platform
Among the features that stand out in this new ecosystem, here are the aspects that every entrepreneur should take note of:
1. Streamlined Processes
Corastone automates cumbersome workflows like document handling, subscriptions, and fund onboarding. For founders seeking private investments or fund managers targeting new markets, this platform reduces operational grunt work, a huge win for small teams and funds.
Why it matters: According to Finextra’s detailed announcement on Corastone, such automation lowers costs and accelerates transactions. This helps you stay competitive by directing attention to critical decision-making instead of paperwork.
2. End-to-End Blockchain Integration
Corastone employs a permissioned blockchain system, distinguishing itself from public blockchains often associated with cryptocurrencies. What this means for users: transactions are faster, more secure, and far less fragmented.
3. Scalability for New Entrants
The platform’s focus on "ecosystem neutrality" ensures there is no conflict of interest. As an entrepreneur, this neutrality gives you confidence that the platform isn’t favoring specific players, ensuring fair opportunities for ventures or private equity investments.
4. Key Collaborators
With financial giants like Apollo, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, and KKR getting onboard, Corastone has already garnered industry trust. According to Wealth Management, these firms are enthusiastic about the platform’s potential to make operations more efficient and scalable for investors worldwide.
Why Entrepreneurs Should Care About This Many entrepreneurs, particularly early-stage founders or those with niche businesses, often struggle to secure funding. Private markets have always been a puzzle that’s hard to crack. Corastone presents an opportunity for smaller players and niche areas that often don’t attract the attention of venture capital mega-firms. Here’s how you can take advantage:
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Increase Access to Capital: With Corastone's ecosystem connecting General Partners and wealth managers, even smaller players may see more opportunities open up.
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Cut Costs and Bureaucracy: Leveraging digital platforms like Corastone to handle subscriptions and documentation not only saves costs but also reduces administrative barriers.
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Build Credibility Through Trusted Networks: Partnering with a platform endorsed by major players like Morgan Stanley can significantly enhance the trust investors place in your venture.
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Scale More Quickly With Blockchain: The blockchain facilitates more organized and seamless private market investments, minimizing friction and delays that could otherwise handicap your growth trajectory.
How You Can Approach This Change
To capitalize on Corastone's offerings, consider the following steps:
Step 1: Understand Your Business Needs
Identify how your company fits into the private markets. Are you seeking growth capital? Partnering opportunities? A chance to scale new investment products? Determine your value proposition.
Step 2: Build the Right Relationships
By entering an ecosystem that involves industry leaders like KKR and Apollo, there’s a chance to forge valuable partnerships. Leverage Corastone as a networking hub.
Step 3: Utilize Corastone’s Automation Systems
Be sure to digitize internal processes to integrate seamlessly into the platform. Automations such as fund lifecycle management can put you steps ahead.
Step 4: Educate Stakeholders
If blockchain technology is new to your board members or employees, educate them about how it provides operational transparency and efficiency.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Not Adapting Processes Early: If your operations are deeply manual, failing to digitize could cost you integration opportunities in the future.
- Overlook Blockchain’s Value: Blockchain isn’t just a 'fad' technology; it’s the foundation of many next-gen industries. Failing to harness it could leave you obsolete.
- Siloed Operations: Remember, Corastone encourages collaboration among all stakeholders, so ensure your teams and external partners are aligned.
Lessons Entrepreneurs Should Take from Corastone’s Vision
As a serial entrepreneur with a strong background in aligning deep-tech and accessible user experience, I see Corastone's vision as crucial for breaking down long-standing barriers. Think of it as a breath of fresh air in a historically opaque and rigid space. Their model stands as a testament to why multidisciplinary approaches and embracing innovation matter.
In my own entrepreneurial journey, I’ve learned the value of building solutions that aim to streamline fragmented industries. The intersection of blockchain and alternative investments is an untapped goldmine, and Corastone leading in this direction is an invitation for other founders to rethink accessibility in their niches.
Conclusion
Corastone is much more than a private investing platform, it’s a transformative step forward for the industry. Whether you’re a fund administrator, general partner, or entrepreneur eyeing private capital for growth, this platform simplifies the process, reduces friction, and democratizes access to opportunities that were once locked behind institutional gates.
Looking at Corastone’s success is a fantastic reminder: innovation happens when we simplify life’s complexities without compromising security or trust. For entrepreneurs and innovators, embracing such platforms isn’t just an opportunity, it’s a necessity for staying competitive in an evolving market.
Explore how Finextra outlines Corastone’s launch. The future of private investments? It’s already here.
FAQ
1. What is Corastone and why is it significant?
Corastone is a cutting-edge private markets platform described as a "hyperscaler" for private market investing. Its goal is to simplify access to private markets by connecting general partners (GPs), wealth managers, and fund administrators via a single digital infrastructure. Learn more about Corastone and its features
2. Which key players have partnered with Corastone?
Notable financial giants like Apollo, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, and KKR have joined Corastone, citing its advanced technology and efficiency in private market investments. Explore Corastone and its key partners
3. How does Corastone improve private market operations?
The platform reduces costs and inefficiencies by automating manual processes, enabling streamlined workflows, end-to-end digital integration, and real-time data transparency. Discover Corastone’s impact on private markets
4. What role does blockchain technology play in Corastone’s platform?
Corastone employs permissioned blockchain technology to offer secure, fast, and seamless private market transactions with the highest levels of data integrity. Understand Corastone’s blockchain integration
5. How does Corastone benefit new and small market players?
Corastone's ecosystem neutrality and automated processes reduce operational barriers and costs, opening opportunities for smaller players and startups to access private markets.
6. What are the potential use cases of the Corastone platform?
Corastone facilitates digital onboarding, subscription processes, capital calls, valuation updates, and transaction processing. These processes enhance scalability and investment lifecycle management. Explore Corastone's use cases
7. What is Corastone’s vision for private markets?
Corastone envisions private markets operating with higher transparency, efficiency, and scalability through digitization and automation of previously manual processes. Discover Corastone’s vision
8. In which industries is Corastone expected to make the most impact?
Corastone is geared towards industries such as venture capital, private equity, and real estate, among other private market investments.
9. How does Corastone handle infrastructure and data sharing?
Corastone’s digital platform ensures ecosystem neutrality with no conflicts of interest. It connects all participants in the investment lifecycle with automated processes and shared infrastructure. Learn more about Corastone’s infrastructure approach
10. Why should entrepreneurs pay attention to Corastone's development?
Entrepreneurs seeking private investments or looking to enter the private market ecosystem can benefit significantly from Corastone’s cost-cutting automation, increased market access, and connection to leading financial institutions like Morgan Stanley and Apollo. See how Corastone supports entrepreneurs
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
