Family offices can combine delegated fund investments with selected direct company investments and secondaries. The paths show the available routes into the portfolio. Path width carries no information about expected capital or probability.
Family Office Ways to Invest
Family offices can combine delegated fund investments with selected direct company investments and secondaries.
View chart data and assumptions
| Route | Destination | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Funds | Route | Delegated, diversified exposure. |
| Co-investments | Governance | Targeted company exposure. |
| Secondaries | Timing | Existing private shares. |
How Much Venture Can the Family Hold?
An attractive manager or company is only part of the case for a venture programme. The family's goals, ability to bear a loss and likely cash needs determine how much room it has. Taxes, giving, family commitments and operating businesses compete for the same money, often on a shorter timetable.
UBS's 2025 Global Family Office Report shows why this matters. Many family offices hold a large share of their assets in private markets, but the mix varies widely. The room for another commitment depends on the holdings and obligations already in place.
The commitment also lasts longer than the excitement of the first investment. Many private funds are planned around an 8- to 12-year term, and extensions or slow exits can lengthen the wait. A family that may need the same money sooner has learned something important before reviewing a single fund.
Several funds and SPVs may own the same private companies. The family can look diversified while taking the same risk through each route. A new round or change in value can then hit several holdings at once. That overlap becomes visible when direct shares and stakes held through managers and vehicles are counted together.
What Venture Can Add to the Family's Wealth
Goldman Sachs' 2025 respondents held 31% in public equities and 42% in alternatives, including 21% in private equity. Those averages describe the surveyed families. They also illustrate how venture can become one more source of private-market risk within an already complex balance sheet.
One family may want long-term growth from young technology companies. Another may seek specialist managers or knowledge of a sector tied to its business. A clear purpose gives those choices a common basis. When the goals are vague, family engagement, business strategy or networking can become reasons to accept a weak deal.
Venture Within the Family's Whole Balance Sheet
UBS reported 54% in alternatives for surveyed US family offices. Private equity accounted for 27%, real estate for 18%, and private debt for 3%.
Venture is rarely the family's only illiquid asset. New commitments compete with existing funds, property, private businesses and planned spending. The cash that can stay invested through a poor exit market sets a practical limit on the number of managers and deals the family can hold.
How the Structure Changes the Office's Work
UBS put global private-market allocations at 21% in 2024. Among offices planning changes, the intended level was 18%, with reductions concentrated in direct private equity. The finding is a useful prompt: direct ownership adds work as well as control.
A fund delegates company selection and reserve decisions to a manager, which can suit an office with limited investing staff. A direct deal gives the family more company-level choice. It also brings responsibility for judging the business, negotiating terms and following its progress. Each later round creates another decision about funding.
A trusted sponsor may lead a co-investment, though the family still bears the risk of one company. A secondary can offer a more mature asset or portfolio. Its transfer rights and the quality of available information affect how useful that later entry really is.
Why an Available Deal May Still Be a Poor Fit
Carta estimated $61.1 billion of VC secondary activity in the 12 months to June 2025, slightly above $58.8 billion of VC-backed IPO value. More activity creates more ways to invest. The reason each position is for sale remains part of the buyer's assessment.
The reason a family receives an opportunity can reveal the sponsor's incentives. Who manages the company relationship and whether the family buys the lead's security also affect the deal. In a secondary purchase, the seller's rights and transfer approvals add another layer. A trusted introduction gives access, but does not establish portfolio fit.
The Same Company Can Appear in Several Holdings
Fund names can make a portfolio look more varied than it is. Two managers may own the same late-stage company, while an SPV and a personal holding add more exposure. Combining those stakes reveals how much of the family's wealth depends on that business.
Overlapping holdings can become a cash problem when exits are delayed. Several vehicles may ask for more capital while distributions stop. The family may then need to sell liquid assets at a poor time, even though each venture commitment looked manageable on its own.
Illustrative Net LP Return Sensitivity
The controls illustrate how commitment size, deployed capital, portfolio outcome and holding period change the family's investment result.
Illustrative LP Scenario
Sensitivity Model$26.24M
$15.04M
$26.24M
2.34x
15.2%
The sensitivity table shows how a simplified set of assumptions changes net results. It offers no forecast or recommendation, and no Frontierspace outcome is implied. Actual fees and expenses may differ. Cash-flow timing, taxes, follow-on capital and the route to liquidity can change the result again.
What One Investment Reveals About a Manager
Following a company from its first introduction to the latest report reveals how a manager works. The record can show who found it, why the fund gained access and what the team expected at entry. The opening cheque and reserve plan explain how much ownership the manager hoped to keep within the fund's budget.
Later reports show how the original investment case held up. Missed goals and changes in value are as revealing as progress. Knowing which partner made each decision also helps explain whose work produced the track record.
How the Programme Takes Shape
The family's target range and cash limits define the space available for venture. The team's capacity then narrows the choice of structures and managers. Direct deals and co-investments can add value where they fit those limits and improve the existing mix.
Across venture funds, growth investments and secondaries, the business case is connected to what the family owns and how it may receive cash. Familiarity with a company can lead to an introduction. Evidence about its business, security and exit prospects gives the investment case its substance.
Stripe: How a Family-Office Platform Joined an Institutional Round
MSD Partners joined Stripe's 2023 Series I alongside GIC, Temasek, Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management, and established venture investors. The money let shareholders get cash. It did not fund Stripe's operations.
The financing set a $50 billion valuation for Stripe.
MSD Partners joined sovereign and other large investors in the round. The family-office platform was one member of that wider group.
Stripe then retired shares to offset new issuance and address employee tax bills. The funding was thus linked to cash for shareholders.
Family offices can invest beside large institutions, though the resulting stake still has to fit their own wealth and cash needs. This transaction gave exposure to private-company growth while funding shareholder sales. The buyer could still face a long wait for its own exit.
Primary sources: Stripe, Series I and employee liquidity (2023). The Stripe financing is cited from public records and is unrelated to Frontierspace performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a family office invest directly or through funds?
Many offices use both routes. Funds leave company selection and reserves with a manager. Direct deals and co-investments give the family more choice, with faster review and closer monitoring. The team's capacity helps explain the mix it can sustain.
- Funds: May fit when the office wants delegated selection, monitoring, and reserve management.
- Directs and co-investments: These involve deeper company analysis and faster decisions. The chosen stake size determines how much risk rests on one business.
How should liquidity be assessed?
Liquidity becomes harder to manage when investments last longer and cash comes back later than planned. The strain depends on whether the family can still meet calls and follow-on promises while funding its businesses and spending plans.