Company Expands Access to Include Three New Funds in Response to Increasing Interest in Alternative Asset Classes from Retail Investors, Broadening Private Market Exposure

SAN FRANCISCO – December 4, 2024 – Today, SoFi (SOFI), a member-centric, one-stop shop for digital financial services that helps members borrow, save, spend, invest and protect their money, announced access to three new private market funds through a relationship with Templum, which operates Templum One, a purpose-built platform for seamlessly accessing and transacting in private alternatives: The Cosmos Fund (with sole exposure to SpaceX) along with two additional private equity funds Pomona Investment Fund, and StepStone Private Markets Fund. 

In a recent survey of five thousand retail investors, SoFi found that more than 87% of investors have an interest in investing in privately held companies. And when asked to review a list of the top 10 most valuable privately held companies, Open AI, SpaceX, and Epic Games ranked as the top three1 , validating an increasing interest across a broad investor audience.

“Historically, the retail investor community has had few opportunities to invest in privately held companies, but we firmly believe in broadening access to potentially valuable opportunities,” said Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi. “Today marks yet another milestone on our path to helping SoFi members achieve financial independence by giving them an opportunity to invest in some of today’s most sought after privately held companies.”

“These private alternative asset offerings represent an exciting step in our partnership with SoFi, enabling their members to access a broader range of investment strategies,” said Chris Pallotta, CEO and Founder of Templum. “Templum’s technology, compliance-focused framework, and deep expertise in alternatives enable us to bring some of the most sought-after private investments to a new generation of investors.”

  Today’s news marks the latest innovation SoFi has taken to empower its members with expanded access to diverse investment opportunities, including: its early 2024 launch of alternative funds on the SoFi Invest platform, a new SoFi Robo Investing offering – announced last month – and now,  an expanded selection of alternative funds.

SoFi Invest members who are interested in learning more about accessing Templum’s offerings of  the Cosmos Fund (with sole exposure to SpaceX), Pomona Investment Fund, and the StepStone Private Markets fund can find information in the Invest section of the SoFi App. At this time, these investments are limited to accredited investors. 

About SoFi

SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) is a member-centric, one-stop shop for digital financial services on a mission to help people achieve financial independence to realize their ambitions. The company’s full suite of financial products and services helps 9.4 million SoFi members borrow, save, spend, invest, and protect their money better by giving them fast access to the tools they need to get their money right, all in one app. SoFi also equips members with the resources they need to get ahead – like credentialed financial planners, exclusive experiences and events, and a thriving community – on their path to financial independence.

SoFi innovates across three business segments: Lending, Financial Services – which includes SoFi Checking and Savings, SoFi Invest, SoFi Credit Card, SoFi Protect, and SoFi Insights – and Technology Platform, which offers the only end-to-end vertically integrated financial technology stack. SoFi Bank, N.A., an affiliate of SoFi, is a nationally chartered bank, regulated by the OCC and FDIC and SoFi is a bank holding company regulated by the Federal Reserve. The company is also the naming rights partner of SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams. For more information, visit SoFi.com or download our iOS and Android apps.

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

SoFi Securities, LLC (“SoFi Invest”) has a referral arrangement with Templum Markets, LLC (“Templum”), allowing eligible SoFi Invest members to access certain special purpose vehicles (“SPVs”) and private investment funds through Templum. Templum charges a purchase fee of up to 6% for SPVs and up to 3.5% for funds. In this arrangement, Templum compensates SoFi Invest with 20-50% of the purchase fees Templum charges to SoFi Invest members who open a Templum account and invest through Templum. SoFi Invest is not affiliated with Templum and makes no endorsement of Templum’s products or services, but the compensation that SoFi Invest receives from Templum is a conflict of interest and creates an incentive for SoFi Invest to refer its members to Templum. Investing in securities involves a high degree of risk, including possible loss of your entire investment, and there is no guarantee of liquidity in any given security notwithstanding such security being listed on the Templum Markets Alternative Trading System. Securities are offered by and through Templum Markets, LLC (Members FINRA and SIPC). Templum Markets, LLC is wholly owned by Templum, Inc.

About Templum

Templum’s scalable infrastructure solutions are transforming access, processes and investment choice in alternative assets, making them as easy to invest in as public markets. Templum operates three core business lines:

• Templum One is an innovative global ecosystem for private markets that connects alternative and private market issuers with a growing network of partners who want to offer their end investors access to the world’s most sought-after private assets. 
• Templum Marketplace Solutions enable private issuers and asset managers to automate processes, integrate siloed operations, and accelerate time-to-market. 
• Templum Applications Suite provides essential solutions to optimize back office and operational processes, saving businesses time, money and resources.

All securities offered by Templum Markets LLC., a wholly owned broker-dealer and Alternative Trading System (ATS) subsidiary of Templum, Inc., which is approved to operate in 53 U.S. states and territories. For more information, please visit www.templuminc.com.

The nomination for Treasury Secretary is one of the highest-profile cabinet picks for any incoming president, especially if they’ve run on promises to improve the economy. So, it’s worth examining what a Treasury Secretary actually does now that President-elect Donald Trump has chosen hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.

For starters, the secretary is the president’s lead economic adviser, so they are not only one of the chief salespeople for a president’s economic agenda, but they can have a lot of influence over it. (Many credited Steven Mnuchin, the secretary during Trump’s first term, as instrumental in getting the first massive COVID-19 relief legislation through.)

Bessent, who must still have his role confirmed by the Senate, is already being celebrated on Wall Street and by business leaders because he favors reining in deficit spending and softening Trump’s approach to tariffs, according to press reports. To encourage more manufacturing in the U.S., Trump has said companies importing goods from China and other countries will face steep tariffs, but many fear that will drive up the prices consumers have to pay for those goods.

The Treasury Department manages all federal finances, collects tax revenue (the IRS is part of the Treasury,) regulates banks, and oversees the actual printing of dollars. Another key role is selling and managing public debt such as Treasury bills and bonds so that the government can pay its bills. That means it’s the secretary’s problem whenever the U.S. hits the so-called debt ceiling, the self-imposed cap on the amount of money the country can legally borrow. After fierce debate, Congress last suspended the ceiling in June of 2023 and will need to raise or suspend it again in January to avoid a default.

So what? The Treasury Secretary has a potentially enormous influence on a wide range of financial fronts — from the prices you pay for appliances, toys, and clothes to your investments to how the government spends the money it collects from income taxes. With President Trump promising a break from government business as usual, Bessent will have all eyes on him.

Related Reading

•   What Trump’s Pick for Treasury Secretary Could Mean for Global Markets (CNBC)

•   3 Urgent Tasks Awaiting Trump’s Pick for Treasury Secretary (CNN)

•   After Flurry of Cabinet Picks, Trump Rethinks Candidates for Treasury Secretary (The New York Times)

photocredit: iStock/Douglas Rissing

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Investor appetite for risk-taking was unleashed in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election. U.S. stocks had their best month in a year, with optimism over the coming administration’s policy stances lifting the more cyclical and speculative parts of the market. International markets were less fortunate, as appreciation of the dollar and the potential for tariffs weighed on their prospects. U.S. economic growth remained solid, though high Treasury yields and mortgage rates continue to pose challenges to the housing market. Against this backdrop, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 25 basis points again, as it continues to normalize monetary policy.

Macro

• The Fed lowered the fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.50%-4.75%.

• Fed officials discussed the possibility of lowering the overnight reverse-repo rate by 5 basis points, which would effectively increase liquidity by making it less attractive to park cash with the Fed.

• Initial jobless claims fell to 213k, the lowest level since April, while continuing claims rose to 1.907m, the highest level since November 2021.

• New home sales declined to 610k in October versus consensus of 725k, the biggest downside surprise since March 2014.

• Excluding defense and aircraft, capital goods orders fell 0.2% in October versus an expected increase of 0.1%, while the prior month’s increase was revised down from 0.7% to 0.3%.

• The U.S. Dollar Index rose from 104.0 at the start of the month to 107.6 on November 22, its strongest level since last November, before slightly retreating.

Equities

• Buoyed by post-election optimism around looser regulations, U.S. stocks had their best month since last November.

• Small-cap growth stocks returned 12.3%, their best month since November 2020 when vaccine news boosted investor sentiment.

• Dollar strength hurt international stock performance, with both developed and emerging markets negative on the month.

• Q4 earnings expectations were revised down by 0.8%, with Materials (-3.8%), Energy (-3.1%) and Consumer Staples (-2.2%) seeing the biggest downward revisions.

Fixed Income

• With the result of the 2024 presidential election, the MOVE Index (i.e. interest rate volatility) declined from 135.2 to 95.2, the biggest single-month drop since November 2020.

• Investment grade and high yield credit spreads narrowed to 74 and 253 basis points, respectively, on November 12, the narrowest levels since before the 2008 Financial Crisis.

The Trump Trade

One of the most unprecedented presidential elections in history finally came to a head last month, with former President Donald Trump emerging as the winner. Policy changes are likely as a result, though the exact mix is uncertain. The market reaction has been confident and optimistic though.

While the S&P 500 rose by a robust 2.5% the day after the election, the cyclical bellwethers of Financials, Consumer Discretionary and small-cap growth stocks jumped 6.2%, 3.6%, and 5.4%, respectively. Bitcoin also skyrocketed, but its November return of nearly 40% would have taken it literally off the chart above.

Have things fundamentally changed enough to justify the price action? Not really. But investors believe they could. The belief that the incoming administration will be more pro-business through deregulation and lower taxes is what helped unleash animal spirits. And while more trade tariffs would likely weigh on markets, investors mostly see these threats as a negotiating tool for now. Crucially, the only way to disprove current investor expectations is for time to pass and for us to see what will come. That could keep the rally going, at least for now.

Election Implications

There were other elections besides the presidency, however. On the congressional side, interpreting the election results requires some nuance. The Republican party was able to maintain control of the House (albeit with an extremely narrow margin), while retaking the Senate. So, while Republicans are technically in the driver’s seat for the next two years, they can’t afford any defections within the party if the Democrats are unified in opposition.

Environments like this typically mean less risk of big changes (i.e., gridlock), but that typical pattern might not hold this time since some provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire at the end of 2025. According to KPMG, the expirations would effectively raise taxes by over $4 trillion, so there could be considerable pressure to address it.

The debt ceiling limit will also be reinstated on January 1. Somewhat paradoxically, this would be a temporary liquidity boost for markets until it’s resolved: Instead of the private sector having to absorb Treasury debt issuance (i.e. money would flow from the private sector to the government), the U.S. Treasury would draw down the cash it has in the Treasury General Account (i.e. money would flow from the government to the private sector). Although there is wind at the market’s back right now, the uncertain outlook will likely keep the prospect of volatility going into next year.

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Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Market returns will fluctuate, and current performance may be lower or higher than the standardized performance data quoted.

How It Works is an ongoing series here on our blog, exploring and demystifying topics about which we hear often from our members and the public. Today, we’re taking a look at how SoFi makes money.

[UPDATED 11/21/2024 to include additional information on how SoFi Invest makes money.]