Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
RIA aggregators are consolidating the wealth management channel faster than most fundraisers can track. Dakota tracked 26 announced RIA acquisition deals totaling $40.9 billion in acquired AUM in August 2025 alone, and platforms like Hightower, CAPTRUST, and Corient have grown into some of the largest buyers of outside investment strategies in the RIA market.
For fund managers, that consolidation changes who actually controls allocation decisions. Getting in front of the right aggregator contact, at the right level, has become one of the more effective moves a fundraiser can make in this channel.
Below are five practices for approaching RIA aggregators, drawn from Dakota's own fundraising work and conversations with allocators across the space.
Best Practices for Calling on RIA Aggregators
1. Map the home office and the advisor teams separately
Each aggregator typically runs a centralized home office research team that curates approved lists, builds model portfolios, and controls access to alternative investments on behalf of the advisors underneath it. Many aggregators are also building their own internal fund-of-funds structures, which means the home office is competing for shelf space just like you are.
2. Work both ends of the platform
The home office isn't the only door in. Individual advisor teams, sometimes called child accounts, often run their own due diligence and can advocate for a strategy from the ground up, so the most effective approach pairs centralized outreach with relationships at the advisor level.
See every RIA aggregator contact in one place, Dakota Marketplace maps aggregator accounts down to the home office and advisor team level, filterable by custodian, AUM, and alternative platform access. Book a demo to start building your target list.
3. Confirm custodian and platform access before you pitch
Availability through Schwab, Fidelity, or Pershing, and on alternative platforms like iCapital, CAIS, or GLASfunds, often determines whether a strategy can actually be implemented across an aggregator's client accounts. Sort this out before investing time in diligence, not after.
4. Don't ignore independent RIAs because they lack scale today
Aggregator M&A hasn't slowed, and a relationship built with a $300 million RIA can carry forward if that firm is later folded into an $80 billion platform. Getting in early with an independent RIA is one of the more reliable paths into a larger aggregator relationship down the line.
5. Verify a firm's actual structure before ruling it in or out
Aggregators don't always identify themselves clearly and are sometimes labeled as multi-family offices or hybrid RIAs in public data, so confirm how a firm is actually organized before deciding whether it belongs on your target list.
Build Your RIA Aggregator Target List
The RIA aggregator market rewards fundraisers who know exactly who controls the decision, at the home office and at the advisor level, and who show up already cleared for the custodian and platform rails these firms run on. As consolidation continues, the firms that build these relationships now will have the advantage once the next wave of acquisitions reshapes the market again.
In Dakota Marketplace, we track aggregator accounts and home office and advisor contacts, filterable by AUM, custodian, alternative platform access, and geography.
See the full RIA aggregator contact set and book a demo.
