The insights referenced in this article are drawn from Dakota Holdings, a part of Dakota Marketplace, the global private markets intelligence platform used by thousands of investment professionals to research LPs, GPs, and private companies. Built by fundraisers for fundraisers, Dakota Marketplace delivers complete, accurate, and daily-updated intelligence across every allocator channel, from family offices and RIAs to sovereign wealth funds and public pensions. Learn More | Book a Demo
The RIA market moving into alternatives is no longer a trend, it is a structural shift. Approximately 80% of advisors now allocate alternatives for accredited investors, and the pace is accelerating.
According to KKR's 2025 RIA Private Markets Survey, nearly half of RIAs currently allocate 10% or more of their AUM to private market investments, and 81% expect to maintain or exceed that level within five years. National RIAs forecast that the share of clients holding alternatives in their portfolios will reach 35% by the end of 2026.
For alternative investment managers, that is a distribution opportunity of genuine scale. The question is how to find the specific firms that are already moving… not the ones that say they might, but the ones putting capital to work right now. That is exactly what 13F filings show.
In this article, we cover what the RIA alternatives shift looks like in the data, which vehicle types show up in 13F filings and which don't, and how Dakota’s holding data connects those positions to the contacts you need to act on them.
The Shift Is Real, and the Data Backs It Up
The alternatives adoption story inside the RIA channel is not uniform. It is concentrated, accelerating among committed firms, and moving fastest in specific asset classes.
70% of RIAs currently allocate to private credit, up from 62% in 2024, and 58% plan to increase allocations in 2026 (Alternative Fund Advisors, February 2026). Interval funds have become the dominant vehicle for that exposure: 80% of RIAs used interval funds in 2025, up from 58% in 2024 (Alternative Fund Advisors, February 2026). Private credit is no longer a niche allocation — it is a core building block for a growing share of the channel.
The picture is similar across other alternative asset classes. Significantly more RIAs plan to increase allocations to private infrastructure, private equity, private credit, and private real estate in 2026 compared to 2024 results (KKR 2025 RIA Private Markets Survey, December 2025). As alternatives become core rather than satellite, the conversation shifts from education to selection. RIAs already in the category are not asking whether to allocate, they are asking which manager to use. That is the conversation worth being in.
What 13F Filings Show About Alternatives Exposure
Every institution managing $100 million or more in U.S. securities files a 13F quarterly, disclosing every long position 45 days after each quarter ends. For alternative investment managers, the 13F is the clearest public signal of which RIAs are already allocating to strategies adjacent to yours.
The key is understanding which alternative vehicles show up in a 13F and which don't. Private fund commitments (LP interests in a closed-end PE or credit fund) do not appear. What does appear covers a significant and growing portion of the alternatives universe:
- BDCs: Business Development Companies trading on public exchanges. A major vehicle for private credit exposure in RIA portfolios.
- Interval funds: The fastest-growing vehicle for democratized alternatives, covering private real estate and private credit. 80% of RIAs used them in 2025, up from 58% the year prior.
- Liquid alternatives ETFs: Options-income funds, structured credit, and multi-asset alt strategies.
- Closed-end funds: Fixed share count funds with significant infrastructure and fixed income concentration.
- REITs: Real estate investment trusts, classified within Dakota's sector equity taxonomy.
An RIA consistently holding interval funds across multiple quarters has already cleared compliance, gotten internal buy-in, and allocated client capital to that structure. That is a meaningfully different starting point than a cold approach to a firm whose alternatives appetite is unknown.
Dakota Holdings connects 13F alternatives positions to confirmed RIA contacts, so your team spends less time researching and more time in front of the right people. Book a demo.
Reading 13F Data as a Signal, Not Just a Record
The most valuable insight from 13F data is not a snapshot, it is a pattern. A single quarter tells you what a firm owns. Multiple quarters tell you where a firm is going.
The signals worth prioritizing:
- Growing positions. An RIA that increased its interval fund allocation from $2 million to $4 million to $7 million over three consecutive quarters is expressing conviction. That trajectory is a more valuable signal than a large static position that hasn't moved.
- New entrants. An RIA that held no alternatives exposure six months ago and now holds a BDC or interval fund position has just cleared internal hurdles for the first time. That is a firm in motion, and the window to get in front of them is narrow.
- Expanding vehicle types. An RIA that holds one BDC and then adds an interval fund is building out an alternatives program, not maintaining a one-off position. Firms diversifying across vehicle types are the ones most likely to add a new manager relationship.
- Position size relative to AUM. A $3 million interval fund position at a $400 million RIA is a meaningful allocation. The same position at a $4 billion RIA is a test. Context matters, and Dakota Holdings connects each position to the firm's full AUM profile so your team can prioritize accordingly.
Where 13F Data Has Limits in the Alternatives Context
The 13F is a powerful starting point but not a complete picture. For alternatives-focused managers, two limits are worth understanding.
First, private fund commitments do not appear. An RIA that is fully committed to private credit through closed-end LP structures will show none of that exposure in a 13F. The filing captures public securities only. This means some of the most committed alternatives allocators are invisible in the raw data.
Second, the 13F shows the firm… not the person. Knowing that a $1.5 billion RIA in Denver holds four interval funds across three consecutive quarters is useful. Knowing which of their investment professionals leads the alternatives sleeve, and having a direct contact, is what converts that signal into a meeting. The structural problems with raw 13F data run deeper than most teams realize, and the contact gap is one of the most common places distribution efforts stall.
From Holdings Data to the Right Person at the Right Firm
Dakota Marketplace’s holdings data ingests every 13F filing and runs it through a seven-step enrichment process before it reaches your team. Every position is tagged across 19 asset classes and 236 sub-asset classes. Every filing is matched to a known allocator profile. And every account is connected to confirmed, active contacts: names, roles, and outreach information.
For alternative managers, that means the data does not stop at the position. You can filter by vehicle type (interval funds, BDCs, closed-end funds, REITs) by position size, by filing period, and by RIA AUM. The result is a prioritized, contact-ready prospect list built on what RIAs are actually doing, not what they say they might do.
The quarter-over-quarter trend view is built in. Your team can see which firms are growing alternatives exposure, which are new entrants, which have been consistent allocators for years, and reach out with the right message for each. For teams building a broader RIA distribution strategy, Dakota’s holding data is the starting point for every alternatives conversation worth having.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to see which RIAs in your target market are already allocating to strategies like yours with our holdings data.
