Ares grew from a Los Angeles credit shop into a sprawling private-markets platform by learning to lend where banks pulled back - then carrying that playbook into property, infrastructure, secondaries and insurance.
Most investment firms choose a lane. Lightning Capital is betting that the useful view comes from watching three at once - startups, private-market leaders and liquid digital assets.
Carta is a San Francisco fintech that turned the messy spreadsheet of startup ownership into software. Founded in 2012 as eShares, it manages cap tables, 409A valuations, equity plans, and fund administration for tens of thousands of companies and venture funds - now positioning itself as the connective tissue for the entire private capital market.