[01]
General partners
Fund managers raising a vehicle
PE, venture, private credit, real estate and hedge fund managers who hire a fund placement agent to raise a new vehicle, a continuation fund, or a co-invest sleeve.
Private placement agent We place capital with institutions.
spectup is private placement agent for funds, companies and listed issuers, raising institutional and private capital without a public offering.
4.9 / 5
Top Capital Market Consulting Company 2026
18 Clutch reviews
18 Clutch reviews
30-minute call on fit
Niclas Schlopsna · Managing Partner
/ 01
Issuers spectup has placed for
“The outreach generated 44 investor meetings and saved me countless hours of unqualified calls.”
Jonathan WeinsFounder and CEO, PopMeals
$18MRaise
44Investor meetings
Series BRound
Investors we booked meetings with, including
Collaborative FundSandbox IndustriesAlpha JWCSeaya VCTau VenturesLeverVCGTM FundSparkLabs
be
CreatorIQ
PopMeals
GORD
KLAYD
OnePulse
BREATHE
Perplexity
Viktor AI
Lane Health
Imperative VC+150 more
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What we have placed, and for whom
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Issuers we work with
[02]
Private companies
Growth, private debt and recapitalisation
Growth equity, structured private debt and recapitalisations for companies with revenue and a defined use of proceeds.
[03]
Listed issuers
PIPEs and follow-on placements
PIPEs, registered directs and follow-on placements for balance sheet repair, acquisition funding and expansion.
One 30-minute call tells you whether your structure clears and which investors would underwrite it.
Discuss your placement/ 04
And who we turn down
A fund placement is typically eight to twelve months of one desk's attention, depending on the size of the raise, so we take a small number at a time.
A manager raising a vehicle of $50M or more, a continuation fund or a co-invest sleeve, with a track record an LP can diligence.
A company before revenue or before its Series A, or a fund under $50M.
An established low or mid-market company with revenue and a defined use of proceeds.
No defined use of proceeds. The first thing an investor asks is what the money buys.
A listed issuer with a board-approved raise and a reason for it.
A raise that has to close in weeks.
A timeline that allows a real process: a fund placement typically runs eight to twelve months.
An introduction-only arrangement. We only run the whole placement.
A transaction where it is clear which side we are on.
Acting for the investors as well as the issuer.
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What we do as your private placement agent
Five workstreams, and what we hand you at the end of each one.
01
Capital strategy
Raise size, instrument, structure and the investor profile that clears it, decided before anything goes out.
You holdA structuring memo you can take to a board
02
Valuation and positioning
Comparable transaction benchmarking and the equity story investors underwrite.
You holdA defensible range and the story behind it
03
Offering materials
PPM, investor deck, financial model, term sheet, data room.
You holdThe full document set, investor ready
04
Investor targeting and outreach
Named target list, warm introductions and signal-triggered outbound across LPs, family offices, pension funds and endowments.
You holdA named list and a live pipeline
05
Diligence and close
Q and A management, meeting prep, preparing you for the term negotiation, signing.
You holdSigned subscription documents
We scope, price and date all five.
Get a proposal/ 06
How our private placement service runs, from engagement to close
A fund placement typically runs eight to twelve months from engagement to close, depending on the size of the raise, and the stages overlap. A company raise runs five to eight months.
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01Engagement Week 1 Signed engagement, raise parameters -
02Positioning Weeks 2 to 3 Equity story, valuation benchmark -
03Materials Weeks 3 to 5 PPM, deck, model, data room -
04Outreach Week 5 onward Target list, first investor meetings -
05Close Month 8 to 12 Term sheet, diligence, signing
We run scheduling and meeting management inside step 04 as an investor roadshow.
18 pagesLPs only2026
How LPs pick emerging managers
90%of one LP's incoming decks get an instant pass, most for missing the LP's focus.
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What a private placement agent costs
Monthly retainer+Placement fee
A monthly retainer while the placement runs, then one placement fee at the close, once the capital is in.
No placement fee. The retainers are the whole cost.
01
The retainer
The desk, the materials and the investor outreach, at the same fee every month of the term.
02
The placement fee
A percentage of capital placed, capped.
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Three ways to run a private placement, and what each costs you
spectup
A full-service bank
In-house
Who works it
spectupA spectup partner leads it, with the team on research, materials and outreach.
Full-service bankA coverage banker wins it. An associate team runs it.
In-houseYour CFO, alongside the day job.
Where it fits
spectupLow and mid-market, where a private placement firm with a dedicated desk is the difference.
Full-service bankLarger deals, where the fee supports a full desk.
In-houseAny size, until the list runs out.
Investor coverage
spectupA direct book, plus technology-driven outbound to names we have no line to yet.
Full-service bankThe firm's institutional distribution.
In-houseThe relationships you already have.
Sides
spectupOne. Paid by that side only.
Full-service bankRelationships on both sides of the market.
In-houseYour own. No counterparty coverage.
What it costs
spectupRetainer plus a capped success fee. Most of it only lands if capital does.
Full-service bankA larger retainer plus a success fee, structured to the deal.
In-houseA high salary. An investor relations hire is a fixed annual cost whether the round closes or not.
If it stalls
spectupThe same people are still on it.
Full-service bankPriority follows the fee pool.
In-houseIt competes with running the business.
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Every private placement agent's network runs out
Ours: 440+ allocators we have closed with, 2,500+ we have taken clients in front of, and the LP books of 30+ partner firms.
Our capital introduction services
Ring I · personal
40+
We can call them
Allocators we know personally and meet through the year. On a placement these are the first calls, made before any deck goes out.
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Then the technology takes over
Two systems we built in-house tell us when an LP is between commitments: a signal engine on the market, and our own investor data on who allocates to what.
- Fund closes a new vehicle
- Allocator publishes a mandate
- Partner moves firm
- Portfolio exit frees capital
- Pension lifts its private markets target
- Continuation fund announced
Most triggers stop at our data. The few that fit get one approach, on the channel that name answers on, in the week the trigger fired.
Run this on your raise
We run the signal engine from week one of the engagement.
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Where our private placement agent team places capital
spectup is an international team placing capital across four regions. A placement runs wherever the capital for that strategy sits, which is rarely the market the issuer is in.
Private placement agent services in the United States and Canada. Institutional investors and LPs in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto. U.S. activity runs under SEC Rule 15a-6 through a chaperoning arrangement. Private placement agent services in Europe. LPs, family offices and institutions in London, Munich, Berlin, Zurich, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan and Stockholm. Private placement agent services in the Middle East. Sovereign wealth, family office and institutional capital in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Doha. Private placement agent services in Asia Pacific. Institutional allocators and family capital in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney.
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Sectors we place into
LPs and institutions allocate by strategy before they allocate by name, so we build the target list sector first. These are the nine where our investor relationships are deepest.
- 01SoftwareB2B and vertical software on recurring contracts
- 02Financial servicesPayments, lending, insurance and wealth
- 03HealthcareCare providers, benefits, devices and diagnostics
- 04EnergyGeneration, grid, transition infrastructure and utilities
- 05IndustrialsManufacturing, components and industrial technology
- 06Consumer and foodBrands and food operators with repeat purchase
- 07Business servicesAgencies and outsourced services on recurring contracts
- 08LogisticsFreight, warehousing and value-added distribution
- 09Real estateCommercial development and asset portfolios
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Placements we closed
Materials and positioning
$40M
44 investor meetings generated
$18M
74 investor meetings generated
$12M
Company and fund raises across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, all run by the same desk.
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Meet the whole team
The spectup partners who run your placement
Managing Partner
Niclas Schlopsna
LeadsSales and strategy
Partner & Head of IR
Edwin Mik
LeadsInvestor relations
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What issuers say once the round has closed
“Seamless on our Series D. They sharpened our story and delivered materials that set us apart.”
Tim SovayChief BD & Partnerships OfficerCreatorIQ
18 Clutch reviews
Which spectup service you need
I am for a
Company roundsStartup fundraising consultantPositioning, materials, targeting and the process, run end to end.
Startup fundraising consultant
You are herePrivate placement for companiesGrowth equity and private debt for established companies, placed with the investors who fit.
You are on this page
You are hereFund placementFund managers raising a vehicle, placed with LPs from an investor base we own.
You are on this page
Acquiring a companyBuy-side M&A advisoryFor an acquirer who wants the whole process run: the target universe, the approach to owners and the process to signing.
Buy-side M&A advisory
Introductions onlyDeal originationFor PE firms, corporate development teams and HoldCos: a pipeline per thesis, owners approached off-market and introduced to the acquirer.
Deal origination
Selling a companySell-side M&A advisoryFor an owner selling the company: the universe of acquirers, and several bidders kept on one timetable to signing.
Sell-side M&A advisory
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Private placement questions we answer on every first call
01What does a private placement agent do?
A private placement agent raises capital for an issuer from institutional and private investors without a public offering. The agent structures the raise, prepares the offering materials, identifies and approaches qualified investors, manages diligence, and prepares the issuer for the negotiation through close.
02Is capital introduction the same as a placement agent?
Capital introduction usually means a prime broker introducing a hedge fund manager to allocators, as a service bundled with prime brokerage and paid for through trading. A placement agent is engaged and paid by the fund, works a named target list of LPs to a timetable, prepares the materials and sits in the process through to close. The introduction is where our work starts. spectup takes no trading side of a relationship.
03What is the difference between a placement agent and an investment bank?
A placement agent is engaged specifically to place securities privately, while a full-service investment bank also runs public offerings, M&A and trading. Placement agents typically work on a retainer plus success fee and concentrate on investor coverage in a defined asset class. More on the distinction in placement agents in private equity.
04How much does a placement agent charge?
Placement agents typically charge a monthly retainer covering process management and outreach, plus a success fee on capital placed. spectup caps the success fee.
05What types of clients does spectup represent?
spectup represents general partners raising private funds of $50M or more in private equity, venture, private credit, real estate and hedge funds, along with private companies and listed issuers pursuing institutional placements.
06How does spectup select and approach investors?
We select investors from a direct institutional network and proprietary data on what each investor is currently allocating to. Outreach is triggered by live signals such as a new fund close, a partner move or a portfolio company raise, so the approach lands when the allocation decision is live.
07Is spectup a registered broker-dealer in the US?
No. spectup’s U.S.-related activities are conducted under SEC Rule 15a-6 through a chaperoning arrangement with a U.S. registered broker-dealer that is a FINRA and SIPC member.
08Is spectup independent?
Yes. spectup has no proprietary products, no fund affiliations and no distribution agreements. The firm is engaged by one side of a transaction and is paid by that side only.
09Which jurisdictions does spectup cover?
spectup runs transactions across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, including cross-border placements with multi-jurisdictional regulatory requirements.
10Can spectup run a PIPE for a listed company?
Yes. spectup advises publicly listed issuers on PIPEs, registered directs and follow-on private placements for balance sheet, acquisition and expansion capital.
11Do you handle fund formation?
No. Fund formation is your counsel's work: the structure, the LPA, the regulatory filings. We take it on once the vehicle exists and the raise begins, which is the point where a private placement service earns its fee. If you are still pre-formation we will say so on the first call and point you at the two or three firms that do it properly, because a raise run against an unfinished structure stalls at the first serious diligence request.
One 30-minute call tells you whether your structure clears and which investors would underwrite it.
We are engaged by one side, and we bring the other one to the table.
01
Raise parameters and materials
02
A 30-minute call on fit and coverage
03
Written proposal