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Rethinking Alternatives: CION’s Everyday Investor Mission
For many years, alternative investments—private credit, infrastructure, and diversified asset strategies—were the exclusive domain of institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth families. At the 2025 Future Proof Festival, Mark Gatto, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of CION, made it clear that his firm’s mission is to break those barriers: “Our core mission is to make alternative investments accessible to the everyday investor. Individual investors that are advised by financial advisors don’t all have the same level of access... we want to develop products that are appropriate for the wealthiest clients, as well as your everyday investor who wants to play on the same field that the big boys do”.
This is not just a slogan. CION’s entire approach is grounded in structuring products and building partnerships to deliver institutional-quality investments for the advisor-driven wealth channel, not just asset allocators in ivory towers.
Multi-Brand Platform: Why Choice and Quality Matter
Gatto emphasized a critical differentiator that advisors and their clients should note. Unlike competitors that lead with a single brand or “house” product, CION operates a multi-brand platform. “We go out and we identify best-in-class managers in strategies that we think are very appropriate... we’re not looking to bring to market trades or the flavor of the month. That is something that really separates us from competitors. We are a multi-brand investment platform,” he said.
For advisors, this translates to flexibility and depth. Rather than cycling trendy products, CION curates enduring investment solutions—combining in-house funds with access to some of the best managers worldwide. Advisors concerned about longevity, transparency, and risk mitigation benefit from this selective, diversified approach.
The Pillars: Private Credit and Infrastructure
Among its product suite, CION advocates for the essential role of alternative investments in a well-diversified portfolio. “We obviously are big proponents of alternative investments. We think that it needs to be a core component of a well-diversified portfolio at CION; we are big believers and advocates of private credit,” Gatto shared.
CION’s two flagship private credit solutions include:
- CION Investment Corporation (NYSE: CION): A listed business development company investing in U.S. middle-market companies, for clients seeking income through floating-rate loans and selective middle-market lending.
- CION Ares Diversified Credit Fund: Through a partnership with Ares Management, this interval fund traverses the credit spectrum.
“Infrastructure” is a cornerstone in their alternative playbook and distinct from typical offerings. Their third marquee solution, the CION Grosvenor Infrastructure Fund, is structured as an interval fund but focuses on income and moderate growth—“a hybrid of sort of credit and pure play private equity,” explained Gatto. “What we’re doing is highly diversified in terms of the types of assets that we look at in infrastructure, and we’re also focused on not only core, but core plus and value add. So that diversification really distinguishes us from other competitors out there.”
Making Alternatives Digestible—And Liquid
CION’s innovations do not end with strategy. Gatto outlined how CION leverages the interval fund wrapper to overcome traditional illiquidity hurdles. “Interval funds are really the gateway for retail clients to access alternatives. It functions very much like a mutual fund... an advisor can simply punch in a ticker symbol and get access to the fund. Exiting the investment is also much more efficient because it provides quarterly liquidity, albeit limited to 5% of the net asset value, but it’s a product that gives the individual investor a pathway to liquidity if they need it.”
For advisors, this means a product that is easier to explain, easier to allocate, and fits the operational realities of most clients’ financial plans. It unlocks access to investments—like diversified infrastructure—that previously sat behind lock and key.
Why Advisors Should Care: Staying Relevant and Client-Centric
Why are alternative investments vital for today’s financial advisors? The rapidly shifting market landscape and growing client expectations demand new thinking. As Gatto noted: “If advisors want to stay relevant, if advisors want to continue to build their client base, they need to be informed about alternatives...[more] are probably with advisors that are continuing to do things the old-fashioned way, the traditional 60/40. So I think if advisors want to stay relevant, they want to grow their client base, they need to know more about alternatives and how to appropriately include them in a portfolio.”
With generational wealth transfers underway and preferences changing—particularly among Gen X and Millennials—advisors who fail to integrate alternatives risk falling behind. “You may want to overweight alternatives, or if it’s a client that doesn’t have a lot of assets and can’t take some of the illiquidity risk that’s involved with some alternatives, then you underweight it, but in both instances, you need to be aware of alternatives and what’s out there,” Gatto emphasized.
Partnerships, Growth—and What’s Next
CION’s ability to deliver on this vision is the result of direct, institutional-caliber partnerships. Working with giants like GCM Grosvenor, CION leverages vast deal flow and experience to construct highly diversified, high-quality portfolios: “We’re partnering with GCM Grosvenor, which is a traditional institutional asset manager, $80-plus billion of AUM…We’re also partnering with other sponsors within infrastructure. So we’re seeing all the opportunities that are out there. We have a much more agnostic approach...and we leverage GCM’s relationships with all of the other sponsors within infrastructure, and as a result, we build, again, a diversified portfolio of high-quality deals.”
Reflecting on CION’s progress, Gatto shared: “It’s exceeded [expectations] in terms of what we’ve been able to accomplish, that’s for sure...For us, it really is a testament to our vision and the hard work that we’ve put in over the years to be at a conference like this, with some of the big firms that are now trying to get into this space because of the success that they’ve seen firms like us have.”
The Bottom Line
For financial advisors, CION is much more than another product manufacturer—it is a partner committed to democratizing alternatives, delivering institutional quality to individuals, and helping advisors serve the evolving needs of their clients.
With innovative structures, best-in-class manager selection, and a relentless focus on accessible solutions, CION stands out as a leader in a space that increasingly matters for every portfolio.
For more information about CION, please visit their website here.
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