While wealthy individuals and many businesses continue to flourish in South Florida, a family office portal launches in Palm Beach to simplify networking for family offices, professionals, and elite investors.
“I began to see how fragmented and broken the private wealth and family office spaces were,” said CEO Peter Apostol. The New York native who now resides in Palm Beach saw an urgent need for such a platform while working with lifestyle services, investments, and family offices in South Florida.
He believes that the biggest hurdle a family office faces is finding and developing peer relationships. Apart from limited spaces, such as country clubs, there are few spaces where family offices can directly connect with high-net individuals or early-stage ventures. So, after seeing and experiencing it first-hand, he decided to create his network with the families and information he had connections with.
Apostol began by hosting small-scale events that directly connected ultra-high net worth individuals with family offices. “When we started hosting these events, people started getting introduced and doing deals with each other. That becomes a whole ecosystem of people who start interacting and doing business together.”
Apostol partnered up with lawyer Nate Sumbot and entrepreneur Cecilia Robles to create a platform that would make an ecosystem that streamlined networking events and resources to get his plan into action. FOPort was launched this month by the three and consists of 5,000 investors, early-stage companies, and family offices that Apostol had developed connections with over the years.
South Florida may be the current focus of the portal, but it also extends to other states, such as Texas, Hawaii, New York, and Utah. Apostol feels that the FOport team might be on the smaller side but will eventually expand across the U.S through networking events.
He said that he often jokes and tells people that the company is running a high-end dating service. “We’re matching up investors with investment opportunities, and we have to take into account all of their preferences and who’s going to be a good fit. If we’re halfway right, we’re doing pretty well.”
‘Exclusive: Palm Beach executive launches Family Office Portal to ‘play matchmaker’ for wealthy investors’, Ashley Garrett, The Business Journals
