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Family Offices Eye AI Investments Amid Market Overheating
Confirmed
In Short: Family offices are increasingly investing directly in AI companies, bypassing traditional funds, as the market shows signs of overheating.
Family offices are increasingly directing their investments towards artificial intelligence (AI) companies, according to Djoann Fal, a family office advisor and investor at Atlas Capital in San Francisco. Fal noted that these offices are now more willing to write larger checks for fewer deals, a shift from previous years.
The trend is driven by the potential for high returns within a short timeframe. Fal explained that if a deal has the potential to triple an investment in just three months, family offices are more likely to invest in it over longer-term investments like green energy.
Family offices are also bypassing traditional fund managers and instead buying existing shares in private companies or making direct investments. This shift is partly due to concerns over inflated valuations and pricing in the current market.
According to a Deloitte report, family offices were overseeing $5.5 trillion in wealth as of 2024, with projections indicating this could reach $9.5 trillion by 2030. This wealth is now increasingly being directed towards AI investments.
Morgan Private Bank found that 65% of global family offices plan to prioritize AI investments despite market concerns. This trend is expected to continue as the appeal of AI's potential returns remains strong.
What's confirmed
- Family offices are increasingly directing their investments towards artificial intelligence (AI) companies, according to Djoann Fal, a family office advisor and investor at Atlas Capital in San Francisco. Fal noted that these offices are now more willing to write larger checks for fewer deals, a shift from previous years.
- The trend is driven by the potential for high returns within a short timeframe. Fal explained that if a deal has the potential to triple an investment in just three months, family offices are more likely to invest in it over longer-term investments like green energy.
- Family offices are also bypassing traditional fund managers and instead buying existing shares in private companies or making direct investments. This shift is partly due to concerns over inflated valuations and pricing in the current market.
- According to a Deloitte report, family offices were overseeing $5.5 trillion in wealth as of 2024, with projections indicating this could reach $9.5 trillion by 2030. This wealth is now increasingly being directed towards AI investments.
- Morgan Private Bank found that 65% of global family offices plan to prioritize AI investments despite market concerns. This trend is expected to continue as the appeal of AI's potential returns remains strong.
What's still developing
- Disrupt 2026: OpenAI, Anthropic, Replit, and more take over 6 industry stages. 25% off tickets now Back by popular demand: Save up to $300 on Disrupt For the wealthy families who manage their own money through a family office, the math right now is simple, according to Djoann Fal, a family office advisor and investor at the private wealth platform Atlas Capital in San Francisco.
- “They have more dry powder to chase single-name deals,” Fal said, referring to family offices increasingly skipping so-called blind-pool fund commitments, where investors hand money to a fund manager without knowing in advance which companies it will be used to back.
- He said a new generation of family offices is emerging, too, with a higher appetite for risk than their predecessors.
- Direct investment activity climbed steadily through the late 2010s, for example, then spiked hard in 2021, when direct deals hit 13% of the average family office portfolio, up from 9% in 2019, according to UBS’s own tracking at the time.
- Illustrating his point, Fal, whose clients primarily back climate-focused investments, said he spent the summer fielding interest from people looking to invest $50 million to $100 million into Anthropic through the secondary market.
- The Private Bank is one of the largest providers of wealth management services with more than $2.4 trillion in total client assets and 57 offices nationwide, according to its website.
- JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon talks federal spending, the state of markets, billion-dollar tech investments, trade tensions, national security and more in an exclusive 'Mornings with Maria' interview.
- Private Bank, the New York business, along with the Family Office Investments and Advice, overseeing the company’s Global Investment Opportunities, outsourced chief investment officer and Morgan Private Advisory organizations nationally, "serving the firm's largest families and most complex clients." Miller was a founding member of the Global Investment Opportunities team.