Breaking Barriers in Private Equity: Insights from Robin Binder, Founder of NAO
Eqvista’s latest founder interview features Robin Binder, the founder of NAO, a fintech platform reshaping access to alternative investments for everyday investors. In this conversation, he explains how NAO leverages regulation, technology, and design to lower entry barriers to as little as 1, while still maintaining institutional-grade standards around product selection, compliance, and risk transparency.
Across the interview, Robin dives into the trends driving democratization of private markets, the regulatory tailwinds in Europe, and NAO’s approach to balancing risk, education, and inclusion for a new generation of digital-first investors. He also shares concrete milestones that validate NAO’s mission to make alternatives a mainstream component of retail portfolios. For founders and fintech operators, his reflections on trust, regulation, and sustainable growth offer a grounded playbook for building in one of the most demanding corners of financial services.
Robin, you have an extensive background in banking and venture capital. How did your experiences shape the founding vision of NAO?
My background gave me a front-row seat to the inner workings of traditional finance. In banking and later in the family office, I saw both the opportunities and the inefficiencies. On the one hand, alternative investments consistently delivered strong diversification and returns for institutions.
On the other, the processes were outdated, opaque, and excluding anyone outside that world. Personally, I also wanted to invest in these asset classes but felt the same barriers most individuals face: high minimums, complex structures, and no transparency. NAO was born from that tension. The conviction that we could open this world up with technology and design, while fixing the operational nightmares along the way.
NAO offers investments starting from as little as €1,000 into asset classes like private equity and hedge funds. How does your platform make these complex investments accessible for a broader audience?
In fact, we’ve even lowered the minimum to just €1 because we believe that access shouldn’t depend on wealth. The way we make this possible is twofold. First, we simplify: complex structures are translated into a clean, digital experience where investors can understand key terms like lockups, fees, or distributions at a glance.
Second, we partner with leading asset managers and handle the heavy lifting of onboarding, compliance, and order execution in the background. For users, it feels like investing in stocks or ETFs; in reality, they’re accessing asset classes that were once off-limits. That’s the essence of NAO, lowering the entry barrier without lowering the quality.
What trends in the fintech and wealth management space do you see impacting NAO and the broader industry over the next few years?
We see three big shifts. First, democratization: more investors are demanding access to products previously reserved for institutions. Second, digitalization: wealth management is moving away from face-to-face advisory and into app-native experiences that feel intuitive and fast. And third, personalization: younger investors expect content, education, and investment journeys tailored to their needs, not one-size-fits-all solutions.
For NAO, this means being at the intersection of all three. Bringing private markets into a digital, educational, and inclusive format. In the long term, we believe alternative allocations will become standard for investing retail portfolios, just like ETFs are today.
What regulatory challenges have you encountered building NAO, particularly across different European markets, and how have you addressed them?
Regulation is often seen as a barrier, but in our case it has actually been an enabler. With our BaFin license in Germany, we can distribute across the entire EU through passporting, which is a pretty fast and straightforward process. That means the challenge is less about access and more about making sure retail investors truly understand the products. The new ELTIF (European Long Term Investment Funds) framework also makes it easier to open private markets to individuals in a compliant way.
Our role is to combine this regulatory tailwind with technology and education, so that what used to be a legal hurdle now becomes a competitive advantage for NAO.
How does NAO balance the risks and rewards for retail investors entering alternative asset classes that are traditionally high-risk and less liquid?
The key is transparency and framing. So, we can bust the myth that alternatives are more risky than traditional asset classes – they are just more complex. We never promise that alternatives are a shortcut to high returns, instead, we position them as part of a balanced, long-term portfolio. In the NAO app, investors see clear information on lockups, risks, and liquidity upfront, so they know exactly what they’re entering.
We also curate products carefully with institutional-grade partners, avoiding overly speculative or unsuitable strategies. By enabling small-ticket sizes, users can learn and diversify without overexposure.
Ultimately, we believe retail investors deserve access to the same tools as institutions, but with the right guardrails and education to use them wisely.
What impact has NAO had on investor demographics, and how do you approach financial inclusion and education for new investors?
NAO is attracting a demographic that has historically been excluded from private markets: younger, digital-first investors who may be making their very first allocation into alternatives. The impact has been twofold.
First, by lowering the entry barrier to €1, we’ve turned what used to be an elite-only opportunity into a starting point for anyone – not only the older generation that has already saved enough money to participate in these asset classes.
Second, by embedding education directly into the app, from bite-sized lessons to contextual product data, we make sure users don’t just invest but also understand what they’re investing in. For us, financial inclusion isn’t just about access, but it’s also about creating long-term confidence and literacy in building wealth, so learning and investing go hand in hand.
For new investors interested in alternative investments, what guidance would you offer to approach this asset class wisely?
Alternatives are powerful tools, but they require a thoughtful approach. My advice is to start small, even a symbolic €1 investment helps users get comfortable with how these products work. Treat alternatives as long-term, complementary to your public market holdings, not replacements. Diversification across asset classes matters even more here because each strategy carries unique opportunities, characteristics, risks and liquidity profiles. And perhaps most importantly, don’t view alternatives as a quick win. The value is in compounding over time.
With NAO, we aim to provide not just access but also the transparency and guidance to support that mindset. Keeping this in mind, investors are able to achieve both, increasing the overall return potential of a portfolio by reducing the risk and volatility level at the same time.
Can you share a significant milestone or success story that validates NAO’s mission and business model?
A major validation for us has been that some of the world’s largest asset managers now partner with NAO, and even started approaching us directly. That shift shows real industry recognition. Equally important is when we dropped the minimum investment to just €1, turning our mission of making private markets accessible into reality.
Congratulations on securing around €1.1 million in additional seed funding. How will this capital injection specifically accelerate NAO’s product development and market expansion?
The funding has already allowed us to deliver important product milestones, most notably including the introduction of savings plans, and a more scalable backend that makes us ready for our further expansion. On the growth side, Next, it enables us to expand beyond Germany through EU passporting, grow our B2C funnel, and activate B2B partnerships.
In parallel, we’re preparing a new initiative designed to address one of the biggest challenges in private markets: liquidity. While we can’t disclose details yet, it will significantly strengthen NAO’s role in making alternatives more attractive and accessible for retail investors.
What strategies have you found most effective for building trust with both retail investors and institutional partners?
Trust is the currency of finance, and it has to be earned differently across audiences. For retail investors, it comes from radical transparency: showing fees clearly, explaining risks without jargon, and delivering a seamless user experience that feels modern and reliable.
For institutional partners, trust is built through compliance, process excellence, and professional execution — proving that NAO can handle institutional-grade requirements while opening new distribution channels. The fact that firms like Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Partners Group are willing to work with us is the strongest signal that we’ve built credibility on both ends.
What key advice would you give to aspiring fintech entrepreneurs looking to disrupt traditional financial services?
Disruption in finance looks glamorous from the outside, but it’s one of the hardest spaces to innovate in because trust and regulation are non-negotiable. My advice would be to pick a problem you’ve felt personally as it will keep you motivated when the cycles are long and the resistance is high. Be patient with scale; the temptation to grow fast is real, but in fintech, unsustainable growth can backfire quickly.
Finally, surround yourself with people who combine financial expertise with tech creativity, because only together can you bridge the old and new worlds. Disruption here isn’t about breaking things, but about rebuilding them in a better way.
