Private Markets Face a Tense Moment With Retail Push on the Line

On an evening in late September, a few dozen wealth managers gathered at a $63 million French château-style mansion owned by Paris Hilton and venture capitalist Carter Reum in the exclusive Los Angeles enclave of Beverly Park. Sipping drinks a stone’s throw from the pink tennis court and five-hole golf course, the attendees had convened to discuss a topic that’s obsessed the asset management industry: how to give individual investors better access to private markets.

The host of the soiree—and of a forum in the less glamorous business district of Century City the following day—was a financial technology company called ...