If you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for, why not create it yourself?

That’s what drove John Bailey and Spencer Moslow, two Tufts University graduates, to create OneFund Investments, a private equity platform that’s open to investors who don’t have millions to put into a single fund.

Bailey had spent nearly three years with growth equity firm General Atlantic while  Moslow has five years under his belt at HPS Investment Partners and another at Aurelius Capital Management.

OneFund started operations in July and officially launched its platform this week. It’s also closing a pre-seed fundraise which will give it the capital it needs to grow.

The pair have been talking to venture capital, growth and private equity funds ranging from those with as little as $100m to several billion dollars in assets. It aims to offer funds from $5,000-$10,000 to accredited investors in the US.

But what will separate OneFund from other propositions is its core aim to empower people with enough information so they can make decisions themselves.

‘We’re trying to be even more accessible than some of these other platforms so that more people can participate through lower minimums, friendlier fees, and unique products,’ Bailey said.

‘What some of these other platforms have done is amazing – I look up to them – but this market is really big and there is an opportunity to create something that people go to directly, is much more accessible and make those decisions for themselves in the palm of their hand.’

With companies such as Robinhood enabling consumers to directly access equity markets, Bailey believes the same can happen in private equity markets, particularly as wealth shifts to the younger generation who want to make financial decisions themselves, rather than going through advisers.

The annual management charge for investors on the platform will be less than 1%, charged on assets under management rather than committed capital. Most of the earnings for OneFund will come from carried interest over a hurdle, although Bailey did not disclose what these would be.

The platform will focus on private equity for now but eventually Bailey wants to see it become a one-stop shop for alternatives.

The biggest challenge in building OneFund has been the need to juggle getting funds and investors onto the platform altogether or, as Bailey puts it, ‘getting the supply and demand at the same time.

‘You have to go to GPs [general partners] and say: “Trust us, there will be people on the platform,” and at the same time go to members and say: “We promise there will be good GPs on the platform.” Building both those sides has been an interesting challenge.’

The firm is in an accelerator at Wharton business school, where Bailey did his MBA, and is working with Vector as the fund administrator and SVB for banking.

Citywire Amplify will cover private market platforms every fortnight. Read the previous entry in the series, on Moonfare, here. See below for a comparison between the platforms we have covered so far.