The Harvard Business School case study "Moonfare and the Democratization of Private Equity," written by Professor Victoria Ivashina and Research Associate Srimayi Mylavarapu, examines how Moonfare used technology to broaden access to an asset class historically dominated by large institutional investors and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
The case was published by Harvard Business School in 2024 as a basis for classroom discussion.
What happens when technology makes a previously closed ecosystem accessible to a much larger group of people?
That question has important implications for healthcare—and particularly for what Healthcare Shares is building.
Moonfare's story is ostensibly about private equity. But its deeper lessons are about something much broader.
Private Equity Was Not Designed for Individuals
For decades, private equity was structurally difficult for individuals to access.
The problem was not simply that investors did not want private equity. The infrastructure surrounding the industry had been designed for large institutions: pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, and other sophisticated investors capable of making large commitments and navigating complex legal and administrative processes.
Moonfare was founded in 2016 with the goal of changing that.
The company built a digital platform that allowed individual accredited investors to access top-tier private equity funds with significantly lower minimum commitments than had traditionally been required. Whereas a direct allocation to a leading private equity fund might require $5 million or more, Moonfare offered access at minimums as low as €50,000.
But Moonfare did not just lower the price of entry. It redesigned the infrastructure around the investor experience.
The firm built technology to handle due diligence, fund selection, capital calls, reporting, and secondary liquidity—functions that had previously required dedicated internal teams at institutional investors. This made it operationally feasible for individuals to participate in an asset class that had historically required significant organizational resources.
The Healthcare Parallel
Healthcare innovation has many of the same structural characteristics that defined private equity before Moonfare.
The asset class is valuable. Early-stage healthcare companies, when successful, can generate significant returns and create meaningful improvements in patient care. But the infrastructure has not been designed for broad participation.
Traditional healthcare venture capital funds require minimum commitments of $1 million or more. Deal flow is concentrated among a small number of firms in a few major cities.
