In this episode of the Billionaire Brain Trust series, host Steve Woodruff interviews Silvia Lupu, a partner at Hikaru Capital, an independent asset‑management firm that acts as a bridge between family offices, high‑net‑worth individuals, and alternative‑asset fund managers. Lupu explains that Hikaru focuses exclusively on alternative investments—real estate, private equity, private credit, and venture capital—driven by the wealth‑preservation goals of their family‑office LPs rather than aggressive growth. Private credit is highlighted as the firm’s primary focus, with a deliberate strategy to stay away from hype‑driven or politically sensitive deals. Instead, the firm targets the infrastructure that underpins emerging technologies, such as cybersecurity deals within private‑equity and AI‑designated data‑center real‑estate projects, emphasizing resilience and long‑term value. The conversation also touches on broader market conditions, including interest‑rate shifts and election‑year uncertainty, and how these factors shape the firm’s cautious, infrastructure‑first investment approach.
Chapters
When it comes to private equity, we'll do cybersecurity deals for AI, or when it comes to real estate, we'll be investing in data centers designated for AI. So we are always looking at the infrastructure behind whatever it is.
Welcome to Billionaire Brain Trust, our newest YouTube series that will take you behind the scenes into candid conversations with billionaires and those who work with them. Hosted by Steve Woodruff, who brings a unique perspective as a family office advisor, Billionaire Brain Trust will feature exclusive interviews with billionaires and the key players in their organization offering viewers a rare glimpse into their stories, decision-making frameworks, and what they are excited about right now. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned investor, or simply curious about the world of the ultra-wealthy, Billionaire Brain Trust will help you think bigger and achieve more.
So we're in the Family Office Club, Single Family Office in New York, and I'm here with Silvia Lupu of Icaro Capital. Excited to be with you. It sounds like you're building a really impressive business. Would you mind sharing with us what, what your company does?
Sure. So my name is Silvia. Hikaru Capital is an independent asset management firm working as a bridge between family offices, high net worth individuals, and the fund managers. So basically we are giving access to extra capital from the family offices to experienced fund managers within the alternative asset management space.
Yeah, excellent. And so you focus entirely on alternatives, not, not in the public markets, entirely on alternatives.
Right.
Tell us a little bit about what, why the focus on alternatives.
Right. So it's primarily driven by the experience we have in the field. And we, when it comes to alternative asset classes, we are covering primarily all alternative space, starting with real estate, private equity, private credit, and venture capital.
Great.
The reason being that it is significantly driven by the interest and the, and the values of our LPs as well. And since we are working with family offices, they are quite a lot focused on preserving their wealth and creating additional value rather than scaling it from 0 to 300. So for this reason, we chose alternative space, and we are also specialized in it. So our experience and all the workforce's experience is in the alternative space.
That's great. Yeah, I appreciate that. I know there's a lot going on this year. We're seeing interest rate changes. We're seeing— we have an election year, a lot going on, some uncertainty. Are you seeing any trends in maybe real estate or private credit or in venture?
All right. So private credit still remains our main focus and is a lot of interest in the field. We are trying to stay away from hot news and whatever investment that are driven by a particular political decision or economical decision. So we prefer to invest in traditional industries that build reputation, that are not so much driven by any news or even like elections, although it is difficult. But for example, within the AI space, we won't necessarily go into AI tech platforms or AI deals, but we rather go into cybersecurity and whatever is like when it comes to private equity, we'll do the cybersecurity deals for AI, or when it comes to real estate, we'll be investing in data centers designated for AI. So we are always looking at the infrastructure behind whatever it is. So there is a lot of infrastructure behind each of our strategies.
Excellent. Well, we appreciate the time. Thanks for talking with us today. Thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you.
