Carofin

What Carofin does

Carofin, LLC is a privately held, FINRA/SIPC-member broker-dealer founded in 1995 and headquartered in Brevard, North Carolina, operating as a subsidiary of Carolina Financial Group, LLC alongside affiliated broker-dealer Carolina Financial Securities, LLC. The firm runs an alternative-investment marketplace that intermediates private placement securities under SEC Regulation D Rule 506, connecting issuers seeking growth, acquisition, or restructuring capital with accredited individual investors, family offices, and institutional investors. Over 29 years, Carofin and its affiliated broker-dealer report placing more than $1.1 billion in capital, with disclosed 2023–2024 deal sizes clustering in the $1.75M–$2.5M range across sectors including aviation, semiconductor, manufacturing, healthcare, food distribution, defense, and agriculture.

The firm's core technology is a proprietary investor portal and dashboard (investments.carofin.com) launched/enhanced in 2021, providing accredited investors with secure access to investment history, cash flow records, and issuer updates across their private-investment portfolios, while supporting compliance workflows including accreditation verification and suitability assessment. Carofin also publishes a content ecosystem — the Direct Private Investments Show (video/podcast hosted by CEO Bruce Roberts), a knowledge base, white papers, and a newsletter — used for top-of-funnel investor education. The firm extends its offering into structured single-purpose vehicles (e.g., Teardown Funding 2, LLC for an aircraft teardown-and-parts-resale program) and verticals including commercial real estate, self-storage, manufactured housing, EB-5, and affordable housing development.

Carofin generates revenue primarily through placement and success fees on intermediated private debt and equity transactions, with all offerings priced on a bespoke, quote-based basis. Distribution is sales-led, combining direct engagement by investor-development representatives (e.g., Bruce Smith, Julia in Investor Relations) with a self-serve portal layer. The firm's customer base is dual-sided — issuers (businesses raising capital) and investors (accredited individuals, family offices, institutions, EB-5 foreign nationals) — providing some cross-side diversification, though revenue remains transaction-driven and dependent on deal-closing cadence.

Name

Carofin

Legal name

Carofin, LLC

Website

https://carofin.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Carofin is a FINRA/SIPC-member private broker-dealer and alternative-investment marketplace that intermediates Regulation D Rule 506 private placements between issuers and accredited investors, family offices, and institutions, having placed $1.1B+ over 29 years.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Investment Banking & Broker-Dealer Services

NAICS

Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Venture Capital Fund-of-Funds / Multi-Manager Platforms (FSANAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Secondary Fund-of-Funds (FoF Secondaries) (FSANAGAB), Venture Capital Fund-of-Funds (FSANAGAC)

Keywords

• Private placements
• Investment banking
• Broker-dealer services
• Private securities
• Alternative investments

Headquarters

HQ city

Brevard

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Securities Distribution - Private Placements: Carofin, LLC and Carolina Financial Securities, LLC (affiliated Broker-Dealers, Members of FINRA/SIPC, subsidiaries of Carolina Financial Group, LLC) offer private placement securities. Revenue is generated through placement fees and success fees from facilitating private debt and equity transactions between issuers and accredited investors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Carofin operates as a private investment bank and FINRA/SIPC-registered broker-dealer that runs an alternative investment marketplace connecting businesses seeking growth or acquisition capital with accredited individual investors, family offices, and institutional investors through SEC Regulation D, Rule 506 private placements. The firm raises capital via private debt and equity transactions and provides a proprietary investor portal for portfolio tracking, cash flow history, and issuer updates. Over 29 years, Carofin and its affiliated broker-dealer have placed more than $1.1 billion in capital.

Product overview

Carofin operates as an Alternative Investment Marketplace powered by Carolina Financial Group, offering a unified platform for direct private investments. The core product is the Carofin marketplace which connects businesses raising capital with accredited investors, institutional investors, family offices, and EB-5 applicants through private placement securities. The platform includes an Investor Portal/Dashboard for portfolio management and investor communications, supplemented by the Direct Private Investments Show educational content series. The company has placed more than $1.1 billion in the past 29 years through private debt and equity transactions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Teardown Funding 2, LLC: Single-purpose vehicle for aircraft teardown and parts resale investment
• Berry Capital Management II (BCM II)

Products and services

• Carofin Alternative Investment Marketplace FINRA/SIPC-registered alternative investment marketplace powered by Carolina Financial Group that connects businesses seeking growth, acquisition, or rescue capital with accredited individual investors, family offices, and institutional investors through SEC Regulation D, Rule 506 private placements of private debt and equity securities.
• Carofin Investor Portal / Dashboard Secure online investor portal providing accredited investors with a complete view of their Carofin investments, including investment history, cash flows, and issuer updates across their portfolio of private Carofin investments.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than $1.1 billion placed in the past 29 years

Named customers11 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Blu Miles Aviation ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 August 2023Carofin partnered with Blu Miles Aviation Services, an aviation management consulting firm formed in 2014 focused on Service Life Cycle in the aviation/aerospace and defense sector. Together they created Teardown Funding 2, LLC (TF2) to finance acquisition of an Airbus A330-200 aircraft for teardown and parts harvesting. Blu Miles provided aircraft valuation and industry advisory services, identifying Owl Aerospace as the consignment partner. The partnership has successfully funded multiple aviation capital raises.
• Owl AerospacecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 August 2023Owl Aerospace handles post-teardown remarketing and sales of harvested aircraft parts for the TF2 investment vehicle. Headquartered in Hollywood, FL between Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Owl serves the extensive MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) customer base serving the global airline industry. Collaborated with Carofin on financial structure to meet MRO partners' needs.
• Carolina Financial Securities, LLCcoreOthersAffiliated Broker-Dealer, Member of FINRA/SIPC, subsidiary of Carolina Financial Group, LLC. Carofin, LLC and Carolina Financial Securities share the same database, safeguards, and staff. CFS often distributes marketing solicitations on behalf of Carofin.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Netcapital: Online private placement platform that connects issuers with accredited investors using a broker-dealer structure. Directly comparable to Carofin's core marketplace model, though with a more technology-driven GTM.
• Dalmore Group: Broker-dealer that specializes in Regulation D private placements for small and mid-market issuers. Directly comparable in deal size, regulatory framework, and accredited investor orientation.
• Emerson Equity: Full-service broker-dealer focused on Reg D private placements, structured debt, and direct investments. Closely comparable offering set and target issuer profile to Carofin.
• EF Hutton: Boutique investment bank and broker-dealer that arranges private placements and capital raises for small and mid-cap issuers. Comparable in deal focus and investor base.
• ThinkEquity: Investment bank focused on private placements, capital raises, and advisory for emerging growth companies. Comparable deal flow and institutional investor outreach.
• tru Independence: Boutique broker-dealer and advisory firm offering private placement and direct investment services to advisors and individual investors. Comparable in scale and customer mix.
• Westpark Capital: Boutique investment bank and broker-dealer focused on private placements, PIPEs, and capital raises for small/mid-cap issuers. Highly comparable business model and target customers.

Broad incumbents

• Maxim Group: Full-service mid-market broker-dealer and investment bank with capital markets, private placement, and institutional brokerage capabilities. Larger and broader than Carofin but overlapping on private placement distribution.
• A.G.P. / Alliance Global Partners: Diversified broker-dealer and investment bank providing capital markets, private placements, and wealth management. Comparable private placement capabilities but operates at meaningfully larger scale.

Emerging players

• Republic: Digital private markets platform offering private placements and other private investment products directly to retail and accredited investors. Comparable end-customer base with a more technology-led operating model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@directprivateinvestmentsshow/featured
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/carofin-llc

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments4 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Carofin