Kelly Ann Winget has caused lots of buzz as the founder and CEO of Dallas-based Alternative Wealth Partners, a PE firm focused on building “diversified private equity funds for investors who want exposure to the alternative investment space.” Today AWP may be starting a new round of that buzz by announcing a new fund targeted to bring in $150 million.

The new fund, AWP Diversity Fund II LP, continues the firm’s commitment to diversification strategies, aiming to deliver “double-digit returns with layered tax advantages through creative deal structuring and exclusive relationships in multiple industries.” The fund will be invested directly into energy, manufacturing, real estate, and infrastructure projects, “businesses and properties that have the potential to deliver cash flow and equity returns within 5 to 7 years,” according to AWP.

“We’re like a mutual fund of alternatives,” Founder and CEO Winget told Forbes in 2022 of her AWP’s first fund, AWP Diversity Fund I LP. “I didn’t understand why there wasn’t a fund invested in private equity, energy, consumer goods, and real estate.”

In the inaugural fund’s first year of deployed capital, it has generated “double-digit returns, with some investors receiving annualized returns exceeding 30% inclusive of tax benefits calculated into their cash-on-cash return,” AWP said.

Winget makes some waves from books to podcasts to speeches

Anyone following private equity in North Texas in recent years probably hasn’t missed mentions of Kelly Ann Winget. She’s the author of Pitch the Bitch: Grab Your Financial Future by the Bags, host of The Wealth Alpha podcast, and a keynote speaker and panelist at events like the Alts Expo, Women Working in Wealth, and WE Global Studios Rev-Up Summits.

Last fall, D Magazine called her “the only LGBTQ+ female millennial to run a private equity fund focused on alternatives—assets outside of stocks, bonds, or cash, such as real estate, commodities, and private equity.” The D profile tracks her career from 18-year-old high schooler banking “nearly six figures outside of school in sales” at the Richardson Car Spa and other side jobs to her current role as a noted PE fixture in Dallas.

Winget’s mission includes a key focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, according to the Dallas Business Journal, which noted that more than 60% of her investors are women or minorities.

Pursuing a ‘diversified portfolio strategy’ to mitigate risks

The Winget-managed AWP funds aim to pursue a diversified portfolio strategy, mitigating risks through a variety of assets. The firm says its new Diversity Fund II will prioritize investments “in strong, resilient, domestically rooted businesses and properties poised to potentially triple the initial investment,” adding that AWP has “identified opportunities in energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, and growth-stage tech that can be invested in horizontally to potentially increase the overall returns. Beyond asset-level returns, the fund will leverage various tax incentives projected to add to the overall return of the portfolio by 10-30%.”

“Over the next three years, Alternative Wealth Partners anticipates significant opportunities to acquire strong, resilient businesses and properties across diverse industries at a discount, due to market volatility and geopolitical unrest,” Winget said in a statement. “We have strategically positioned our investments to capitalize on these opportunities, and look to expand our portfolio further to meet the growing capital demands from investors looking for non-correlated opportunities, and businesses in search of strategic partners.”

2024 pipeline includes Texas kinetics company, an Arizona battery tech company, and more

AWP said the fund’s 2024 project pipeline includes “a Texas-based kinetics company, an Arizona-based battery tech company, and a Nebraska-based equipment company, plus other U.S.-based infrastructure projects, each with a projected 500% return on investment.”

AWP said it has identified “multiple opportunities and entity structures that will enhance the scalability of its current portfolio,” aiming to participate in both existing portfolio investments and new opportunities as they emerge. “The AWP Diversity Fund II will acquire assets held by AWP Diversity Fund I at market value (as determined by an independent third party when applicable),” AWP noted. “These assets are projected to continue to appreciate the longer they are held, and AWP seeks to retain these assets in the new fund for an extended period.”

Winget founded AWP in 2020

The daughter of a fifth-generation oil and gas family with assets in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas, Winget has “over a decade of experience in the alternative investment space sourcing creative capital for startups, oil and gas companies, manufacturing ventures, real estate, and several other emerging markets on behalf of high net worth/income clients,” according to her bio, which says she has raised “almost $1 billion in private capital for private placement opportunities” over her career.

Winget launched AWP in 2020. Her advice on entrepreneurship? “Fail fast. You will save yourself a lot of time, money, and energy moving on to the next solution. If something is not working, move on to something nelse. Do not let pride get in the way of your success.”

For more on Winget and AWP, you can check out this revealing Q&A from the digital magazine AlphaWeek.

Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.

Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.