Brad Heppner

Founded in 2003, Beneficient aims to be listed on the Nasdaq via a merger with San Francisco bank-check company Avalon Acquisition Inc. The deal values Beneficient—whose end-to-end platform provides liquidity, data custody, and trust services for alternative asset holders—at $3.5 billion. “We're working to democratize the industry starting with a simple, secure, rapid and cost-effective solution to what we saw as the most foundational and pressing need: liquidity," says founder and CEO Brad Heppner.