Affinity adds Pitchbook Integration

Affinity, a leading relationship intelligence platform (click here to view our primer on Relationship Intelligence) today announced a new integration with Pitchbook, a leading provider of financial data and technology.

Users of Affinity will now be able to see additional investor and company data directly on the Affinity platform, allowing for:

• Companies: Get information on the industry, location, demographics, financing, assets under management, and more on both public and private companies.

• Investors: Review details on a company’s investors and assess fund performance to gauge their experience.

• Funding: Explore granular funding data, including funding type, amount, date, and post-money valuation.

If you are an Affinity user (full disclaimer, PE Stack uses Affinity and we love it) then you won’t need any further explanation. But for the uninitiated , here’s why this integration is so important.

Affinity helps its users to understand relationships and improve business development and outreach through its intelligent mapping and prediction models. Adding sources of third party data allows for:

• More intelligent outreach: through allowing users to better understand a target company’s current situation with funding, financial status etc.

• The discovery of new and adjacent routes to forming relationships: by seeing which companies worked with other companies. For example, discovering and then leveraging existing relationships with investors in a target company to gain warm introductions.

• Saving valuable time: by eliminating the need to have two platforms open at the same time, searching via two different platforms, manually importing information.

In order to access the data, users will need access to both platforms.

For more information on Affinity, Pitchbook, and other data and relationship intelligence tools, please view our free Vendor Profiles platform, or give us a call at our Los Angeles office - +1 818 964 1576

Vista Acquires AltaReturn, merges with Black Mountain to create Allvue

Vista Equity Partners has acquired AltaReturn, the provider of end-to-end, Microsoft based software suites. The builder of private capital and family office enterprise software solutions will be merged with existing Vista portfolio company Black Mountain Systems, a builder of innovative, workflow solutions that service a wide variety of closed and open-ended assets classes.

“We’re honored to be joining forces with both the world’s premier software investor, Vista Equity Partners, and with market leader, Black Mountain,” said Allvue CEO and AltaReturn co-Founder, Rey Acosta. “This combination marks a monumental leap forward for fund managers, investors and administrators in the alternative investments industry. Our commitment to Allvue’s clients is straightforward: to develop the most innovative technology in the market while providing an exceptional level of client service."

The newly merged firm will be known as Allvue Systems. At PE Stack we are eager to see what will happen when AltaReturn’s deep expertise in front, middle and back office software combines with Black Mountain’s wide array of services, including: portfolio management, trade order management, compliance, research management, investment accounting, performance attribution, customer relationship management, investor reporting, enterprise data management and data warehousing.

A combined management team will lead the merged entity with AltaReturn co-Founder Rey Acosta as CEO. Black Mountain’s co-CEO, Kevin MacDonald, will serve as COO of Allvue.

Black Mountain’s clients consist of many of the world’s leading investment managers, credit funds, hedge funds, private equity, direct lenders and banks which use the company’s platform to manage all varieties of loans, fixed income, alternatives, derivatives, equities, and FX. AltaReturn count many major closed-ended fund managers amongst their client-base, including Oak Investment Partners and Menlo Ventures.

The past few years have seen software suppliers previously focusing on one specific area shifting toward providing a suite of services ranging from front to back office. While it is now normal for providers to be supplying a wide range of connected products, AltaReturn has been more successful than many in getting clients to adopt the entirety of their suite and benefit from the interconnectedness of data across different firm functions. It will therefore be interesting to see how the combination of AltaReturn’s platform with Black Mountain will further enhance the value propositions of the newly combined companies and what this will mean for existing clients of the two firms.

Deutsche Bank served as exclusive financial advisor to AltaReturn, and K&L Gates LLP was the company’s legal advisor. Jefferies LLC acted as financial advisor to Vista and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor to the firm.

At PE Stack we are constantly monitoring the dynamic market for private equity and venture capital software and data. Over the past year, we have tracked numerous deals, partnerships and acquisitions on top of new products being launched and even a couple of companies closing up shop. You can see information of all active data and software businesses on our free to use Vendor Profiles platform, the industry’s leading source of software and data vendor intelligence.

Relationship Intelligence - Sector In Focus

We have seen a lot of interest in relationship intelligence tools for private equity and venture capital in 2019, it's one of the most commonly viewed solution types on our platform.

This speaks volumes of current market conditions and how competitive areas such as fundraising and deal-sourcing have become. Relationship intelligence has the potential to quickly add significant value to these activities and more, with an implementation process that is relatively painless and some truly innovative and exciting new platforms being launched in the past few years.

With some help from leading industry experts we put together a three-page Sector Focus report to help our users better understand the key features and value-adds. We are grateful to our contributors from RelSci, Affinity and 4Degrees.

Click here to download

If you'd like to learn more about this area, you can view full profiles for relationship intelligence platforms on our Vendor Profiles platform. It contains detailed information on over 125 software, data and network providers in the private equity and venture capital space. Or give us a call and we'd delighted to help you achieve a best-practice technology stack.

LP Portals: The Most Important Investor Relations Tool?

Investor Reporting Software

The needs and requirements of private equity and venture capital LPs are evolving. While the personal relationships which historically underpinned a firm's ability to attract and retain LPs remain important, the asset class' increasing size and complexity is putting more pressure on LPs to maintain a robust portfolio based on frequent and high-quality analysis of existing and potential new GPs.

Managers coming to market today will experience a fundraising market unprecedented in terms of competition where providing access to high quality reporting tools and data on demand can make the difference in achieving a fundraising goal. It is essential for fund managers to align with LP demands for high quality reporting, and we believe that the choice is no longer whether or not to implement an LP Portal, but which one will most effectively serve to enhance a GP's brand among existing and potential new LPs.

What Makes for a Good Portal?

The LP Portal is often the primary means for investors to interact with a fund and therefore plays a big role in brand-perception. Many of the leading solutions will allow for a firm to brand the portal in their image, including eFront's Investment Café which facilitates customization to reinforce a firm's style and image. A good UI (user interface) is essential so the LP can find the information they are looking for and enter their own data easily.

The best LP portals will include data visualization, access via mobile devices and the ability to produce high quality reports for investors. Certain platforms, including Cobalt, feature native third-party data integrations to allow for the production and distribution of benchmarking reports.

As fund information is sensitive, the portal needs to be very secure. In fact, one of the best reasons to use a portal is due to potential issues with mail and email, both in terms of preparation and delivery. Products such as Altvia's Sharesecure are now utilizing enterprise-grade features such as two-factor authorization and virus scanning to ensure compliance and maintain security. Dynamic watermark creation is another feature which not only lowers the possibility of human error, but also saves IR professionals days of time over the course of a fund.

The trend among LPs from large pension plans to nimble family offices is for increasing demand for up- to-date, granular data about the fund's portfolio, prospective deals, cash flow and benchmarks. In addition, information related to sources of investor alpha, compliance and risk should be provided and forms a major part of offerings from firms such as LP Analyst. Firms seeking a solution designed primarily around facilitating due diligence can leverage tools such as eVestment's TopQ. Both LPs and GPs will appreciate the more prosaic aspects of a quality portal such as an easier and more secure transmission of their annual K1s along with the ability to upload changes in their address and banking information.

It all adds up to better customer service, brand building and relationship cultivation while leaving investor relations professionals with more time to engage in value-added activities instead of menial tasks. Certain platforms, such as Capital Dynamics spin-off Colmore, also offer outsourced investor reporting in addition to a quality portal which can further enhance the LP experience in a cost-effective manner.

Standalone vs. Suite?

One of the most common questions we hear at PE Stack is whether to build a collection of standalone applications, or select a single suite of services from one of the primary software suppliers, the majority of which offer portals. While each procurement process is different, there are some clear benefits to using a platform such as AltaReturn which offers users the ability to integrate back and front office tools with its investor portal.

PE Stack

Our Vendor Profiles platform tracks over 150 software and data vendors, including more than 30 which offer an LP portal. We help GPs, LPs and service providers to identify potential solutions via our free to use, powerful online database and by providing bespoke consulting services. For instant access, please visit www.pestack.com/vendor-profiles or email us at info@pestack.com

How to Choose a Data Provider

Back in 2011 I moved to New York to head up Preqin’s US operations, including sales, client services and marketing functions. I know a thing or two about selling data!

There are a lot of data companies in our industry. While no two are the same, all employ similar techniques to close a sale. We put together this insider guide to help you remain objective in the face of conflicting claims of superiority, take control of the selection process and empower you to procure the best services for your team.

Access the Report here!

PE Stack tracks around 40 different data providers to the private equity and venture capital industry. We maintain detailed profiles for all of them on our powerful Vendor Profiles platform. It's free to use, and we even offer free procurement advice to our users!

Register today for instant access

Preqin Data Now Available on Factset Workstation

Preqin and Factset announce partnership which sees the integration of Preqin’s fund manager, allocator and performance data with the Factset Workstation.

Access to the new dataset is dependent upon Factset users also having the correct level of access to Preqin’s services. Existing dual-users can request access as of today (July 15th 2019), Factset users not currently subscribing to Preqin will be able to purchase access directly from Factset.

The addition of robust private markets data will add value for Factset’s M&A focused users, including investment banking and private equity deals teams. Preqin's data will help users to identify potential buyers and benefit from deeper intelligence on PE firms – for example, the ability to view the vintage and called-up % for a firm’s latest fund.

The data will also add value for Factset’s allocator clients, as Justin Strand, Factset’s Chief Content Officer and SVP, stated: “Investments in private equity are growing and clients require corresponding data to manage these investments effectively.”

"Factset appears within 26% of data and software stacks, making it one of the most utilized vendors in our sample"

PE Stack maintains comprehensive subscription and pricing intelligence for data and software products being utilized by 50 leading institutional allocators located in North America and Europe. Factset appears within 26% of these data and software stacks, making it one of the most utilized vendors in our sample.

Our analysis suggests that this new partnership will be well received by existing Preqin users - 75% of the major allocators tracked by PE Stack that have Preqin subscriptions also utilize Factset.

Of the other major data providers, Bloomberg is the clear leader in terms of allocator penetration with 73% of institutions tracked by PE Stack maintaining a subscription. In terms of aggregate subscription value, Factset is closer to matching Bloomberg as a result of a higher average subscription value from the institutions in our sample (which is more a function of client size rather than product cost).

"75% of allocators tracked by PE Stack that have Preqin subscriptions also utilize Factset"

Preqin and Factset feature alongside another 100+ vendors with profiles on PE Stack’s free Vendor Profiles platform, which helps private equity fund managers, allocators and service providers to identify potential software and data providers. To get instant access, please register here. For more information on our Allocator pricing and subscription data, please email info@pestack.com

Digital Waterfalls

Waterfall calculations are notoriously tricky - even firms with high quality technology stacks find themselves reverting to Excel when calculating distributions. Has qashqade solved this problem with its focused ccc product?

Waterfall calculations are tricky enough that some of the major back-office solutions don’t even attempt to offer functionality in this area. The platforms that do are often limited in terms of their flexibility and accuracy. For the most part, Excel remains the popular tool in this area – a problematic scenario. Aside from the high potential for human error and lack of audit trail, it is surprisingly common to see ‘small’ or sometimes big differences between the terms of the LPA and the basis for calculation in Microsoft. There has to be a better way…

This week I spoke with Oliver Freigang, Co-founder of qashqade, and had the opportunity to take a look at the software he and his team have built. qashqade is a powerful platform built specifically to facilitate the calculation of waterfall distributions including highly complex calculations and the respective carried interest allocation. A relative newcomer to the private equity fintech space, qashqade gives users the ability to configure their setup to any conceivable level of granularity. In addition to offering more accountability and security, it also facilitates experimentation and the ability to model the economic impact of proposed terms and conditions in real time.

With fund terms facing intense scrutiny amid an intensely competitive fundraising market, qashqade can provide a boost to fund marketing efforts and is sure to be appreciated by allocators seeking transparency and understanding of an area than can make a material impact on overall returns. The platform is also likely to be appreciated by GP employees, who can see reports and results on their personal distributions.

Having experienced the product, I can vouch for its customizability, flexibility and ease of use. Since its launch in 2018, this product has gained good traction in Europe from PE and VC firms, auditors and administrators. It also has applications for start-ups.

If you’re interested in streamlining your waterfall calculation process, I recommend taking a look.

eVestment Continues Data Expansion Drive with Preqin Integration

The growth of the private fund market is having a major impact on the dynamics of the software and data industry that supports it. For today’s allocators, there is enormous complexity in terms of the number of offerings to choose from and the breadth of strategies and industries being targeted. As the proportion of assets being placed in alternatives rises, the pressure to perform has never been higher.

Allocators, even those reliant upon consultants, are increasingly turning to software and data solutions to help them manage their programs effectively. We have seen a number of new products targeted toward this sector both from existing players expanding their offerings and start-ups seeking a foothold in a fast-growing market.

For me, eVestment has been one of the most interesting companies to track, and today sees the announcement of another data integration partnership to follow on from the recently announced deal with Pitchbook, with Preqin’s industry benchmarks make their way onto eVestment’s Private Markets product.

I feel that eVestment is taking a customer-centric approach to developing its suite of products, employing a willingness to work with widely-used datasets in order to increase existing clients’ satisfaction and better attract new users to its ecosystem. It’s a smart strategy.

Having a trusted source of market data is now an integral part of the portfolio management process for allocators serious about managing their programs effectively. Software solutions which do not facilitate the integration of trusted market data sources will increasingly find themselves at a disadvantage in an environment where this functionality is becoming more common. As I mentioned in an earlier article, users are also discerning when it comes to the quality of these integrations too.

It is encouraging to see software providers providing clients with multiple options when it comes to data integration. I have heard all the arguments about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various databases and benchmarks, but the reality is that allocators need consistency. It is far easier to sell an allocator on an excellent analytics platform if they can immediately utilize the benchmarks which they are already using to track performance.

eVestment should be applauded for successfully taking a number of standalone products such as TopQ and Public Plan IQ and creating an interconnected suite of tools which is supported by high quality external data sources. The integration of Preqin data into the eVestment Private Markets platform reinforces eVestment’s commitment to giving their allocator clients exactly what they want and need to do their jobs effectively.

DealCloud and Preqin: What Makes Integration Powerful?

Market data integration is an increasingly important feature for CRM end-users; such partnerships are common in the industry with Preqin and other providers’ data available on a variety of platforms.

With DealCloud joining the list of partners for Preqin data, I want to take this opportunity to examine what makes for a best practice integration project.

“Data Integration is not just a box ticking exercise”

I seriously question whether the people who developed my car’s terrible Bluetooth integration have ever used a cellular phone or operated a motor vehicle. It takes a good 30 seconds to activate, fails to show the name of anything other than the first track I play on Spotify and will sporadically disconnect for no reason. Incoming calls require the pressing of multiple buttons as I urge the caller to be patient and not hang up. Conversely, my wife’s car connects instantly, shows album covers while playing music, and deals with calls flawlessly.

When it comes to integration, not all developments are equal. To avoid frustration down the line, here are some of the key things to look for when assessing the quality of this vital feature:

What is powering the integration?

There are two ways in which data can be pulled into a platform. API integration is best practice, pulling data directly from the source in real time. The alternative is a periodic data dump which can sometimes be easier to develop from a technical perspective, but can be inferior in terms of the timeliness of data if not refreshed often. This might not sound like such a big deal, but for data sets where news can dictate activity it can make a significant difference. For example, a live or near-live feed of Preqin’s LP news can help fundraisers to react quickly to relevant updates which might otherwise be missed with a weekly or monthly refresh.

What data and functionality is being included?

Preqin, Pitchbook and other market data providers maintain numerous datasets, encompassing LPs, GPs, fundraising, performance, deals and more. When considering a CRM, examine the breadth of integration with your favored data provider and the depth of data. A good integration would not see you switching back and forth between platforms due to insufficient detail being carried across. Another related factor is functionality - does the integration allow for the discovery of previously unknown entities via a search on the CRM platform?

What are the subscription terms?

Data providers will often encourage existing clients to add more users, providing added value which is subsequently captured through increased fees. This can naturally cause conflict with CRM integration if there is any chance of a client gaining increased access without paying for it. I don’t see fees around integration as a bad thing if additional value is being offered, but make sure you know what the financial implications of an integration will be as you consider your overall budget and spend. Don’t assume that your single-user data license will translate into an enterprise-wide access via integration on the CRM side.

How is the UX?

I’ve seen a lot of integrations, some are integrated seamlessly into the workflow and work extremely well. I’ve seen some very clunky solutions which, like my car’s Bluetooth, don’t. A key part of the user experience will be how the integration deals with duplication and information asymmetry. You may know more than the data provider about an individual or entity. How is such disparity dealt with on the CRM side? Is there a single sign on process? Will the integration work on mobile? The better the UX, the more the data will be used and the more value it will add.

DealCloud and Preqin

The key point to take is that integration is not a box-ticking exercise and users should examine the quality of this important feature when assessing their providers. Different users will have different priorities, but the integration offered by DealCloud and Preqin appears to be a high-quality, thoughtful development. Data is being refreshed regularly from the live database which is a big plus, the breadth of data on LPs is significant and the functionality on the front end has been carefully considered with involvement from both the Preqin and DealCloud development teams based on feedback from mutual clients.

DealCloud is one of the names I hear most commonly when discussing CRM and is one of the fastest-growing platforms available today. Combined with Preqin’s data, which is especially strong for fundraising and fund investment purposes, this makes for a compelling front office solution.

Affinity takes total funding to $40.5mn with $26.5mn Series B round

Affinity, one of the fastest-growing and most talked about relationship intelligence platforms, just raised an additional $26.5mn with backing from Advance Venture Partners, Sway Ventures, MassMutual Ventures and Pear Ventures.

Affinity intends to use the new injection of funds to continue building out its platform.

The San Francisco-based company uses a machine-learning, technology approach to relationship management and CRM. I’ve had an opportunity to use the platform myself, and so far I’m very impressed with what they have built.

I intend to put together a more comprehensive overview of the solution once I’ve had more time to experience all the features, but here are some of my initial impressions:

• Setup – the initial setup is really easy, it automatically populates based on your email account and immediately starts plotting relationship maps. I was up and running within minutes.

• Import – the data import wizard is great, mapping fields is simple, and duplicates are dealt with automatically. I noticed very few glitches or issues here.

• Built for PE – the team clearly ‘get’ private equity workflows such as fundraising and deals. There are some powerful inbuild tools here to help manage day to day activity, including a feature which alerts you to emails which require a response or follow-up automatically.

• Built for lazy people – ok, lazy is perhaps not the best word. But we all have all worked with people who loathe CRM and hate to enter details of interactions they have had. I’ve seen people with their own personal spreadsheet (saved locally of course), or even the dreaded ‘human-brain-based-rolodex-combined-with-Outlook-search-function’ approach. Too bad you can’t clone brains when such employees depart!

Affinity is awesome for these people. It pulls data in from emails, automatically tracking relationships over time and helping users to stay on top of tasks. For people that are always on the road and don’t have time to be meticulous with CRM data entry, Affinity offers some great functionality. For example, if I were to receive an email from a new contact at a new firm, Affinity would log that interaction automatically, add a new firm entity on the platform and pull in any data on that entity from external sources to facilitate background research. For firms that struggle to get employees to add these things, this is a compelling feature.

• As mentioned, the system automatically links your contacts with their companies and then pulls in external background data from a number of sources (such as Crunchbase) to provide background information. This is very useful and worked flawlessly for me. That said, I would like to see some additional industry databases available for integration here, especially on the LP side.

• Relationship mapping works well. I’ve seen this kind of technology used before with mixed results, but the Affinity relationship mapping and ranking system is powerful and accurate – so if I want to find a path to talk to a company or individual, the platform will show my how I can get there via relationships I have. The platform even lets you add industry ‘Allies’ which can help to expand your ability to get high quality introductions.

My assessment so far is that Affinity is a powerful platform which offers some compelling functionality. It’s been designed with human nature in mind, pinpointing many of the areas where CRM can fail due to humans failing to update things properly. Seems to me that implementation should be straightforward compared with other CRMs I’ve seen, although I haven’t seen how things would fare for a big organization yet.

Look out for a proper in-depth view in the next few weeks…