Technology Considerations for PE & VC

As a senior partner of a PE or VC firm, if you are struggling to get a unified view of:

• Deal Pipeline funnel
• IRR / NAV of existing Fund
• Performance of your multi-sector portfolio
• Fund-raising cycle of your newly launched Fund
• Investor level IRRs

…all by using a single software solution — then this article is worth your time.

I have spent the last 10 years solving technology challenges for PE and VC firms — be it as simple as a website and email service or complex such as building the right investment software to run the business.

Based on my experience with speaking to executives from the PE &VC world, the points that repeatedly keep coming up in our conversations are listed below.

1. How to ensure the teams are following the predefined due diligence process for evaluating the prospects
2. Monthly reporting by the portfolio companies is consistent and comparable with minimal effort by your team
3. Investors are engaged and are receiving timely information in an error-free manner with efficiency of mass emails and tracking capabilities. This should be coupled with a world class investor portal
4. Manage complex fund structures along with entire spectrum of fund operation capabilities. This is where things get complicated from a technology standpoint. More on this later.
5. All of the above should be supplemented by a centralized document repository which over a period of time serves as an institutional memory
6. Even though mailbox plugins and mobile apps are common, they leave a lot to be desired especially in PE & VC technology space

Given the above are accomplished, you should be able to monitor how the various moving parts of your investment processes are performing at any point of time — be it deal pipeline, portfolio monitoring, Fund admin and most importantly Investor relations. That too without requesting for a hand made report from your team.

I may be sounding too good to be true but trust me it’s possible and I have seen firms leveraging these benefits.

I am not a writer by nature and you may find the above very crisp, feel free to drop a line and I will definitely try to provide possible answers.