This Week’s Vendor News

NEW & UPDATED PRODUCTS

FIS has launched its Open Access platform, which enables users to securely and seamlessly share their financial information with third-party financial apps and services of their choice. FIS also announced that agreements are in place with data networks including Akoya, Envestnet | Yodlee, MX and Plaid to integrate into FIS’ Open Access platform. FIS’ Open Access platform provides consumers with the ability to access and share their financial data in a secure and controlled manner. This solution gives users the flexibility of working with third-party financial services app providers, controlling what information is shared and who it is shared with, while providing them with the ability to revoke access at any time. The solution also provides banks with visibility and reporting on where their customers are sharing financial data, which fintechs they are interacting with, and how frequently. ↗

S&P Global has launched its AI-enabled search on the S&P Global Marketplace. The Marketplace Generative AI search is a global solution designed to simplify and enhance the discovery of S&P Global's offerings. It responds to user's natural language queries with detailed answers, making the search process more intuitive and efficient. Additionally, it proactively recommends other relevant data sets and services, in turn broadening the user's perspective. ↗

Accelex has made some enhancements to its analytics platform. To start, its fund-level ValueBridge report is an interactive screen that displays the contributing factors to discover what is driving an asset’s performance and rollup to fund level to see which assets are contributing to the fund’s overall performance. The metrics for this analysis are company-operating and fund-ownership metrics which are extracted from fund performance reports. ↗

Moonfare has launched the Moonfare ELTIF 2.0 for individual investors and private equity firms. Moonfare’s ELTIF strategy is one of the first private equity based ELTIF 2.0 initiatives under the EU’s new guidelines, and it aims to provide qualified retail investors with access to global private equity investments. This strategy will primarily focus on takeover deals in established and viable firms, as well as expansion prospects. ↗

Dialllog has introduced its Milestone functionality for better efficiency. The Milestone functionality is designed to streamline pipeline management and enhance task tracking. With the Milestone feature users can keep track of progress, add feature with a simple addition and get Dashboard Insights. ↗

Tegus has launched its new platform. Tegus customers will now login to a new experience, where users will have access to its all-in-one platform that connects Tegus' data and workflows. ↗

MSCI has launched the MSCI Private Company Data Connect – a centralized hub that provides GPs access to private companies' sustainability and climate data and disclosures. MSCI Private Company Data Connect is designed to drive transparency and a common language for investors in private markets considering companies’ sustainability and climate data by enabling GPs to: execute due diligence and risk management processes, respond to client and regulatory sustainability reporting requirements, and develop sustainable value creation strategies, such as engagement and target-setting for their portfolio companies. ↗

OneTrust has introduced OneTrust's Data Privacy Maturity Model. The Data Privacy Maturity Model is a strategic data privacy program that realizes new sources of business value and unlocks the value of data for AI innovation, customer engagement, and business analytics. OneTrust feels that when an individual trusts that a company is using their data responsibly, they are willing to share more data. This cycle of earning, retaining, and expanding customer trust to unlock the value of data is the strategic goal of OneTrust's Data Privacy Maturity Model. ↗

Nth Round has added new content to its website. This includes a new feature page that shows the ACH integrations that its rolled out over the last year. ↗

WealthBlock has added a new feature to its platform. Users now have the ability to customize signatures on emails sent from members of their admin team. ↗

Edda is now offering Company Scoring for Edda Dealflow. Using Company Scoring, users can: generate scores together and with other collaborators, build scoring templates for different evaluations and assign distinct score weights to team members. ↗

DEAL ACTIVITY

MSCI has signed a purchase agreement to acquire Foxberry, a London-based provider of front-office index technology for investors. The strategic integration of Foxberry and its foxf9 indexing and analytics toolset will add to MSCI’s existing suite of index customization solutions. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the financial impact of the transaction is not expected to be material to MSCI. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. ↗

The Duff & Phelps Opinions Practice of Kroll has provided a fairness opinion to the board of directors of Screaming Eagle Acquisition Corp. in connection with a proposed merger with Lionsgate. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati served as legal counsel to Kroll in connection with the fairness opinion. The merger is expected to close in the spring of 2024 and is anticipated to deliver approximately $350 million of gross proceeds to Lionsgate, including $175 mn in PIPE financing committed by mutual funds and other investors. ↗

SEI has announced that SEI Trust Company will serve as trustee for four collective investment trusts established by Pictet Asset Management in the US institutional retirement market. The four CITs launched by Pictet Asset Management include: Pictet Clean Energy Transition CIT, Pictet EM Blend CIT, Pictet EM Local Currency Debt CIT and Pictet EM Hard Currency Debt CIT. ↗

PARTNERSHIPS & INTEGRATIONS

SS&C has announced its new partnership with Regnology, a regulatory reporting technology company. This partnership will deliver a fully integrated risk and regulatory reporting solution for streamlined compliance and analytical insights, allowing institutions to adapt quickly to regulatory changes. This partnership will also reduce operational complexities and enhance efficiency with an end-to-end cloud offering. ↗

SimCorp has a new strategic partnership with Venn by Two Sigma, an investment analytics solution for professional investors. Venn’s multi-factor risk analysis platform includes portfolio analysis, manager due diligence, scenario analysis, proposal generation, performance reporting, and more. Combining Axioma equity factor models (now part of SimCorp) with Venn’s factor analytics, the partnership aims to tackle the challenge of managing multi-asset portfolios. With this new partnership, Venn’s clients will benefit from equity risk factors derived from the latest version of the Axioma US Equity Factor Risk Models, alongside the Worldwide Equity Factor Risk Models, within Venn’s 18-Factor Lens. ↗

Nilörn has entered into a strategic partnership with Worldfavor. This collaboration enhances Nilörn’s solution, Nilörn:CONNECT and will provide a solution ranging from Unique IDs and data carrier, to the supply chain ESG performance. This partnership is founded on the shared commitment of Nilörn and Worldfavor to create an efficient digital solution for supply chain visibility and compliance. ↗

Tangelo Software has announced its new partnership with Position Green. With this partnership, companies are able to streamline and simplify their ESG reporting process starting with an ESG ambition and gaining actionable sustainability data to producing a ESG report that complies with regulations and engages stakeholders. ↗

Knowledgenet.ai has announced that it reached its 20th Customer Relationship Management partnership. By integrating KnowledgeNet.ai’s AI capabilities into CRM systems, businesses gain access to intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and personalized customer experiences. ↗

MSCI is collaborating with Eurex to expand its Total Return Futures segment. On March 11, Eurex plans to launch TRF contracts on three MSCI indexes: MSCI World Index, MSCI EAFE Index, and MSCI Emerging Markets Index. ↗

CAIS has announced that its CAIS DocuSign is now available for users that custody with Schwab - across all Schwab Alternative Investment platforms. This expanded enhancement now allows advisors to use the speed and convenience of CAIS DocuSign to transact in alternative investments on their Schwab platform of choice. ↗

RevGenius has partnered with Attio. RevGenius is a community of revenue generating sales, marketing, customer success, and revops professionals brought together to learn, share, support, and grow with each other. RevGenius has partnered with Attio for its CRM platform. ↗

Invicti Security and Mend.io have announced a partnership to bring application security testing and supply chain security tools to users. This partnership pairs Invicti’s DAST, IAST, and API Security domains with Mend’s SAST, SCA, and Container Security solutions to give customers full code coverage and continuous security. ↗

Bain Capital has chosen CAIS as a partner in the independent wealth community. Bain is a private investment firm with 40 years of experience and approximately $180B in AUM. ↗

Ontra has announced its new GPT-4 enhancements to its Contract Automation platform. Adding OpenAI’s GPT-4 will allow Ontra to accelerate expansion into more document types, and power several new and upcoming features to increase the speed of contract negotiations, including: Digital Playbooks, Markup Builder and Automated Summaries. ↗

S&P Global Market Intelligence announced the integration of Nikkei's news offering with the S&P Capital IQ Pro platform. The redistribution deal provides S&P Capital IQ Pro users with insights on financial markets, economies, regulation, company developments, and emerging business trends in the region of Japan and Asia-Pacific. ↗

qashqade AG and LeadingMile Consulting have announced a strategic partnership focused on enhancing private market efficiency. LeadingMile is a European consultancy firm specializing in solution implementation for the alternative investment sector. This collaboration will allow clients to benefit from the combined strength of both offerings, with LeadingMile’s experience in alternative investments solutions and qashqade’s platform for automated waterfall calculations and capitalization table modelling. ↗

Hudson Bay Capital Management has chosen SS&C for fund administration. Hudson Bay is a multi-strategy investment firm headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, with $20 billion in aum. The collaboration adds to the current relationship between SS&C and Hudson Bay, which already encompasses a range of SS&C solutions for trade operations and investor support. ↗

Position Green has welcomed AAK, Axjo Group, Cavotec and Husvärden AB to its list of clients. Position Green supports its customers' sustainability efforts by utilizing Position Green's range of products and solutions. ↗

Atominvest has welcomed Cordovan Capital Management as a new client. Cordovan Capital is a micro-cap private equity investor that invests in companies across the UK and Ireland. Atominvest supports Cordovan's active portfolio management process. ↗

Allvue has announced that Permian, the Nordic fund administrator, is its newest client. In a strategic move aimed at optimizing fund administration and accounting processes, Permian started implementing Allvue as its core system to support its business operation. ↗

OFFICE & PERSONNEL

SimCorp has welcomed Martin Bjørn Jensen back to the company. With the title, Lead Product Owner for Performance, Jensen will work on further developing SimCorp's cloud analytics platform and its performance attribution solution. Jensen worked at SimCorp from 2006-2008 and was most recently with Axxsys Consulting. ↗

Richard King has started a new position as Vice President Implementation at LemonEdge. King has been with LemonEdge for the past 2 years. ↗

Bain has announced the promotion of 9 new partners for its global private equity practice. Stuart Campbell, Mike Gentile, Samantha Hamilton, Sam Kaye, Andrew McCrum, Sid Mehra, Anju Somani, Ben Vander, and Brandon Meloche have all been promoted to Partner in the US, Europe and the UK. ↗

Gain.pro has announced 24 new promotions that occured in 2023. These promotions range from analyst to manager and director. ↗

Northern Trust India has opened its new Bangalore office. This opening marked the consolidation of three offices and brought all its teams together. ↗

James Wheaton has taken on the role of Head of Global Marketing at 73 Strings. Until recently, Wheaton was a Senior Director - GTM Strategy at FIS. ↗

Grandview Analytics has welcomed Brett Haymaker as a new Senior Software Engineer, focused on front-end UI/UX development. Haymaker has 10 years of technology experience and was previously at Bank of America. ↗

Lana Samir is the new Senior Regulatory Affairs Project Manager at RepRisk. Samir spent over 12 years at Philip Morris International and has extensive experience developing fiscal and regulatory frameworks.

Antonio Muniz has been promoted at LemonEdge to Vice President of Strategic Solutions. Muniz has been with LemonEdge for the past year and was previously a Product Manager at FIS. ↗

Kroll has appointed Tom Bock as Managing Director and Head of its new US Financial Crime Advisory practice. Under Bock’s leadership, the FCA practice will bring customized solutions to help financial institutions, fintech companies and corporations meet their financial crime compliance challenge. A major focus of the new practice will be to assist financial institutions in gaining operational efficiencies through the strategic use of technology. Before joining Kroll, Bock was a Senior Managing Director atbthe consulting firm, J.S. Held. ↗

Daniel Donovan has joined AlphaSense as VP, Consulting & Professional Services. Donovan was previously a Strategic Advisor at GrowthX Advisory. ↗

Jade Nel has started a new position as Global Head of HR: GSS & Shadow CPO at IQ-EQ. Nel has been with IQ-EQ for the last 4 years and was previously Shadow Chief People Officer at the company. ↗

Colin Allodi has joined Altvia as VP of Sales. Previously, Allodi was SVP, Institutional Sales at Backstop Solutions and had been with Backstop for 7 years. ↗

Kyle Rittendale has started a new position as Assistant Vice President - Product Manager at iCapital. Rittendale has been with iCapital for over 4 years and previously held the role of Associate Product Manager - Platform. ↗

Mirek Gruna has started a new position as Chief Commercial Officer - United Kingdom, Ireland, The Crown Dependencies at IQ-EQ. Gruna has been with IQ-EQ for the last 3 years and was previously a Managing Director at Dominion fiduciary. ↗

Katipult has announced the appointment of Beth Shaw of QB Advisory Group as a Strategic Advisor. Shaw has an extensive background in public and private financings, issuer and investor relations, compliance with Canadian and US regulators, and collaboration with institutional sales, trading, and research teams. ↗

Malvika Shah has started a new position as the Human Resources Manager at Tracxn. Before joining Tracxn, Shah was a Human Resources Operations Executive at C-Square Info Solutions. ↗

SEI has appointed Sean Denham as an Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Denham’s employment will begin on March 18, 2024, and his appointment as CFO will be effective on the day following the resignation of current CFO Dennis McGonigle, whose departure plans were announced by SEI in July 2023. For the last 20 years, Denham has served in various leadership roles at Grant Thornton, most recently as regional managing partner for the Atlantic Coast. ↗

Mushegh Hakhinian has joined 73 Strings as the Chief Information and Security Officer. Before joining 73 Strings, Hakhinian was VP, Security Architecture at SS&C Intralinks, where he spent the last 15 years. ↗

ERM has appointed Olaf Schatteman as Global Service Leader, Sustainable Products and Supply Chain. Schatteman will be based in ERM’s office in Milan, Italy. Schatteman spent the last 3 years as a Partner at Bain & Co. ↗

Bain & Company has appointed Mikaela Boyd to lead its Americas Financial Services practice. Boyd, who has spent the last 17 years at Bain, will now lead Bain’s Financial Services partner team and their clients, and will remain based in the New York office. Prior to joining Bain, Boyd held strategy and operating roles throughout the independent sector. ↗

Max Bauer has started a new position as Director - Enterprise Solutions at S&P Global. Before joining S&P, Bauer was Director Of Business Development at Anduin Transactions for the last 2 years. ↗

VENDOR RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Asset Class has a new post, "Private Equity Analytics: Supercharged Investor & Fund Management". This piece explores how internal analytics in private equity elevates investment strategy by improving prospect identification, performance tracking, and operational efficiency, leveraging real-time data. ↗

KEY ESG has a new whitepaper, "50 ESG statistics you need to know in 2024". This paper guides users on how to navigate the complex landscape of ESG management tools, how to make an informed choice that aligns with your organization's unique needs and sustainability goals. ↗

Integrum ESG has a new blog, "Leading to Nowhere: the ‘ESG Leaders’ in Data Privacy shunning disclosure". In this piece, Integrum explains how companies face the dual issue of safeguarding customer data and protecting itself against cyber threats. ↗

Ark has a new post, "Four trends that will impact fund managers and service providers in 2024". The four trends that Ark goes over in details include: shortage of accounting professionals, co-sourcing, investment in new technologies and no new major regulations are expected. ↗

SS&C has a new blog, "Empowering Growth – Trends in Sales Enablement for Asset Managers". In this blog SS&C explores trends that should be on the minds of distribution, marketing and business intelligence leaders, but usually are not. ↗

FundGuard has a new blog, "The Tech-Forward Future of Asset Management in EMEA". In this piece, FundGuard outlines how everything from systems complexity to M&A can create barriers to change, and suggests how firms can overcome the common challenges that are preventing change. ↗

Factset has posted a new piece, "AI Strategies Series: 7 Ways to Overcome Hallucinations". Factset states that hallucinations are perhaps the most important limitation of generative AI. In this piece, Factset discusses the implications of hallucinations, causes, and seven techniques to mitigate them. ↗

FundCount has a new blog, "5 Things to Consider When Starting a Fund Administration Business". In this piece, FundCount recommends the following five key considerations: weighing strategic factors, selecting technology, identifying the target market, establishing service offerings, and determining how to differentiate your business from competitors. ↗

Asset Class has a new blog, "The Role of Compliance in Financial Operations". In this article, Asset Class delves into the significance of regulatory compliance and how it plays a pivotal role in investor and fund management. ↗

Anaplan has a new blog, "4 tips for sales planning success in 2024". In this post, Anaplan discusses some sales and go-to-market planning insights that they heard from customers last year. ↗

Pepper has a new blog post, "How Asset Managers are using Deal Scoring to get higher portfolio returns". In this post, Pepper goes over what deal sourcing is and why you would need it. ↗

Canoe has a new blog, "Optimizing Alts: 5 Triggers to Enhance Your Custodian-Advisor Partnership". In this article, Canoe explores five common triggers or opportunities for custodians to engage an advisor partnership, to enhance the management of alts portfolios. ↗

Preqin has a new article, "Private wealth in 2024: how GPs can tackle the fundraising challenge". In this piece, Preqin explores why catering to private wealth requires different approach than dealing with institutions and how smaller GPs will need to explore different avenues to court private wealth. ↗

ShareVault has a new blog, " Understanding Business Valuations: A Comprehensive Guide for Mergers, Acquisitions & Beyond". In this piece, ShareVault dives into various types of business valuations, and their differing benefits, and guides the reader through a simplified process of how to carry one out. ↗

Visible has a new blog, "The Startup's Handbook to SAFE: Simplifying Future Equity Agreements". Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) is a financing tool for startups, offering a flexible alternative to traditional equity or debt financing. Visible feels that SAFE is crucial in the startup ecosystem, since SAFE agreements streamline the fundraising process, particularly for early-stage companies. ↗

Broadridge has a new Whitepaper, "Efficiency Unleashed: Capital Markets Operations Reimagined With Generative AI". Broadridge feels that capital markets firms are facing new challenges. Some examples from this whitepaper include: reduced settlement cycles, the continuous quest for efficiency, increasing trading velocity, and new ways of working. ↗

Apliqo has a new blog, "Investing with confidence". Apliqo feels that when LPs are making their investment decisions in the private markets there are a lot of considerations that need to be taken into account. In this whitepaper, Apliqo explores three of these considerations and shows how analytical portfolio management solutions can assist, giving investors the confidence to make decisions and the technology to back them up. ↗

Cygnetise has a new blog, "Technology advancements and hurdles in banking relationship management in 2024". This blog explores the intersection of technological innovation in banking, the economic and regulatory challenges faced, and the role of relationship management in driving customer-centric growth. ↗

Katipult has a new article, "5 Essential Factors to Consider When Selecting Private Equity Software". Katipult feels that as PE firms embark on selecting tools and software, five crucial factors should guide the decision-making process. This article breaks down these factors and explains why Katipult believes they are indispensable for a seamless and productive private equity operation. ↗

AWARDS

The winners of the Private Equity Wire European Awards 2024 have been announced. Winners from our Vendor Profile's database include:

LemonEdge - Most Innovative Technology
73 Strings - Best Portfolio Management Software
AssetMetrix - Best Accounting and Reporting
Quantium - Best Data Management Solution
KEY ESG - Best Data Provider – ESG
Pitchbook - Best Data Provider – Overall
Kroll - Best Regulatory & Compliance Firm
SS&C - Best Secure Work-flow Management Provider
AtomInvest - Best Deal Origination Technology
ERM - Best ESG Advisory Firm
S&P Global - Best ESG Ratings Provider
Dasseti - Best ESG Solution Provider
Apex - Best Fund Administrator – ESG
IQ-EQ - Best Fund Administrator - GP's > $30Bn
Citco - Best Fund Administrator – Technology
DealCloud - Best Fundraising Solution
DealEdge - Best Investor Relations Technology
Goji - Best New Solution Provider

Congrats to all the winners! ↗