This Week’s Vendor News

NEW & UPDATED PRODUCTS

Arcesium has launched Opterra, its new investment lifecycle management platform. Opterra was developed to bring precision to operational and data-based workflows across the investment lifecycle – from reporting to accounting to treasury and reconciliation. Firms will have the opportunity to deploy Opterra by itself or paired with Arcesium’s enterprise data management platform, Aquata. Opterra gives investment firms self-service reporting abilities so that they can leverage datasets from across their business in new ways. The new platform enables firms to support any front-office strategy, and introduces regulatory reporting capabilities helping firms maintain compliance with evolving regulations. ↗

FIS has launched a new trade matching solution in the UK for lenders and borrowers. By using smart automated matching technology, the Securities Finance Matching Platform will facilitate secure and scalable processing of securities finance trades. The new solution identifies the best-match scenario by automating the evaluation of multiple factors involved in securities trading including fee or rebate rate, capital requirements, transaction and reporting costs and counter-party trading patterns. ↗

Salesforce has launched Einstein Service Agent, its first fully autonomous AI agent. Einstein Service Agent has the ability to understand and take action on a broad range of service issues without preprogrammed scenarios, helping make customer service more efficient. Built on the Einstein 1 Platform, Einstein Service Agent interacts with LLMs by analyzing the context of the customer’s message and then autonomously determining the next actions to take. Currently in pilot and generally available later this year, Einstein Service Agent has user-friendly interfaces, pre-built templates, and low-code actions and workflows. ↗

FIS has also launched SMB Digital Lending to streamline small business loan processes. SMB Digital Lending leverages data analytics and machine learning to help banks profitably source, underwrite, and fund loans of any size to small and medium-sized businesses. By streamlining the lending process for financial institutions, SMB Digital Lending, launched in partnership with Lendio, seeks to reduce barriers and bring down costs for small and medium-sized businesses seeking funding. ↗

Ark’s financial synchronization now includes a Cash Receipts feature, a new tool for managing and tracking Investor Capital Calls. This feature delivers an intuitive interface for selecting Capital Calls, marking cash as received, and notifying investors that their cash has hit the fund’s bank account. Designed to streamline a fund's operational workflows, this feature ensures financial records are accurate by automatically generating journal entries and allowing users to easily add and track adjustments. ↗

CEPRES has launched new features on its DealEdge platform. The first new feature is the ability to share reports to collaborate with colleagues. DealEdge now allows users to share custom reports with other DealEdge users. Next is Advanced Multiples Trend Analysis, whereby CEPRES introduced a new more advanced multiples chart providing insights into how EV/EBITDA and EV/Revenue multiples are trending. This provides insights into whether deal multiples in a selected sample are trending upwards, downwards, or remaining stable. CEPRES' Deal Universe has also been updated, since it added 200+ deals to the DealEdge Universe, taking its total deal count to approximately 48700 deals and 3500+ funds. In addition, CEPRES has added deal source data points for approximately 2200 deals, and deal exit routes for around 800 deals. ↗

Venture360 has unveiled the latest updates on its platform. First, it has introduced its brand-new investor portal, which streamlines reporting and offers on-demand access to real-time capital accounts. Venture360 has also updated its profile verification features for enhanced security for all users. ↗

Cadence announced it has updated its website. Check it out @ www.cadencetranslate.com ↗

DEAL ACTIVITY

Lenox Park Solutions has received a strategic investment from Tikehau Capital, a global asset manager. The investment will accelerate Lenox Park’s technology development and analytics capabilities while supporting the company's expansion into international markets. A member of Tikehau Capital will also be represented on Lenox Park’s Board of Directors. This investment will enable Lenox Park to expand its product offerings, penetrate new markets in the US and internationally, and further develop new analytics and technology tools to better serve its global clientele. ↗

Moonfare Secondary Fund (MSF) has invested in Astorg’s €1.4 billion continuation fund to acquire its portfolio company, Normec — a European testing and certification industry organization. MSF invested alongside managers that include CVC Secondary Partners, Pantheon, Lexington Partners and Eurazeo. The additional capital will further support Normec’s organic growth initiatives and acquisitions. ↗

GAM has reached a definitive agreement to transfer its Management Company activities in Ireland, Luxembourg and the UK to Apex Group. The agreement to transfer includes the sale of GAM Fund Management Ltd, Dublin, including its in-house transfer agency function to Apex Group. The agreement reached also means that GAM and Apex Group will transfer management company services for GAM funds in Luxembourg and the UK to corresponding subsidiaries of Apex Group. The completion of the sale and the transfer of management company services in Luxembourg and the UK is expected by the end of Q4 2024. ↗

PARTNERSHIPS & INTEGRATIONS

Holland Mountain has announced its new partnership with 73 Strings. By combining the technology of 73 Strings with the consulting and implementation services of Holland Mountain, this partnership aims to optimize the operating models of private capital managers. Key benefits of this partnership include: 1 - Enhanced operational efficiency - private capital managers will benefit from streamlined operations. 2 - Optimized operating models - Holland Mountain will assist clients in refining their operating models to harness the potential of the 73 Strings platform, driving value and performance. 3 - Comprehensive support - private Capital managers will receive broader support from Holland Mountain. This new partnership demonstrates 73 Strings’ and Holland Mountain’s commitment to providing solutions and support to private capital managers, helping them navigate the complexities of the industry and achieve their strategic objectives. ↗

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth has a new strategic relationship with iCapital to manage and scale private market investments. Ashton Thomas, part of Arax Investment Partners, provides its independent advisors and their clients with access to iCapital’s operating system, helping them manage and scale a full suite of solutions spanning alternative investments, structured investments, and enhanced data management capabilities. By leveraging iCapital, Ashton Thomas advisors will benefit from enhanced data aggregation, financial reporting, and data management. This integrated platform can simplify the management of multiple asset classes and enhance overall efficiency. ↗

Benefeature has unveiled a strategic partnership with ISS Market Intelligence - Discovery Data. This collaboration will enhance Benefeature's ability to provide insights into broker agents operating within the group insurance benefit plans sector. With ISS Market Intelligence - Discovery Data's database, Benefeature is able to deliver information including: Agent License Information, Carrier Appointments, License Types and Contact Information. ↗

Principal, a global financial services company, has expanded a 10-year relationship with Salesforce and adopted Data Cloud to unify customer data. Now, with Data Cloud, Principal has a better view of customer-related data, which is essential to driving automation, analytics, personalization, and trusted AI. As a result, teams can make data-driven decisions and provide a consistent experience across multiple channels, fostering sales growth with new and existing customers. By unifying Principal’s customer data in Sales Cloud with Data Cloud, Principal can: deliver personalized customer engagement, enable customer-centric experiences and centralize data. ↗

Sustainable Fitch is partnering with SESAMm to integrate its data into Sustainable Fitch's ESG Scores and Ratings. Sustainable Fitch will use SESAMm analytics to monitor companies and industries at a granular level, allowing them to provide insights to clients to aid their investment and due diligence decision-making. ↗

Kayne Anderson recently formed a strategic partnership with Carta. This new partnership is aimed at making Carta’s tools ubiquitous across Kayne Anderson's growth team’s investments, allowing the firm to streamline the way it collaborates with companies. Kayne Anderson’s portfolio companies rely on Carta’s platform to accomplish the following tasks: First, there’s the baseline function of building and maintaining a cap table. Kayne’s companies also use Carta to organize their stock certificates. They use it to generate annual 409A valuations. They use it to manage their option pools. They create scenario analysis models for how their cap tables might change over time. Carta’s cap tables are a living document that can be updated at the moment of a new transaction, ensuring that Kayne and their companies always have up-to-date information. ↗

CAIS has announced its expanded relationship with Golub Capital. Golub Capital is a direct lender and private credit manager, headquartered in New York. This partnership aims to provide wealth managers with access to Golub's private credit strategies designed to help clients achieve their investment goals. ↗

DLA Piper is Position Green's newest ESG100 partner. Position Green stated that since both the EU and Norwegian business communities are experiencing an increase in ESG regulation and reporting requirements, the company is now in a "maturing" phase, finding efficient and practical ways to comply with the new rules while ensuring the goals behind them are achieved. Position Green feels that the work that needs to be done, is best done collaboratively, sharing experiences and discussing best practices. ↗

Addepar has welcomed Hay Hill Wealth Management as its newest client. London-based Hay Hill Wealth offers a personalised, flexible and direct approach to investment planning and management across multiple asset classes, providing an alternative to traditional private banks. ↗

VBG Group AB have launched its new ESRS and GHG reporting system on the Position Green platform in order to be compliant with the CSRD requirements put forward by the EU. Position Green will also help VBG Group create a platform of its own. ↗

OFFICE & PERSONNEL

Abhishek Joshi has joined Colmore as VP, Head of Investment Valuation Services in Bangalore. In the role, Joshi will oversee monitoring and valuation processes for private equity clients. Before joining Colmore, he was a Senior Manager at EY. ↗

Kyle Ebbets is the new SVP, Commercial Operations at FINTRX. After spending 17 years at Discovery Data on the Consulting Group, Ebbets joined the RIA Channel as the Director of Strategy. ↗

Hyperscience has unveiled its newly formed AI & Ethics committee. The committee is chaired by General Counsel, Erin Millender. As part of their charter, the committee will be focused on driving the implementation of its AI & Ethics principles under four pillars of action: 1 - Engagement // engaging in industry conversations with organizations and peers to advance the dialogue around ethical uses and regulation of AI and Machine Learning technology. 2 - Education // providing education on ethical AI to all employees and customer/partner ecosystem. 3 - Policy // creating auditable internal policies that govern its business processes to create ethical guardrails and promote accountability. 4 - Product // integrating ethical safeguards into its research and product development roadmap. ↗

Mergermarket has welcomed Atholl Simpson to the team. Simpson has joined Mergermarket from Citywire in New York, where he served as the editor of its Americas coverage. Simpson has 15 years of experience as a breaking news reporter and editor in the investment, asset, and wealth management sectors across Europe, Asia, the US, and Latin America. ↗

FINTRX has added two new employees to the company. Stephanie Manicioto is the new SVP, Customer Experience. Manicioto spent 17 years at Discovery Data | ISS Market Intelligence where most recently she was the Executive Director - Head of Client Success. Emily Goldman is the new Vice President, Data & Research and she too joins from Discovery Data | ISS Market Intelligence where she spent over 5 years, most recently as an Associate Director. ↗

RepRisk has announced its membership with the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA). The RIAA, with its 500 members across Australia and New Zealand, represents $29 trillion in aum. Their mission is to promote, advocate, and support approaches to responsible investment that align capital with achieving a healthy and sustainable society, environment, and economy. By joining the RIAA, RepRisk enhances its clients' ability to make data-driven, sustainable investment decisions with confidence and ease. ↗

VENDOR RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Katipult has a new blog, "Top 5 Reasons an Investor CRM Can Improve Capital Raising Efforts". Katipult feels that an investor CRM is one of the most important systems that can elevate your capital raising efforts. In this blog, Katipult goes over five reasons why integrating an investor CRM can transform your fundraising strategy. ↗

Hyperscience has published a new blog, "Hyperautomation: The Future of Business Process Outsourcing". This blog focuses on the impact of AI on the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market. ↗

Apperio has a new blog, "Legal spend management: 5 major headaches resolved ". In this blog, Apperio looks at five common legal management pain points businesses can face, and show how modern tech solutions can tackle them head-on. ↗

Tablecloth has a new blog, "Benchmarks Don’t Tell the Full Story. Here’s the Real Deal." Tablecloth feels that proprietary benchmarking can't be trusted, not the practice of benchmarking. And with that, there are two branches: Algorithmic (big-data solutions) and reportive (small-data solutions). This blog explains why proprietary benchmarking can't be trusted. ↗

Holland Mountain has a new blog, "Secondaries: Data Strategies to Drive Smart, Fast Investment Decisions". This piece shares how Secondaries managers can utilize transformative technology and innovative data strategies to solve industry challenges and improve operational efficiency. ↗

Rialto Markets has a new blog, "Why is the Right Technology Crucial for Online Capital Formation?". In this blog, Rialto Markets gives six reasons why it feels that tech is crucial for online capital formation. ↗

Alkymi has a new blog, "Leverage AI to attract and retain top-tier analysts". In this blog, Alkymi explains how AI tools are revolutionizing Wall Street by automating much of the entry-level work traditionally done by analysts, such as data entry and sourcing material for presentations, and firms taking advantage of these tools are appealing to potential new hires. ↗

Apex Group has published a new article, "Reducing secondary loan settlement times: The Apex Group's approach to a market-leading loan closing solution". This article explores the impact of third-party providers on reducing loan settlement times and highlights four key advantages of outsourcing this process. ↗

Apliqo has a new blog, "Impact and Influence: How to determine the KPIs that truly matter". In this article, Apliqo explores how to select the right KPIs for your business so that you can align your company with the incentives that actually matter. ↗

Nth Round has a new blog, "Equity Management Platforms vs. Registered Transfer Agents: What's Best for Private Companies?". This blog explores whether private companies really need a transfer agent or if modern technology offers a more effective alternative. ↗

InvestorFlow has a new article, "Why Marketing Transformation is Imperative in Alternatives". This article explains why InvestorFlow feels that marketing transformation is imperative — it is no longer an option but a fundamental requirement, in order to remain competitive. ↗

Hypercore has a new blog, "The Rise of Co-sourcing and What It Means for Nonbank Lenders". This piece dives into more about co-sourcing, how it differs from outsourcing, and what to keep in mind as readers explore ways to grow and scale their lending business. ↗

AWARDS

SEI has been recognized as the Master Trust Offering of the Year at the 2024 European Pensions Awards. This award celebrates 17 years of commitment and excellence in serving European pension funds. ↗