This Week’s Vendor News

NEW & UPDATED PRODUCTS

Preqin launches Allocator Hub for private market investors. Allocator Hub is an end-to-end platform that enables asset allocation, manager selection, due diligence, and portfolio management through investment analytics, workflow tools, and managed services. Preqin's new offering is designed to support investors by driving positive investment outcomes and streamlining costly, time-consuming investment processes. Allocator Hub allows investment professionals to accelerate market mapping, conduct efficient investment due diligence, benchmark fund performance against the market, create custom indices for asset allocation and risk management workflows, and more. ↗

WealthBlock reveals enhanced platform that integrates investor onboarding, marketing, and reporting functions to boost efficiency and compliance and drive capital-raising efforts. By automating and error-proofing the entire onboarding, marketing, and reporting processes, the platform enables asset managers to focus on their mission of raising capital and generating returns for their clients. Three new features of this updated platform include: 1 - streamlined onboarding and e-sign functionality, 2 - enhanced investment marketing tools, 3 - improved investor reporting capabilities. ↗

Valueworks.ai launches ValueWorks 1.24. The latest platform release introduces new features, including: 1 - Pivot Tables: Now available as a chart type for enhanced data visualization. This new feature helps executives aggregate and analyze data, just like Excel but tailored for sales insights. 2 - “Last Update” Tracking: Ability to see when a KPI was last updated, ensuring data stays fresh and reliable. 3 - Responsibility Tracking: Identify who is responsible for maintaining each KPI, streamlining accountability. 4 - Update Deadlines: For manually maintained KPIs, track when updates are due. Any overdue KPIs will be flagged as “outdated” on dashboards for visibility. ↗

Specter unveals Specter People DB, for people intelligence. Specter People DB delivers: 1 - Founder Profiles – explore backgrounds, expertise, and track records. 2 - Full Team Overviews – map workforce structures and org dynamics. 3 - Notable Hires & Departures – stay ahead of leadership shifts in real time. 4 - Talent Signals – spot performers and insights at a glance. ↗

OneTrust rebrands PrivacyConnect into Connect Communities. This update reflects OneTrust's commitment to creating a space for professionals to connect, learn, and drive change. Through global events, webinars, and resources, Connect Communities brings the industry together to tackle today’s pressing challenges. ↗

SUBSCRIBE launches Fund Transfers to digitize how investors transfer private fund investments. Fund Transfers by SUBSCRIBE is a new functionality that digitally transforms private fund transfer paperwork, AML/KYC and tax information, and workflows involved when LPs look to transfer private fund investments between their related parties. Why Use Fund Transfers by SUBSCRIBE? 1 - Bring transfer paperwork online, 2 - Accurately manage related AML/KYC and Tax, 3 - Centralize and scale the experience. ↗

Private Equity Info enhances Search improvements and filters. The updated features include: 1 - Multi-select search criteria in all datasets, including transaction types, firm size, industry and location. 2 - New secondary private equity firm filter. 3 - Filter private equity firms by size of equity investment, in addition to revenue, EBITDA and enterprise value, 4 - Filter private equity firms that make cross-border investments, 5 - Sort private equity firm portfolio company lists by investment and exit dates, and sort private equity firm executive lists. ↗

DEAL ACTIVITY

BlackRock cleared to acquire Preqin. The UK Competition and Markets Authority has cleared BlackRock's $3.2 billion acquisition of Preqin after launching an investigation into the deal on competition concerns. On Dec. 13, the CMA said that it was formally opening an investigation into the deal, having previously said that it wanted to assess whether the acquisition might stifle competition in the U.K. On Feb. 12, the regulator said that based on the information currently available, it won't refer the merger for a further investigation. ↗

Validus secures $45M growth equity investment from FTV Capital. This minority investment will enable Validus to further expand into the United States and APAC while continuing to grow in the European market, and invest in technology and product innovation. As part of this investment, Mike Cichowski, partner at FTV Capital, will join the Validus board of directors. Walter Global Asset Management will remain on the board as a minority shareholder. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. ↗

FactSet acquires LiquidityBook for a purchase price of $246.5M in cash. LiquidityBook provides cloud-native trading solutions to hedge fund, asset and wealth management, outsourced trading, and sell-side middle office clients. Over the past year, the two companies partnered to enable a turnkey integration of LiquidityBook’s flagship order management system into the FactSet Workstation to link adjacent steps in the front office trade workflow, from security research and portfolio construction to order creation and trade execution. FactSet’s ability to serve the integrated workflow needs of clients across the portfolio life cycle will be enhanced by combining LiquidityBook’s scalable order management, pre-trade compliance, and investment book of record capabilities with FactSet’s investment research, execution management, performance, reporting, and portfolio analytics solutions. ↗

FIS recently acquired Demica. Demica is a London-based fintech company that provides cloud-based supply chain finance software. With this acquisition, Demica’s supply chain finance platform is combined with FIS’ treasury management, accounts receivables, and lending solutions. Together, both companies are providing corporations and trade banks with a solution to manage liquidity, automate processes, and accelerate cash flow. ↗

Salesforce plans to invest $500 million in Saudi Arabia. The investment aims to spur workforce development through AI skilling and expand Salesforce’s partner ecosystem to support local businesses. As part of this expansion, Salesforce will bring Hyperforce, its platform architecture, to Saudi Arabia. Delivered through a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services, Hyperforce in K.S.A. enables Salesforce’s global customer base to run workloads locally through a distributed public cloud infrastructure. This expansion also allows local businesses to leverage Salesforce and its products while remaining compliant with local regulations. Ecosystem partnerships with Capgemini, Deloitte, Globant, IBM, and PwC may also extend the capabilities of Saleforce's technology in Saudi Arabia by providing solutions and specialized expertise. ↗

StepStone has led a $2bn continuation fund in partnership with PSG to support the continued growth of six of its portfolio companies. The transaction was also supported by a group of co-leads – including CPP Investments, GIC and Hamilton Lane – and a meaningful re-investment from the PSG team and its funds. ↗

PARTNERSHIPS & INTEGRATIONS

Bite Stream and Untap merge to create Bite Stream+. Bite Stream+ provides asset managers with an integrated system that streamlines everything from fundraising to investor communications. Bite Stream+ consolidates multiple processes into one intuitive system, eliminating the inefficiencies of disconnected workflows. With Untap’s portfolio monitoring and reporting now embedded alongside Bite Stream’s investor relations and compliance tools, fund managers can save time, ensure data consistency and strengthen regulatory compliance. Investors benefit from real-time insights and clear reporting, enhancing transparency and trust. ↗

Chronograph and Bipsync join forces to help private market investors unlock data access and extract investment insights. This new partnership aims to help unlock front-to-middle office efficiencies and support the full lifecycle of private markets investing. Through this collaboration, investors can realize operational efficiencies and increase data transparency, as well as track key trends, run analysis across the pre to post investment lifecycle, identify investment opportunities, and deliver insights with accuracy. ↗

Hyperscience and Flow Automated Intelligence form new partnership. By leveraging Hyperscience’s document processing and Flow Automation Intelligence’s workflow automation, the partnership will provide solutions to automate tasks such as KYC, fraud detection, and claims management. Together, they will help financial institutions make accurate decisions, while ensuring compliance and reducing operational risk. ↗

Broadridge extends strategic global agreement with Upvest to deliver and enhance end-to-end proxy voting and shareholder disclosure solutions. Broadridge will continue providing Upvest with a portfolio of solutions for the full range of client proxy voting needs, including meeting notification, vote execution, and confirmation. This also includes both digital and entry card services, enabling online and in-person voting at meetings. Upvest will also take advantage of Broadridge’s integrated interface for proxy voting via its own website. Through the partnership with Broadridge, Upvest meets SRD II regulatory requirements and delivers enhanced shareholder services for end-users. Additionally, through the use of Broadridge’s Shareholder Disclosure Hub, Upvest’s clients can take advantage of an online reporting solution that enables them to meet the regulatory disclosure obligations in a single portal, minimizing risk and improving operational efficiency. ↗

Morningstar forms strategic alliance with SS&C’s Black Diamond Wealth Platform. SS&C's Black Diamond Wealth Platform is the first wealth platform to integrate with the newly launched Direct Advisory Suite from Morningstar. This alliance pairs investment data and research, portfolio construction and holdings-based analysis, and client engagement capabilities from Direct Advisory Suite with technology for portfolio accounting, client communications, compliance, trading and rebalancing, data aggregation, and performance reporting in Black Diamond. Additionally, Black Diamond users can now leverage: 1 - An interactive Client Experience portal and mobile app, including optional firm branding. 2 - Full business intelligence and reporting insights at the firm- and advisor-level. 3 - A Rebalancer application with a suite of turnkey investment management services and tools. 4 - Compliance workflows. 5 - Self-service data mining functionality. ↗

Antares Capital partners with SUBSCRIBE to broaden advisor access to alternative investments. In joining SUBSCRIBE, Antares seeks to provide a new digital experience for investor onboarding, electronic subscription documents, and order workflows to support the entire lifecycle of alternative investing for its LPs. This partnership builds upon Antares’ efforts in expanding access to and education around alternative investments through its Wealth Solutions platform. ↗

Yieldstreet members will soon have access to Wilshire-sourced opportunities. Last March, Yieldstreet and Wilshire formed a strategic partnership to enhance investor access to institutional-quality alternative investments. Now, Yieldstreet members will soon be able to access select Wilshire-sourced opportunities, starting with a launch expected this week. Opportunities included must pass both Wilshire and Yieldstreet’s investment committees prior to becoming available to investors. ↗

Adapa Advisory forms new partnership with Integrum ESG. Adapa Advisory provides advisory services to clients within the investment lifecycle and will now introduce Integrum ESG’s range of solutions to support its objectives within the ESG space. Adapa Advisory chose to work with Integrum ESG due to their reputation of delivering solutions to clients across multiple segments. ↗

Charles River establishes integration with Octaura. Octaura is a consortium-led, electronic trading platform providing execution, real-time data and trade analytics for syndicated loans. This integration aims to address the outdated infrastructures that have created inefficient and time-consuming workflows, which are prone to error and increased operational risk. With this integration, traders can now leverage Octaura’s platform to simultaneously execute multiple orders and receive real-time updates via the Charles River FIX network. Benefits include improved: 1 - Liquidity: Access live quotes from 16 market-leading loan dealers, with more than 5,000 contributions daily. 2 - Execution: Support a variety of workflows via multiple trading protocols. 3 - Efficiency: Send multiple orders all at once and view them in Octaura’s order blotter. Tailor your execution strategy with a suite of data & analytics tools such as Liquidity Scores, pricing, and historical performance. 4 - Accuracy: As trades are executed and orders are filled, Charles River and Octaura automatically stay in sync – eliminating potential errors and delays that come with
manual entries and workflow. ↗

General Index energy benchmarks are now available through FactSet. The integration of GX data into FactSet's platform brings the following advantages to users: 1 - Depth of coverage - FactSet users can access daily spot and forward prices for key crude oil and refined product benchmarks across multiple geographies, empowering better decision-making in volatile markets. 2 - Enhanced modelling capabilities - GX prices can be accessed using FactSet’s Workstation platform or by using FactSet’s proprietary Excel add-in, enabling users to refresh their models on demand. 3 - Transparent pricing methodology - FactSet users will have access to reliable, transparent crude oil and refined product pricing data backed up with detailed factsheets from GX outlining its methodology. ↗

FIS partners with Affirm to bring integrated pay-over-time capabilities to debit issuing banking clients and their cardholders. With this partnership, FIS debit processing bank clients will be able to integrate Affirm’s pay-over-time solution directly into their existing debit card program via their digital banking and mobile app platforms. FIS' clients can continue to meet the growing demand for payment flexibility, while increasing customer engagement and accelerating growth for their business, by incorporating Affirm's offering into their debit card products. This program offers a new opportunity for financial institutions to provide a pay-over-time solution to the millions of US consumers who have a debit card. By integrating Affirm’s offering into banking products, FIS will unlock growth opportunities for clients across the money lifecycle, help meet the demands of the growing market and position financial institutions to capitalize on the offering’s potential by fostering customer loyalty and accelerating growth. ↗

Reply.io now integrates with udu. Reply.io users can now sync their udu Source project data with their Reply.io account. Benefits of this integration are: 1. Contact Management & Outreach - udu Source helps users identify contacts, but once those contacts are identified, managing and reaching out to them manually can be time-consuming. Reply.io automates email outreach, allowing users to upload contact lists from udu Source and initiate personalized email campaigns or sequences at scale. 2. Automated Sequences - Reply.io’s automation tools let udu Source users set up email sequences to automatically follow up with prospects based on pre-defined triggers. 3. Personalization at Scale - udu Source may help users identify leads and Reply.io allows them to craft personalized outreach messages. Reply.io’s personalization tokens make it easy to add custom information into emails—like a recipient’s company name or specific interests—while still sending them in bulk, helping users save time. 4. Improved Engagement Tracking - Reply.io provides analytics and tracking for email campaigns. 5. Lead Scoring & Prioritization - Reply.io’s ability to track how recipients engage with emails allows users to prioritize leads effectively. Based on how a lead interacts with an outreach campaign—whether they open emails, click links, or reply—users can segment their contacts and follow up accordingly. ↗

Kroll expands Private Capital Markets Platform and enhances Private Credit Analysis. Kroll has added the Morningstar Leveraged Loan Index data and PitchBook LCD data and analytics to the Kroll Private Capital Markets Platform. These new additions to the Platform equip asset managers and private credit clients with enhanced data and analytics, improving their ability to make investment decisions. The Platform updates the private asset valuation process, making it easy to capture, manage and analyze illiquid investment and fund-level data at scale. ↗

Usul Ventures has completed its onboarding process on Floww. Usul Ventures is now an accredited intermediary on the Floww platform, ready to manage and support investment rounds for companies. This enables Usul Ventures to facilitate and guide businesses in their fundraising journey directly through Floww. ↗

OFFICE & PERSONNEL

IQ-EQ promotes John Legrand to Deputy Group CEO and appoints Richard Surrency as Group CCO. John Legrand was the Regional CEO, UK, Ireland and Crown Dependencies and is now the Deputy Group CEO. Legrand has been with IQ-EQ for the last five years. Before joining IQ-EQ, Legrand spent time at BlackRock, BNY Mellon, SS&C and Linedata Services. Surrency was most recently the Chief Executive Officer - APAC at Aviva Investors and also spent time at Franklin Templeton, Algebris Investments and Morgan Stanley. ↗

Alexander Spronk is joining Drooms as Head of Sales UK & BeNeLux. In his new role, Spronk will be in charge of leading Droom's growth and strengthening its presence in the UK & BeNeLux. With previous experience from his prior roles at Ansarada as Head of Europe Mainland and Intralinks as Pod Lead Benelux, he brings an understanding of the industry and a track record in sales leadership. ↗

IQ-EQ expands middle office services to continental Europe and the UK. The aim with this expansion is to meet the demand from asset managers as they prepare for expected changes to settlement cycles and seek to reduce staff costs. By extending its range of services to Europe and the UK, IQ-EQ can offer more support to its clients worldwide. Paul Griffith, the Chief Commercial Officer for Ireland, will oversee the implementation of any new offerings across Europe and the UK. ↗

73 Strings welcomes Alex Merola as new Head of Sales Engineering. With 15+ years of experience leading sales engineering teams in private markets, Merola has been a trusted advisor to clients on everything from deal due diligence to portfolio monitoring, valuations, ESG, and reporting. ↗

Ofir Masas promoted to Director of Growth Marketing, B2C at Similarweb. Masas has been with SimilarWeb for the last three years. Prior to that, he spent time at Klever and IBM. ↗

Gerardo Lemus joins PortF as Senior Advisor. Lemus has more than 20 years experience working in data and technology roles across financial markets, including fund managers, hedge funds, and fund administrators. Most recently he worked as Head of Data Science for Lantern. Lemus also held portfolio manager roles at JP Morgan and asset manager Rubicon, and as a financial strategist at Citigroup. ↗

Acuity Knowledge Partners appoints Narasimhan S L as Chief Human Resources Officer. Based in Bengaluru, Narasimhan, an Executive Committee member, will now lead Acuity's HR, Training & Knowledge Management, Corporate Services and Compliance teams. He will also oversee global HR strategy and operations, including policy development, employee engagement and organizational design, as well as oversee talent acquisition efforts, focusing on attracting and retaining talent at the company. NNarasimhan brings 25 years of experience in HR leadership. Most recently, he served as the Global Head of Talent Acquisition at State Street, where he led global hiring strategies from Singapore. Before this, he held the position of Head of HR for State Street’s global hubs in India, Poland, and China, overseeing a workforce of approximately 25,000 employees. During his tenure, he played a role in enhancing employee engagement, streamlining operations, and spearheading HR transformation initiatives. ↗

Erik Bernsten joins Balentic as a Senior Advisor. Bernsten brings over 20 years of international experience in strategic business development, with a track record of driving growth, geographical expansion, and M&A across multiple industries. ↗

Allison Laycob Matty starts new position as Vice President, Chief Client Office, Key Partners at S&P Global. Matty has been with S&P for the last three years and previously held the role of Americas Lead - Strategic Alliances. Prior to S&P, Matty spent 11+ years at IHS Markit. ↗

VENDOR RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Bain has a new article, "The Great Debate: Will Agentic AI Kill SaaS?". This article highlights some fundamental questions about how technology evolves, what customers value, and the essence of strategy in the technology industry. ↗

Verivend has a new blog, "Navigating the Private Capital Landscape: 2024 Trends and 2025 Predictions". This blog provides trends in Private Capital Markets across Venture Capital, Private Equity, Private Credit and Real Estate. It also identifies four trends from 2024 and six predictions and trends for 2025, along with LP behavior and GP behavior. ↗

AWARDS

The winners of the Private Equity Wire European Awards 2025 have been announced.

Winners from our Vendor Profiles database include:

Accounting & Fund Reporting Solution of the Year – AssetMetrix
Compliance Service of the Year: Fund Domicile – IQ-EQ
Data Management Solution of the Year – 73 Strings
Data Provider of the Year: Credit – PitchBook
Data Provider of the Year: Overall – DealEdge
Deal Origination Solution of the Year: Technology – Sourcescrub
Fund Accounting & Reporting Software of the Year – Quantium Technology
Fundraising Solution of the Year – Atominvest
Investor Relations Technology of the Year – Dasseti
Middle Office Service of the Year – Arcesium
New Solution Provider of the Year – Goji, Euroclear group
Regulatory & Compliance Firm of the Year – KROLL
Regulatory & Compliance Technology of the Year – Domos FS
Secondaries Platform of the Year – Moonfare
Solution Provider of the Year: ESG – PortF
Solution Provider of the Year: ODD – DiligenceVault
Technology Innovation of the Year – LemonEdge
Technology Innovation of the Year (Client Services) – Vestlane
Valuation Service of the Year – S&P Global Market Intelligence

Congratulations to all the winners! ↗

WITH Intelligence has announced the winners of the Fund Operations and Services Awards 2025.

Winners from our Vendor Profiles database include:

Best Cloud-based Back/Middle-Office solution - DiligenceVault
Best Cloud-Based Front-Office Solution - Charles River Development
Best Data Management Solution- Back/Middle Office - Canoe Intelligence
Best EMS/OMS Provider - Charles River Development
Best Machine Learning Development - Canoe Intelligence
Best Portfolio Management System (PMS) - Dynamo Software
Best Risk Management Solution - Acuity Knowledge Partners

Congratulations to all the winners! ↗

FactSet wins the Portfolio Management Award at the WealthBriefing Swiss Awards 2025. ↗