This Week’s Vendor News

NEW & UPDATED PRODUCTS

Integrum ESG has launched software designed to aggregate ESG ratings from ratings providers and give investors the ability to monitor short-term and long-term trends in the market. The Consensus ESG Ratings module is said to provide asset manager clients with a tool to see the consensus ESG score for any company, either as an absolute rating or a relative percentile ranking, across a 10-year time series. The scores it provides indicate how the capital markets have ‘priced in’ a company’s ESG performance. It is hoped this will allow users to understand the market’s view on a company and easily conduct relative ESG analysis on the positions they hold within their portfolio. ↗

ApeVue has unveiled its new page dedicated to tracking private companies valuations and market activities. Key features include: 1 - Market-driven valuations. 2 - Insights on trading volume and secondary market activity. 3 - Overview of top mid to late stage startups. ↗

SESAMm launchess Controversy Exposure Score, to change how ESG and finance professionals assess risks. The CES offers a real-time view of a company's exposure to ESG controversies, enabling informed decision-making. The CES is a continuously updated score ranging from 1 to 100, reflecting a company or project's evolving exposure to ESG controversies. Leveraging SESAMm’s proprietary Intensity and Volume Scores, the CES captures both the severity and frequency of ESG incidents, allowing stakeholders to monitor and understand risks as they develop. The CES is powered by LLMs that filter and analyze content from SESAMm's data lake containing over 25 billion articles. ↗

SimilarWeb has launched new updates on its platform. To start, Topics are now available as part of the Demand Analysis module. Topics are predefined keyword lists (1500 topics) that can be used to analyze consumer demand and identify the latest consumer trends. SimilarWeb also has a new integration with Google Looker Studio. The connector enables users to seamlessly integrate Traffic & Engagement data into your Google Looker reports and dashboards. It also also upgraded to Search 3.0 for AI overviews, paid landing pages and YoY search data. Lastly, EZDash gives investors access to tailored research reports on over 200 companies for fast investment decisions. ↗

Altvia has launched new ShareSecure features: Landing Pages and Workspaces. With the introduction of Altvia's proprietary product, ShareSecure’s customizable landing page functionality, IR professionals can now create bespoke digital experiences. This new functionality allows firms to engage investors with real-time updates, multimedia content, and the documents they need to stay informed. By managing personalized landing pages within ShareSecure, IR teams can engage with stakeholders, which in turn can strengthen investor relationships. Altvia has also debuted Workspaces, a new feature designed to work in tandem with Altvia’s Correspond Investor Edition. Workspaces can enhance the segmentation and distribution of tailored investor communications across distinct business use cases. Now, IR and fundraising professionals can distribute documents to who they want, when they want, in one streamlined approach. This provides data integrity and privacy compliance standards while reinforcing efficient communication workflows. ↗

Novata has expanded its platform with the launch of "Novata for Companies". Novata for Companies includes: 1 - Novata’s Sustainability Management Solution - A flexible workspace for businesses to collect, securely store, and collaborate on sustainability data. 2 - Novata Carbon Navigator - Measure Scopes 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions with Novata’s digitized carbon calculator. 3 - Novata’s CSRD Solution - A combination of ESRS data management tools, digitized double materiality solution, and expert advisory practice. ↗

Bloomberg has launched the Bloomberg Second Measure US Consumer Spend Index. This new index utilizes Bloomberg’s proprietary alternative data to provide a near-real time comprehensive view of US consumer spending. The Index, powered by transaction data analytics, is available via the World Economic Analyzer solution on the Bloomberg Terminal. The analytical tool now offers investors a differentiated way to track consumer spending in the US, utilizing both alternative data and traditional macroeconomic indicators. ↗

DEAL ACTIVITY

In conjunction with its recent acquisitions of Financial Crime Academy and StockOcean, Build RI has been renamed to Verdian Insights. ↗

SS&C Technologies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Battea-Class Action Services, a provider of securities class action claims management and settlement recovery services. The purchase price is approximately $670 million, subject to certain adjustments. Battea helps more than 900 banks, asset managers hedge funds and proprietary trading firms receive the maximum distribution of entitled settlements. The acquisition is expected to close this year. SS&C expects the transaction to be accretive over the next 12 months and plans to fund the purchase with a combination of debt and cash on hand. The Battea Claims Engine currently monitors 700-800 cases in litigation and 340 settlements in payout. Battea's more than 100 employees, based in Stamford, Conn., San Francisco & Copenhagen, will join SS&C GlobeOp. ↗

PARTNERSHIPS & INTEGRATIONS

Dynamo has welcomed dakota to its Global Partner Ecosystem. Dakota’s Dynamo integration, which syncs Dakota Marketplace investor data to Dynamo instance, solves the problem of stale sales data. This Dynamo/dakota integration provides salespeople with accurate and up-to-date sales contact data saving them many hours of time. Benefits of integration: fresh sales contact data, more opportunities and updates in real time. ↗

Ultimus and Cascata has partnered together to launch uWaterfall. uWaterfall™ elevates carried interest and fee management through seamless data transfer, automated waterfall calculations, and full-formula transparency. The partnership is set to deliver accuracy, efficiency, service quality, data integrity and insights for alternative asset clients’ waterfall calculations, scenario modeling, and employee/partner carry compensation reporting. The result is an upgraded client experience, with assurance and trust in carried interest, management fee accounting, and reporting. ↗

Gresham House, a portfolio company of Searchlight Capital Partners, has partnered with Dealstack to implement and manage their new management incentive programme. Key highlights of this partnership include: 1 - Investor data and contract signatures were collected on the platform with no manual admin/document coding required. 2 - Investment documents are readily available for all stakeholders, reducing FAQs and email clutter. 3 - Automated transaction and communication workflows enable seamless ongoing MIP management. Going forward, stakeholders will have access to a complete record of employee ownership through to a future exit. ↗

Euroclear and BlackRock have come together to expand the distribution of BlackRock’s private market funds via Euroclear’s FundsPlace. BlackRock chose FundsPlace for its track record of driving innovation in the industry, such as the successful integration of Goji. This collaboration will further streamline processes for clients through automation and aims to set new standards for efficiency in capital raising, distribution, execution and settlement in alternative funds. ↗

CAIS has been selected as a partner for Focus Investment Partners program. Focus Financial Partners is a partnership of fiduciary wealth management firms that collectively oversee more than $400B in client assets. This expanded relationship makes CAIS the preferred provider to consolidate Focus’ alternative investment offerings, processes, and data management onto a single operating system. This partnership leverages CAIS' one-platform solution to power Focus’ access to third-party funds, launch proprietary Focus investment offerings, and consolidate existing funds and historical positions. CAIS will streamline the alternative investment lifecycle—across the pre-trade, trade, and post-trade stages—through automated processes, comprehensive reporting, and streamlined data integration. ↗

BlackRock and Partners Group have established a strategic partnership to update retail wealth access to private markets. The firms have teamed up to launch a multi-private markets models solution that will provide access to private equity, private credit and real assets in a single portfolio – currently not available to the US wealth market - managed by BlackRock and Partners Group. This new solution will enable ease of access through a single subscription document versus requiring subscription documents for each underlying fund. It will feature operating procedures and risk management, including model rebalancing and private markets asset allocation. ↗

Advisors Asset Management partners with iCapital to grow distribution of Avenue Sports Fund. The Avenue Sports Opportunities Fund, managed by Avenue Capital Group, is now available on iCapital Marketplace for wealth managers and advisors. The Avenue Sports Fund seeks to produce risk-adjusted returns by providing capital solutions to sports teams, owners and leagues predominantly in North America and Europe. It also will provide growth capital to emerging sports with significant growth potential, as well as invest in equity and debt opportunities within women’s sports. ↗

Attio has two new integrations and a new feature on its platform. The first is users can now connect Attio to Claap to automatically update records with AI-generated summaries of calls. The second integration is users can now use Stacksync (YC W24) to sync real-time data between Attio and other tools in a users' stack. The new feature is users can now export data from any report as a CSV file. This makes it easy to share reports with team members outside of Attio, and combine CRM data with external data for further analysis. ↗

ERM and osapiens are collaborating to help businesses harness ESG data for reporting and decision-making. This partnership combines ERM’s advisory capabilities with osapiens’ AI-powered cloud platform to help companies undertake due diligence and comply with ESG regulations. Together, ERM and osapiens will support clients across different ESG data requirements like providing AI-enabled screening of multiple suppliers’ ESG risks in support of value chain due diligence or conducting complex deforestation assessments using satellite. ↗

Nuam has selected MSCI to create a regional index that will help drive transparency in Colombian, Chilean and Peruvian markets. Nuam is the regional holding company resulting from the integration of the Lima, Santiago and Colombia Stock Exchanges. The new index will serve as the basis for financial products, such as ETFs, and will offer investors a new tool to help navigate the market. This strategic collaboration represents openness and interconnectivity of financial markets in Latin America. ↗

Titanbay and LS Advisors have joined forces to expand private markets offering. This partnership will provide a platform for LS Advisors’ clients to access private markets investments. LS Advisors' 300 clients now have access to alternatives. ↗

Nasdaq CSD has partnered with Clearstream to improve European market access for Baltic investors. With this partnership, Nasdaq CSD has become the first European CSD to gain full connectivity to all T2S markets through Clearstream’s German central securities depository. This strategic partnership provides Nasdaq CSD’s participants with access to a vast pool of European markets for securities settlement and asset servicing. For Baltic investors, this development means access to lower transaction fees for foreign securities due to decreased settlement costs. Nasdaq CSD participants, primarily banks, will find the settlement of foreign securities as efficient and straightforward as local securities settlement. Additionally, this partnership allows companies listed outside the Baltics to access a growing Baltic investor base by dual-listing on Nasdaq Baltic exchanges. ↗

Kestra Financial provides advisors with enhanced alternative investment offerings through iCapital. With the integration of advanced capabilities from iCapital, Kestra Financial advisors can expect a more seamless experience with the addition of the following: 1 - Range of alternative investment products, including private equity, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and hedge funds. 2 - Reduced minimum investment requirements. 3 - Access to detailed information and real-time updates on alternative investment products. 4 - Due diligence from the iCapital team. 5 - Single sign-on functionality with the Advisor Complete portal. 6 - Simplified submission process. These enhanced product offerings will streamline subscription and simplify administrative tasks, resulting in fewer operational challenges and increased efficiency when dealing with alternatives. ↗

Canoe Intelligence and iPaladin, The Digital Family Office, have joined forces and designed a new integration for family office operations. Third Lake Capital is the first mutual client to benefit from this integration, which automates and streamlines the management of financial documents across the entire investment lifecycle. Canoe gathers the documents; iPaladin makes them work. As Canoe automates the collection of capital calls, distribution notices, periodic statements, and tax forms, iPaladin seamlessly integrates them into a unified system. Tasks are triggered automatically, compliance processes are updated in real-time, and key team members are alerted to act. This integration eliminates manual data entry and ensures that every document is instantly accessible and actionable within iPaladin’s secure environment, allowing family offices to focus on strategic decision-making. ↗

SEI adds KKR to Alternative Investments Access Platform. Now, investment vehicles from KKR will be available on SEI’s platform that provides registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, and their clients access to private markets investments. ↗

Alto has partnered with VentureSouth. An angel investing community based out of Greenville, South Carolina, VentureSouth has several hundred active angels participating in “side car” investing opportunities, in which member’s funds are pooled to access higher minimum investments. ↗

Finalis has welcomed Periodic Financial Corp as its newest partner. Periodic Financial Corp is a Wyoming Corporation Investment Management Company based in Idaho, with additional Asset Management & Development offices located in the UK. PFC focuses on creating initiative-driven ventures in collaboration with its development and asset management partners across various sectors. The company also sources project finance investment opportunities specifically tailored for institutional investors. ↗

The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has selected SimCorp One to update the pension fund’s investment technology capabilities. SimCorp One will enable TRS to manage every aspect of the trade investment lifecycle – from portfolio management, trading and compliance to post-trade operations like trade settlement and corporate actions – on a single platform. This streamlined solution will increase straight-through processing rates and simplify TRS’ investment management technology landscape. TRS’ selection of SimCorp One is part of a modernization program for its Investment Management Division, with the goal of improving the portfolio management teams’ investment decision-making. ↗

Cohen & Steers has joined SUBSCRIBE to streamline investment and operational processes for clients in the private wealth channel. Cohen & Steers private capital offerings will leverage SUBSCRIBE'S platform to streamline many of the operational tasks, such as investor onboarding, subscription documents, transaction workflow management, system integrations and investor reporting to support the full life cycle of an investment. ↗

BT, an Australian wealth management business, has signed a long-term agreement with SS&C Global Investor and Distribution Solutions for unit registry services. SS&C's Managed Fund Administration team will provide unit registry services to 88 BT-managed funds, including investor servicing and unit registry websites for digital account access and transactions. BT previously managed the unit registry and investor servicing for these managed funds in-house. SS&C will focus on helping BT deliver upgraded digital access to investor information and automating processes to improve efficiency. ↗

Dasseti ENGAGE has been selected to streamline global RFP responses by BC Partners. BC Partners has selected Dasseti ENGAGE to enhance its global team’s efficiency in responding to due diligence questionnaires and Requests for Proposals. The Dasseti platform will help reduce the manual workload for BC Partners’ RFP team, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks and enhance their overall productivity. The implementation of Dasseti ENGAGE will also allow BC Partners to integrate their existing software platforms, bridging any capability gaps and creating a seamless workflow. ↗

OFFICE & PERSONNEL

Jason Meklinsky is the new Chief Revenue Officer at IDR. Before joining IDR, Meklinsky was the Chief Revenue & Strategy Officer, Americas at Socium Fund Services. He has also held senior leadership roles at Apex Group, HedgeServ and Broadridge. Meklinsky, who has 25 years of markets experience, is now responsible for executing the US Commercial strategy and helping investors achieve a better experience when executing their strategy at IDR. ↗

Cole Deakin has joined SS&C Technologies as the Global Director of Growth Marketing for the Global Investor & Distribution Solutions division. Deakin spent the last 4 years at SS&C Intralinks leading the EMEA Growth Marketing team. ↗

Pete Cherecwich has stepped into the COO role at Northern Trust. As part of a leadership reshuffle, Northern Trust will find a new President of Asset Servicing. Cherecwich has been with Northern Trust for over 17 years. ↗

IQ-EQ granted license from Cayman Islands Monetary Authority to provide trust services. With this license IQ-EQ’s Cayman Islands team can now assist with managing a wide range of commercial and private client trust structures designed to optimize the financial benefits for Ultra High Net Worth families, family offices and corporations. ↗

Eric Thomassian has started a new position as Executive Vice President, Head of Private Company Relations at Forge. Before joining Forge in 2023, Thomassian was the Global Head of Private Markets at EquityZen and prior to that he spent nine years at Goldman Sachs. ↗

Affinity has introduced its new CFO, Adam Goldman. Goldman will lead Affinity's financial strategy as the company continues its expansion. Goldman brings financial and operational experience from his previous roles at Skillsoft, Codecademy, and Chegg. He has been instrumental in scaling companies and aligning financial strategies with corporate growth objectives including as CFO at Codecademy, where he played a role in the company’s expansion and eventual acquisition by Skillsoft for $525 million. ↗

Dealstack has welcomed William Ho to the team as its new Co-Head of Technology. Ho brings previous experience in AI and deep tech, having previously successfully exited his own startup. In his role, Ho will continue to strengthen the security infrastructure and oversee the day-to-day operations of the Dealstack tech team. ↗

Lara Hughes is taking on a new role as Director, Private Equity at Finquest. Hughes will be supporting private equity clients in sourcing private, actionable deals outside traditional auction processes, along with connecting them with partnership-driven C-suite executives. ↗

VENDOR RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Broadridge has a new article, "Has the Question of “Buy Versus Build” Become Outdated?" In this article, Broadridge explains why the buy-and-build strategy presents a compelling proposition for financial institutions looking to upgrade their aging legacy technology trading solutions. ↗

Filament Syfter has a new blog, "Looking Beyond The Hype: Unlocking AI’s Potential in Private Equity in 2024". Filament Syfter feels that in this new era, PE firms that see through the hype and embrace AI strategically and methodologically will gain a competitive advantage. This blog explores how AI can be leveraged to unlock new levels of efficiency, insight, and success in 2024. ↗

Cyndx has a new blog post, "Still Googling Your Deals? Here’s Why Savvy Investors Are Turning to AI Tools". In this post, Cyndx explains why it feels that search engines are a great tool for general information, but it’s no longer the optimal choice for deal sourcing in the competitive realms of private equity, investment banking, and M&A. AI-powered tools offer precision, tailored intelligence, real-time insights, and advanced analytics that search engines cannot provide. ↗

Maestro has a new article, "Deal Teams Need a Technology-Enabled Approach to Achieving Portfolio-Wide Operational Alpha". In this blog, Maestro gives 4 reasons why embracing value creation technology can help any deal team drive operating alpha across their respective portfolios. ↗

Hypercore has a new blog, "Why a Loan Management Platform Is Essential for Attracting Institutional Investors". In this blog, Hypercore explains why implementing an LMS, lending businesses position themselves as credible, reliable, and prepared entities worthy of investment. Hypercore feels that this capability is not just useful; it’s also a critical component that institutional investors look for when deciding on funding allocations. ↗

Asset Class has a new blog, "5 Mistakes Private Equity Firms Make When Adopting Technology". To help firms on their path to digital evolution, this article identifies five key mistakes PE firms should avoid when adopting technology. ↗