This Week’s Vendor News

NEW & UPDATED PRODUCTS

Xpedition launches APEX; a new customer experience program designed to recognize and reward its dedicated customers. The program is tailored to offer rewards, personalized experiences, and exclusive opportunities to Xpedition's top customers. ↗

Owlin has unveiled its product release update for Q2 2024, which includes updated features on its platform. First, is an updated Consumer Review Module that now includes an overview screen that displays your entire portfolio, with relevant metrics and trends based on consumer reviews. Another new feature is for Developing Stories (Newsletter). Now, users will receive the most recent news daily in the context of related articles. The next enhanced user experience is a new Side Bar. The introduction of the sidebar navigation bar allows users to streamline access to essential products, modules, and features. Another updated feature is improved auto filters, which addresses the need to streamline the process of adding new companies to portfolios. ↗

SmartRoom has launched SmartSearch, a new feature on its platform. SmartSearch uses AI to provide the most relevant documents based on keywords, saving time and effort. SmartSearch learns from specific deals to provide relevant results. ↗

SS&C has launched a new Global Contact Center Platform to enhance client engagement. The single global platform for customer communications enables SS&C's Contact Center clients to deliver personalized experiences to their customers 24/7. In addition to voice, email and secure messaging, investment managers can leverage intelligent automation technologies to access customer information instantly and provide customer engagement across products and geographies. The Contact Center platform features AI chatbot capabilities and speech analytics to further enhance self-service capabilities. ↗

Delio and Ventura Capital have unveiled a fully digital RAIF investment vehicle, designed to serve as a centralized hub that will help reduce the administrative load for investors, fund managers and administrators. Delio has leveraged its structuring capability so it can act as a single point of contact for investors, delivering a better client experience, mitigating risk and saving time for all parties. Delio’s RAIF program is an asset agnostic, enterprise-grade investment structure that is efficient for global financial firms that want to aggregate investors together. The Delio Core platform handles all aspects of investor reporting including capital calls and quarterly performance reporting so that investors can expect a seamless experience, engaging with the Delio team and its platform. ↗

SimilarWeb has launched new updates on its platform. The first new feature added to the Data Exporter is scheduled reports so users can automate their workflows. Next, SimilarWeb has upgraded its keyword lists with Search 3.0 data and added an extra month of data, so users can now compare year-on-year insights for SEO and PPC. Additionally, the device filter now includes mobile, desktop, and all traffic for holistic keyword insights. ↗

CAIS announces new initiative for custom feeder fund fees and transparency. CAIS' latest update focuses on reducing fees and expenses associated with custom feeder funds. Due to recent advancements in CAIS' technology, the company can now offer wealth management clients the feeder fund service with reduced costs and transparency. Going forward, CAIS will only charge a technology fee depending on feeder fund AUM and complexity. In addition, CAIS will provide transparency on all feeder fund fees and expenses. ↗

CB Insights has unveiled new updates on its platform. Now users can search and filter companies by their business model. Users also can combine business model tags with other proprietary data points to source the right companies. Next is API enhancements - API access to millions of data points expanded to include headcount growth metrics and universal identifiers like ISIN, LEI, ticker and CIK codes. Users can now get daily Personal Briefings and ask questions and get data-driven answers with Conversational Insights. ↗

Bank integration, capital call reconciliation and financial data synchronization is now available on Ark. Ark's new bank integration allows GPs and fund administrators to harmonize funds’ bank accounts and credit facilities within the platform. This integration provides an intuitive interface for reviewing bank transactions, providing clear transparency over bank activities and balances. Capital call reconciliation is a tool for managing and tracking investor capital calls. It reinforces financial record accuracy by generating journal entries and allowing users to easily add and track adjustments. Together these features deliver financial data synchronization across banking transactions, capital activity, and arkGL. Key features include: flexible transaction views , automated journal entry creation, new dashboard , bulk transaction categorization and capital call tracking. ↗

Verity has made a few platform updates over the last couple months. First, Verity introduced GenAI Company Insights, which leverages GenAI to help investment teams answer company-level questions using data from research notes and relevant company filings. Next, Verity has updated its dashboards, which are used by portfolio managers to aggregate analyst, third party, and internal data into a single view for faster decision-making. Additional improvements include ticker & tag updates, faster note importing and a refreshed UI/UX. ↗

Moonfare's new app is now live in Germany. Moonfare will soon be making it available in other EU countries. Users can download the Moonfare app from the AppStore. The app offers direct access to Moonfare's new European Long Term Investment Fund. This strategy offers institutional-grade investments but with minimums as low as €10,000. ↗

EFront has unveiled "Uncharted"—a new video series diving into the science behind Aladdin & eFront. In the first episode, Marija Djordjevic, Head of Private Markets Research, breaks down eFront's year-end benchmarking study, unraveling insights and demonstrating eFront's approach to deciphering the private markets data landscape. ↗

Datasite has unveiled a couple new updates on its platform. These include: updates to multi factor authentication, a revamped archive experience and all the latest Datasite apps. ↗

Moonfare has launched its first semi-liquid strategy. The new strategy is led by Moonfare’s CIO, Sanjay Gupta, who said it addresses two major themes for the PE industry: secondary investments and the liquidity challenge. The strategy leverages Moonfare's GP relationships and direct investment expertise. Moonfare noted that the strategy could offer benefits traditional private equity structures might not, including defined assets, reinvestment of proceeds, the ability to hold assets beyond the typical ten-year holding period, and a cash-flow profile that benefits from compound interest. ↗

In collaboration with The Earthshot Prize, Delio has developed The Launchpad as a digital powered platform to showcase climate-focused solutions to mission-aligned funders. Using Delio’s technology, they have built an intuitive platform that showcases projects across several environmental themes (climate, nature, oceans, air, waste). The platform has been configured to The Earthshot Prize’s requirements to showcase both investment and grant opportunities to different audiences through a single, unified interface. To keep their investor community engaged, the Launchpad team sends regular portfolio updates via email, using the built-in Delio distribution list functionality. Delio has integrated its regulatory support service into the platform’s embedded workflows to facilitate compliance with applicable rules and regulations. ↗

Apex Group has launched a new platform, called Apex Tempo powered by Capcade. With a focus on modularity and flexibility, Apex Tempo gives tools necessary for effective collaboration between users, stakeholders, and Apex, all in one place. Key features of this new platform include: in-platform chat, document collaboration, VDR, task management and risk reduction. ↗

DEAL ACTIVITY

Bain Capital is acquiring Envestnet in $4.5bn deal. The proposed acquisition, which has been approved by Envestnet’s board of directors, will see Envestnet become a privately held company and is expected to close in Q4 2024. ↗

AlphaSense has completed its acquisition of Tegus. As part of the deal, AlphaSense also closed a new $650 million funding round, which brings AlphaSense's valuation to $4 billion. Together, AlphaSense and Tegus will accelerate growth, innovation, and content expansion, bringing their complementary product and content capabilities together to provide users with insights from thousands of content sets. AlphaSense will add Tegus employees to its workforce across offices in North America and Ireland. ↗

Canoe Intelligence raises $36 Million Series C Funding led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from existing investors F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads. The additional funding will fuel the company’s strategic initiatives, global growth, and advancement of its AI-driven financial technology platform. This latest financing round represents more than 3x increase in Canoe's company valuation since its Series B financing in 2023. ↗

BlackRock is acquiring Preqin for £2.55 billion or approximately $3.2 billion in cash. The combination of Preqin with BlackRock's eFront, Aladdin’s private markets solution, brings together the data, research, and investment process for fund managers and investors across fundraising, deal sourcing, portfolio management, accounting, and performance. Preqin will also continue to be offered as a standalone solution. Preqin said it welcomed the deal, and that founder Mark O’Hare will join BlackRock as a vice chair after the close of the transaction. ↗

Apex Group is expanding its New Zealand investment operations footprint by acquiring Trustees Executors’ Custody and Investment Accounting business. Trustees Executors offers financial services to the corporate sector through corporate supervision trustee services and fund administration services. This acquisition aids Apex Group’s ability to provide a full suite of administration services to New Zealand’s investment industry. Completion of the acquisition is conditional on the satisfaction of customary conditions for a transaction of this nature. The acquisition does not include Trustees Executors Corporate Supervision or Registry divisions. As part of Apex Group, Trustees Executors’ clients will benefit from access to the Group’s global single-source solution, providing all services required across the full value chain of their business via one convenient relationship. This includes Apex Group’s Digital Banking, Fund Raising, Distribution and Administration solutions, as well as pioneering ESG Rating, Reporting and Advisory services. ↗

Deep Pool Financial Solutions is now a part of FIS. The Deep Pool Financial Solutions LinkedIn page now redirects to FIS. ↗

SimilarWeb has acquired 42matters, an app store, app engagement and mobile SDK data firm across iOS and Android, to expand its reach in the app economy. With this acquisition, SimilarWeb gains access to an expanded dataset in the SimilarWeb Data-as-a-Service catalog. 42matters’ coverage includes 12 app store platforms, over 2.1 million publishers, 2,600+ SDKs, and more than 20 million apps. By acquiring 42matters, SimilarWeb expands its data offerings and increases its total addressable market by covering the entire digital world. ↗

Broadridge has reported its recent acquisition of CompSci Resources. This acquisition enhances Broadridge's ability to provide public companies and funds with comprehensive and collaborative web-based solutions to simplify and enhance regulatory disclosure preparation, XBRL tagging, and SEC filing. This new SAAS platform provides companies and funds with the flexibility to manage SEC filings with a self-service or hybrid approach supported by a Broadridge team. ↗

PARTNERSHIPS & INTEGRATIONS

Complete has unveiled its new direct API integration with Carta. This integration enables Complete's clients to access their equity data directly within the Complete platform. By connecting Complete.so with Carta’s Developer Platform, users can now obtain a comprehensive view of their compensation and equity information in a single, unified interface, thereby simplifying the management of topline compensation spend. Key benefits of the Complete.so and Carta Integration include: seamless integration, unified dashboard, enhanced decision-making and time saving. ↗

Sustainable Fitch, a provider of ESG data, analysis, and research for the sustainability and fixed-income market, will be integrating SESAMm’s data into its 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. ↗

SS&C ALPS Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SS&C Technologies, has partnered with CoreCommodity Management to launch the ALPS | CoreCommodity Natural Resources ETF. The fund employs a “pure play” approach to gaining exposure to natural resources by investing in a portfolio of equity securities of upstream commodity producing companies. ↗

Advisors Asset Management has partnered with iCapital to expand availability of its private credit offering. Through this collaboration, Crescent Private Credit Income Corp, a non-exchange traded, perpetual-life business development company launched by Crescent Capital Group LP, will be made available on iCapital Marketplace. Additionally, iCapital will provide AAM with access to its global network of wealth managers and advisors on the platform, as well as the option to benefit from due diligence services supported by iCapital. ↗

Carta has officially expanded its partnership with Deel. This updated integration brings automated global equity compliance to US-based companies with Canada-based employees, making it easier to manage international stock options and equity compensation for globally distributed teams. Users get: streamlined equity administration, improved employee experience and efficient tax compliance. Companies using Carta and Deel can now activate the new Carta integration in their Deel accounts to automate their global equity tax withholdings. ↗

Persefoni is collaborating with the Global Association of Risk Professionals, an international not-for-profit association for risk managers dedicated to advancing the risk profession worldwide. As part of the partnership, Persefoni is supporting the practical application of sustainability and climate principles into professional education through GARP's Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate Program. ↗

RelPro has enhanced its local market intelligence with new Rivel Banking Research Integration. This new integration leverages data from Rivel’s Commercial and Small Business Customer Reports to provide bankers with insights into their users’ experience as well as competitive benchmarking within their local market. Rivel Banking Research conducts over 280,000 interviews annually to discover consumers’ experiences and pain points with financial institutions, measuring over 90 perception metrics. With the Rivel data integrated into RelPro’s company profiles, users can now review customer perceptions of local market competitors across multiple criteria. ↗

Meradia and Accelex have formed a strategic partnership to enhance operational efficiency for investors. Meradia will leverage its experience in operations and technology consulting while Accelex offers a data extraction and document management platform. Together, Meradia and Accelex can drive improvements in operational efficiency for firms challenged with manual workflows for document management, data extraction, and portfolio analytics. ↗

PE Cube has announced its new partnership with FINGREEN AI. FINGREEN AI offers a digital solution based on open source and AI to collect, manage, and understand ESG data from portfolios. Together, both firms are able to support private equity investment funds in their ESG analysis and reporting challenges. ↗

Position Green has welcomed Norvestor as its newest partner. Norvestor is supporting Position Green's annual analysis of ESG reporting quality in Scandinavia and the EU. ↗

Advantary and Apex Business Services, a division of Apex Group,have announced a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the range of financial services available to their portfolio companies and clients. Through this partnership, portfolio companies and clients will have access to a range of services, including growth capital financing, debt financing, fractional and interim executive services, treasury management solutions, and strategic advisory services encompassing Advantary practices. ↗

MSCI and Moody’s Corporation have entered into a strategic partnership agreement to bring transparency on ESG and sustainability to markets. Moody’s will leverage MSCI’s sustainability data and models and overtime intends to migrate its existing ESG data and scores to offering MSCI’s sustainability content through a range of solutions serving Moody’s customers. MSCI will gain access to Moody’s Orbis database to extend its private company ESG coverage. In addition, MSCI and Moody’s will explore solutions that leverage Moody’s private company data and credit scoring models to provide insight into the private credit market. ↗

Equipped Analytical Intelligence has renewed its partnership with Quilam Capital. Quilam, a specialist growth investor in Specialty and Alternative Finance market with 15 portfolio investments and £650m of AUM, is now leveraging Equipped’s granular dashboards to enable data-driven decisions across their portfolio companies. ↗

Addepar has welcomed Anderson Wealth Management as its newest client. AWM was founded to provide advisory services for clients of a multi-family office in Charleston, SC. With Addepar's help they will continue to expand their client base while expanding their depth of service and advice. ↗

Northern Trust has been chosen as the depositary and fund administrator for Legal & General's new private markets fund for defined contribution pension schemes. The L&G Private Markets Access Fund offers DC investors access to a diversified portfolio of private market assets, including private equity, real estate, private credit and infrastructure. ↗

Somerset Indus Capital Partners, a healthcare focused private equity fund in India, has chosen PE Front Office to enhance its alternative investment process. PE Front Office has been chosen to help Somerset with investment and operation workflows, portfolio monitoring and investor relations in order to help organize and support growth. ↗

Banque Wormser Frères has chosen Domos FS to manage its alternative activities. This decision was motivated by the need to automate certain time-consuming tasks, eliminate manual procedures provide a tailored client experience for each investor. Banque Wormser Frères will use Domos to automate and streamline its end-to-end private equity activities including digital subscriptions and investor operations management (capital calls, distributions, CAS). The project also includes setting up an investor portal to facilitate the tracking of each client’s portfolio and communication with them, as well as producing custom dashboards. ↗

VBV Pensionskasse AG, an Austrian pension fund, has selected DiligenceVault’s due diligence technology as part of their continued commitment to modernize operations. VBV-Gruppe chose DiligenceVault’s user-friendly digital diligence solution to centralize diligence and data collection projects, enhance governance through audit trails and transparency over portfolio changes, track and escalate open issues and risk flags, and improve analytics capabilities. ↗

OFFICE & PERSONNEL

Brian Hwang  has joined IDR as Commercial Development Director. Hwang is responsible for commercial growth via new expansion and strategic partnerships. Hwang brings over 20 years of experience in commercially focused roles in the financial solutions space. He comes to IDR from Visible Alpha, where he was Global Head of Partnerships and prior to that he spent a decade at SS&C Intralinks. ↗

Bain & Company has appointed Jean-Charles van den Branden as its Global Sustainability Practice Leader. Van den Branden, who is based in Brussels, previously served as Bain’s EMEA Sustainability Practice Leader. In his new role, he will be responsible for accelerating the integration of emerging technology and AI into Bain’s sustainability offerings. Van den Branden has been with Bain for over 28 years. He is replacing François Faelli, who is now Bain’s Global Head of Capabilities. ↗

Shahar Tal has started a new position as Brand & Social Media Designer at Similarweb. Before joining Similarweb, Tal was the Product Marketing Designer at Lemonade. ↗

Jeff Davis has joined Mercury Capital Advisors as a Partner based in New York. Davis will lead North American private equity and private credit origination, client relationships and project management. Davis brings over 25 years of financial services experience to Mercury, of which 20 years have been spent in placement for private funds, collaborating with managers across private equity, private credit, real estate and real assets. He joins from FirstPoint Equity Capital where he was responsible for private equity and private credit origination and distribution. ↗

Assette has welcomed Pete DeOlympio to the company to head up product marketing. As the Director of Product Marketing, DeOlympio helps investment firms focus on delivering investment content to their clients and prospects. ↗

Qashqade has welcomed Németh Bálint to the company. Bálint has joined the Services for Private Markets team. ↗

Joshua Osika has joined PFA Solutions as a Business Intelligence Analyst. ↗

Tablecloth.io has welcomed three new team members to the firm. Hailey Brue is a new Marketing and Sales Enablement Coordinator, Mohan Kothapalli is a Data Quality Analyst and Will Biancarelli is a new data intern. ↗

73 Strings has appointed Eamon O'Dwyer as its new Head of Growth Strategy & Partnerships. O'Dwyer brings nearly 30 years of experience in banking and fintech, including senior roles at Barclays and Fidelity Strategic Ventures. His career includes founding and scaling fintech companies and serving marquee bank and telco clients with enterprise SaaS offerings across four continents. ↗

Anaplan has introduced its new Operating Committee. The Operating Committee consists of 22 individual leaders at Anaplan, who will work alongside its Executive Committee, to help the firm achieve its aspiration of becoming a category-defining company. ↗

Bain has announced that Christophe De Vusser is its new Worldwide Managing Partner and CEO. De Vusser joined the firm in 2000 and has worked with Bain’s clients in all geographies. De Vusser has previously served as Managing Partner of Bain’s Brussels office from 2012-2018 and in 2018 he joined Bain’s Board of Directors. De Vusser is succeeding Manny Maceda, who served in the role since March 2018. ↗

VENDOR RESEARCH & WHITEPAPERS

Altvia has a new blog, "Data storytelling: how to win LPs and influence them". In this blog, Altvia explains how data can be used more effectively and what kinds of improvements in communication from GPs do LPs most want to see. ↗

PortF has a new blog, "Why AI-Driven CRM is the Way Forward for Investors". In this post, PortF goes over current challenges of CRMs for deal management and benefits of AI-driven CRM. ↗

Apperio has a new blog, "How to save legal costs across the portfolio". In this blog, Apperio explores strategies that can help firms save on legal costs across the entire portfolio. ↗

Dasseti has published a new blog, "ESG in Private Credit. Overcoming the challenges". In this piece, Dasseti goes over 6 unique challenges that private capital firms face when collecting and aggregating ESG data and how the right technology can help alleviate these challenges. ↗

LemonEdge Software has a new blog, "Co-sourcing: A new approach to back-office". In this blog, LemonEdge goes over what co-sourcing is and the differences between in-house, outsourcing, and co-sourcing. ↗

AWARDS

The Winners from WatersTechnology's Waters Rankings 2024 have been announced.

Winners from our Vendor Profiles database include:

Best artificial intelligence (AI) technology provider – AlphaSense
Best sell-side order management system (OMS) provider – Bloomberg
Best buy-side order management system (OMS) provider – SS&C Technologies
Best performance measurement and attribution system provider – FactSet
Best enterprise data management (EDM) system provider – S&P Global Market Intelligence
Best market data provider – Bloomberg
Best alternative data provider – Bloomberg
Best ESG data provider – Bloomberg
Best distributed-ledger technology provider – Broadridge Financial Solutions
Best market surveillance provider – Nasdaq
Best reporting system provider – S&P Global Market Intelligence
Best accounting system provider – SS&C Advent
Best outsourcing service provider – Northern Trust
Best network provider – Broadridge Financial Solutions

Congrats to all the Winners!! ↗

FIS has won two awards recognizing its Treasury & Risk Management Solutions. FIS won Most Innovative Treasury Solution from the Global Finance World’s Best Treasury & Cash Management Systems and Services Awards and Best Cash & Treasury Management Solution in the Treasury Management International Technology and Innovation Awards. This marks the sixth time and fifth year in a row that FIS received the recognition from TMI, as well as the second year in a row FIS was named a category winner at the Global Finance Awards. ↗

S&P Global Market Intelligence has won two awards in this year’s Financial Technologies Forum Awards. S&P has won ‘Best Outsourcing Provider’ for its Regulatory and Compliance Solution and ‘Best Corporate Actions Service Provider’ for its Corporate Actions Solution. ↗