Private equity faces a shift: expanding portfolios, global operations, and rising LP demands for transparency have increased complexity. Per West Monroe’s “Private Equity Fund of the Future” (October 2, 2024), firms must adapt to manage larger portfolios, new sectors, and evolving LP requirements. Legacy funds relying on manual processes risk falling behind digitally native competitors using AI for efficiency and decision-making.
Pathlit, a no-code AI workflow platform, integrates tools, data, and collaboration to help firms operate in this data-driven landscape—without needing technical expertise. It supports private equity in evolving into the Fund of the Future.
Legacy funds depend on spreadsheets, siloed CRMs, and manual reporting, while digitally native funds leverage AI to process data, screen deals, and deliver LP insights quickly. This creates a gap: a mid-market firm with a $2 billion portfolio might take weeks to consolidate data, while digital peers close deals. The latter manage global portfolios without proportional headcount growth, widening their deal funnel and improving underwriting.
Pathlit uses AI to scale operations without expanding teams. Its no-code platform unifies systems, automates repetitive tasks, and shifts focus to strategy and dealmaking. Firms can process market trends, manager performance, and ESG metrics faster, expanding their deal pipeline. Pathlit’s real-time data analysis aids risk and opportunity assessment. Firms report saving up to 15 hours weekly on data consolidation, enabling lean teams to handle diverse portfolios and adapt to market shifts.
Pathlit supports the private equity value chain, evolving with firm maturity as outlined in West Monroe’s framework. Below are its applications:
Pathlit’s no-code platform allows firms to start with foundational use cases, progress to mature applications, and advance to predictive capabilities.
For a mid-sized private equity firm managing a growing portfolio, Pathlit transforms complexity into opportunity through a seamless evolution from foundational automation to visionary strategy.
Pathlit automates lead sourcing, pulling broker listings and off-market deals into a pipeline, a key step as PE firms increasingly target smaller, niche businesses where relationships and local networks matter. An AI assistant filters transaction emails, flagging updates like revised seller terms, streamlining outreach and negotiations. Basic CIM analysis delivers quick insights—revenue trends, deal feasibility, or market fit—helping teams spot prospects like an industrials target with stable cash flows and a loyal customer base. Digital LBO modeling uses real-time data to speed up assessments, cutting through manual bottlenecks for efficient closings.
Pathlit integrates CRM, market intelligence, and proprietary metrics to score deals against investment theses, elevating opportunities like a logistics play with e-commerce potential—a sector seeing growing PE interest. Enhanced CIM analysis processes unstructured data, modeling exits, benchmarking risks, and flagging issues like regulatory hurdles or supply chain disruptions. Communication workflows unify emails and Slack, tracking diligence details across teams to catch updates like last-minute financing changes. For portfolio companies, real-time ERP, CRM, and supply chain data reveal inefficiencies—such as overstocked inventory—or revenue opportunities like cross-selling in a B2B service firm, guiding interventions that boost margins.
Pathlit analyzes news, earnings calls, and social media to forecast trends like decarbonization, steering portfolios toward sectors like renewable energy. Portfolio companies use its no-code platform to deploy custom AI solutions—predictive maintenance for a manufacturer to cut downtime, or dynamic pricing for a retailer to optimize peak-season margins—gaining a competitive edge. At exit, Pathlit models buyer landscapes years ahead, using deal data and buyer behavior to optimize timing and target strategic acquirers, potentially enhancing returns. This positions firms at the forefront of a tech-driven PE frontier, where AI redefines value creation.
Pathlit’s initial setup acts like a conveyor belt, automating workflows such as lead sourcing, data consolidation, and routine communications with minimal oversight, allowing teams to focus on critical tasks like refining investment strategies and enhancing portfolio performance. This process reflects the firm’s own evolution, turning repetitive tasks into efficient routines and complex challenges into opportunities for innovation. Pathlit supports firms at their current stage, providing drag-and-drop workflows for deal screening, portfolio oversight, and LP reporting, all without requiring IT expertise. As West Monroe notes, private equity must adapt to remain competitive—Pathlit helps firms meet this challenge by automating low-level work and sharpening strategic focus. It positions firms to lead as the Fund of the Future, managing larger portfolios and broader deal funnels with lean teams, combining technology and human insight to create new value. Ready to take the next step? Visit pathlit.com to explore how Pathlit can transform your firm.