Alternative investments have been growing fast and as of December 2023, the AUM stood at $22 trillion. With growth only expected to accelerate further and the growing need for bespoke investment options or flexible transaction structures, investment firms need a single source of platform to manage their deal flow and LP information.

Kenston Capital Partners, which provides senior secured debt financing to early-stage deep tech and health tech companies, needed a single source for information to eliminate the redundancy of various forms of internal reporting. To streamline the process, reduce the errors, and eradicate the complexities of multiple excel files, it turned to PE Front Office.

Flexible and scalable platform

For Kenston Capital, the need of the hour was a flexible and scalable platform similar to the venture loan it offers to early-stage deep tech and health tech companies. Since Kenston provides non-dilutive capital to enable its borrowers to execute their business plans, it also needed a platform to manage its LP information and help its LPs save time to manage more efficiently.

“PE Front Office provides our deal pipeline funnel, portfolio company monitoring, LP reporting, fund return forecasting, and loan invoicing for our respective debt deals,” says William H. Kidston, Partner & Chief Investment Officer of Kenston Capital Partners.

He further adds that Kenston subscribed to the full suite of PE Front Office for an end-to-end solution that covers all their needs. From deal sourcing to exit, Kenston is able to get a flexible and scalable platform that also supports fund management, LP communication, portfolio monitoring, and compliance.

“PE Front Office has standardised our workflows, ensuring consistency in how we capture, store, and report data. This has reduced errors, enhanced data integrity, and improved the overall efficiency of our processes,” he explains.

Seamless transition to an integrated platform

The motivation behind PE Front Office was the fact that a number of investment firms still rely on spreadsheets to manage their deal flow and often have to sift through multiple sheets to get a holistic view. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that PE Front Office became the choice SaaS provider for Kenston Capital Partners and Kidston says the whole transition was seamless and “negated the need to run excel spreadsheets internally for every need.”

He elaborates that PE Front Office offered excellent support while implementing their software platform including a smooth onboarding process and customisation of the platform to meet their specific requirements. “They helped configure the system to align with our deal flow, portfolio management, LP reporting, and fund forecasting needs, ensuring the solution was fully optimised for our operations from day one,” he adds.

Kidston further argues that they were helped by the fact that PE Front Office provided them with thorough training sessions that familiarised them with the platform as well as offered quick responses to specific business needs. He states that the team at PE Front Office has been available to assist with troubleshooting, system updates, and customisation of new features as needed.

Efficiency

For any organisation, the switch from spreadsheets to a SaaS platform is like a giant leap. Kidston agrees and says the biggest difference has come in the form of increased efficiency. “We are a lean team and PE Front Office’s solution enables us to be more efficient and focus our time on sourcing and implementing new deals,” he tells me.

Whether it is Anticus Partners in the UK, Norsad Capital in Botswana, or Kenston Capital Partners in Boston, they all agree that having all information accessible in one platform is a game changer and enables them to evaluate deals more quickly and speeds up decision-making.

The PE Front Office is also able to help by decreasing the time spent on due diligence. “Information related to LPs, deals, and portfolio companies required substantial manual effort to consolidate for analysis,” says Kidston.

He adds, “All relevant data is now centralised in PE Front Office, eliminating the need for manual data aggregation. This has reduced the time spent on data gathering and consolidation, freeing up resources for more strategic tasks.”

For Kenston team, the comprehensive deal pipeline management tool has improved their ability to monitor deal flow, track progress in real-time, and ensure that no opportunity is missed or overlooked. They also extensively use the portfolio management module to manage their current investments, generate and update the amortisation schedules, track cash flows, and maintain financials.

“PE Front Office supports the invoicing needs for our debt deals, automating and streamlining the process. This helps eliminate manual errors, ensures timely and accurate invoicing, and reduces the complexity involved in managing loan deals,” elaborates Kidston.

While they also leverage the investor portal and investor module, Kidston says PE Front Office has played a crucial role in streamlining investor relations by automating and standardising LP reporting. “As we roll out additional Funds, PE Front’s partnership will remain critical to our success and efficiency in deploying capital and monitoring portfolio companies’ performance,” quips Kidston.

Published in: Silicon Canals