$12.5M in Value Across Deal Intelligence Solutions for a $4BN Private Equity

Client:

$4BN middle-market PE firm

Time to First Value:

18 Weeks

Users Enabled:

Sourcing, Diligence & Investment Teams

Our Problem

Problem

A $3.6B middle-market PE firm runs a thesis-driven, operationally intensive investment model. The firm's methodology depends on deep sector research, extensive deal history, and rigorous diligence — but the tools powering those activities hadn't kept pace.

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Sourcing was manual and time-intensive. Analysts assembled company profiles one at a time — database searches, broker outreach, desk research — consuming thousands of hours annually for a narrow funnel constrained by human throughput.

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Institutional knowledge was trapped. Over 20 years of deal history — CIMs, IC memos, market maps, diligence reports — lived across DealCloud, SharePoint, and individual folders. There was no fast way to ask: "Have we seen this company before? What did we learn?"

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Diligence was document-heavy and slow. Virtual data rooms with thousands of documents — legal, financial, HR, contracts — required manual review, and the risk of missing a critical clause scaled with data room size.

Our Solution

Solution

We built and deployed three AI products across the deal lifecycle, each compounding on the last.

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Proprietary Sourcing Engine (Built in 18 weeks) — AI agents evaluate 2,000+ companies per search, enriching targets with live intelligence and delivering a scored shortlist against the firm's sector-specific criteria. Configurable scoring per thesis, integrated with existing CRM workflows, and continuously updated as new data becomes available.

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Institutional Knowledge Search (Built in 18 weeks) — Unified AI search across 20 years of deal history spanning DealCloud, SharePoint, and CIM archives. The team queries the firm's entire memory in natural language: "What companies have we evaluated in food safety?" or "Pull the IC memo from our last industrial technology platform deal." Results ranked by relevance, linked to source documents.

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VDR Intelligence (Deployed in 10 weeks) — Natural language access to all virtual data room documents with page-level citations and automated financial analysis. During diligence: "Summarize key terms of the top 10 customer contracts" or "Flag change-of-control provisions across all legal agreements." Structured answers with exact page citations.

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All three products integrate into the firm's existing workflows — DealCloud, SharePoint, and established diligence processes. No new systems to learn.

Our Results

Results

$12.5M+ in value created on a single deal — across sourcing efficiency, faster diligence, and incremental carry from deals won with better intelligence.

The Proprietary Sourcing Engine eliminated 6,000 hours of annual search time, delivering 137–275x ROI on platform investment. The Institutional Knowledge Search compressed diligence timelines by 1–2 weeks per deal, generating $625K–$875K in annual quantifiable benefit. And VDR Intelligence contributed to $5–10M+ in incremental carry per deal won through faster, more thorough document review.

Sourcing capacity expanded dramatically without adding headcount. Twenty years of deal history went from static archive to live, queryable resource. And diligence cycles compressed without cutting corners.

3 products. 12 weeks each. Each built on the last.

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What this means for PE firms

Compounding returns on AI investment. Each product creates data and context that makes the next one more powerful — sourcing feeds the knowledge base, the knowledge base informs diligence, diligence flows back into institutional memory.
Measurable, deal-level impact. The value shows up in specific deals, in carry, and in the firm's ability to move faster than competitors on the best opportunities.
Replicable across the portfolio. The same architecture patterns extend to portfolio company operations, not just the deal team.