Private Equity
AI that compounds value across the deal and the hold
PE firms win on speed of conviction and the value they create after close. We build AI that sharpens diligence, stands up a value-creation engine across the portfolio, and automates the research and reporting that slow deal and operating teams — all tied to MOIC, margin, and time-to-value.
Why AI mattersin Private Equity.
In private equity, returns are made twice: in the diligence that builds conviction, and in the operating work that creates value after close. AI matters when it compresses both — and ties directly to the value-creation plan, not noise.
Our point of view is ROI-based by design: every initiative maps to margin, multiple, or speed. We quantify before we build, amplify your deal and operating partners rather than replace them, and bring the governance and controls your LPs and lenders expect.
- 01Conviction is speedRead the data room in days, not weeks.
- 02Value is created post-closeAI operating leverage across every holding.
- 03Lean winsAutomate the research and reporting that drain teams.
- 04MOIC is the only metricEvery initiative maps to margin or multiple.
How we workin Private Equity.
One method, tuned to your context: we design the whole system — people and AI — rank every move by ROI across four lenses, and build in iterative cycles that compound value.
Design the whole system
We map the value-creation plan across deal and hold — designing where AI sharpens conviction and operating leverage, and where partners stay in the decision — with adoption across deal and operating teams.
Quantify the value
We score every initiative across four lenses tied to returns — margin, multiple, speed, and risk — so the work maps to MOIC, not noise.
Tailor to your context
We build around your data room, portfolio systems, and reporting — tuned to your thesis and the governance your LPs and lenders expect.
Iterate and compound
We stand up a first capability fast, measure against the 100-day plan, and iterate across the portfolio — compounding value through the hold.
The AI opportunityin Private Equity.
portfolio visibility on one intelligence layer
holdings monitored in real time
target ROI within 90 days
Photo: AWSM LABS
Purpose-built applicationsfor Private Equity.
Portfolio AI Sourcing
Give every holding the same pre-vetted path to the right AI vendors — matched to each company's priorities, so value-creation plans don't stall at vendor selection.
SMRTN gives portfolio companies a curated channel to pre-vetted AI startups.
Portfolio-Wide Intelligence
One platform tracking operating performance and AI initiatives across every holding — margin, efficiency, and revenue impact in real time.
KNTRL provides the cross-portfolio intelligence and benchmarking layer.
Proprietary Deal Sourcing
An AI agent monitors market signals, filings, and operator activity to surface platforms and add-ons before they hit the market — scored by your thesis.
CRFT builds the custom deal intelligence product tailored to your thesis.
LP Investor Intelligence Engine
Know which LPs are ready to allocate before anyone else does — scattered investor signals unified into one prioritized view of who to engage, why now, and how to tailor the pitch.
CRFT builds the custom LP intelligence engine over public filings and your internal data.
The AI Multiple Nobody Can Justify
One advisory firm publishes AI deal multiples and does not say what it measured. Another writes that AI capability commands premium valuations and cites no transaction comparables. PwC states the standard: measurable income statement impact, before any premium. This article is about closing that distance.
Pablo Cruz Pou · October 9, 2026 · 20 min read
Custodial ROI: The Fourth Lens — and the Only One Someone Else Grades
You grade three of your four AI ROI lenses. Somebody else grades the fourth, and you will not meet them until diligence. In 2014, 87 percent of dealmakers said much the same about cyber security — folded into a general IT review, not a risk category in its own right. Three years later Verizon cut $350 million off the price of Yahoo.
Pablo Cruz Pou · September 14, 2026 · 22 min read
The Four-Lens AI ROI System
In July 2025, the most-quoted number in enterprise AI said 95 percent of deployments returned nothing. Eight months later, a survey of middle-market leaders said 97 percent of AI pilots had succeeded. Neither measured a P&L. Both were describing your portfolio.
Pablo Cruz Pou · September 14, 2026 · 19 min readPrivate Equity,answered.
Through SMRTN. Each holding gets a pre-vetted shortlist matched to its priorities and meets only the startups it chooses, so the AI line in the 100-day plan isn't spent sitting through demos.