Private market investments, once considered niche alternatives, are now mainstream in institutional portfolios. But their ubiquity comes with market structure changes that are reshaping the dynamics between general partners (GP) and limited partners (LP), putting a premium on transparency, accountability, and control.

The transparency gap in private markets stems from data technology limitations as much as from a historical reluctance to divulge traditionally opaque information. A convergence of market and structural forces is now prompting investors to look more closely at which GPs can deliver a modern investor experience by bridging this gap – with superior LP reporting and analytics in the linchpins. Competition for capital demands change, but the limitations of fragmented systems and disparate data make it difficult. However, GPs can move away from the static legacy ways to more control and optionality in LP data access, adding value with automated intelligence, proactive insights, and streamlined communications.

Meeting LP expectations with consolidated data

Improving long-term investor relations means meeting their new expectations for near-real-time visibility, customizable reporting, and faster closes. LPs want to see real-time capital balances on digital portals. They need to slice and dice data by commitment size or region and drill into cash flows at the investment level so they can see where that investment fits in their broader objectives. Institutional investors do not want to receive generic reports and analytics that don’t address their unique strategic needs and compliance demands.

Regardless of the size or strategy of GPs, their number one challenge is meeting investor expectations and reporting requirements.ⁱ This is essentially a big, fragmented data problem that burdens people with wasteful manual effort on data gathering, preparation, and reconciliation that produces reporting delays and inconsistencies. If an investor requests data on the underlying portfolio company exposures, managers would call an operations team to manually compile a report pulling various PDFs, spreadsheets, and ad hoc PowerPoint decks. A paltry 10% of LPs think the frequency and accuracy of valuation reporting is functioning well.ⁱⁱ A GP that can solve the data problem gains an edge in speed, operational excellence, and service levels. And, it seizes a competitive advantage.

The diagram below shows how bridging the gap between fragmented data with a unified foundation could work.