How FPE Capital tripled the number of companies it could track with Intapp DealCloud

FPE Capital is a specialist growth equity investor based in London, England. The firm seeks to invest in software and technology-enabled services businesses in the UK and Ireland.

The Challenge

FPE Capital was formed in 2016, after the Partners conducted a management buyout from a leading European Multi-Family Office. To build foundations from which the firm could scale and specialise, they needed to adopt systems and processes to increase knowledge sharing and improve efficiency.

Historically, when it came to relationship management with prospect companies, intermediaries, and service providers, data was almost always kept within each relationship and there was no formal process in place for tracking, centralizing, and sharing it. This method of informal knowledge sharing worked within a smaller team, but as the team expanded it would lead to challenges in tracking and coordinating the conversations and activities that taking place across the firm.

FPE needed a better solution to keep each other informed and record with whom each team member was speaking with across their network in relation to deal flow and portfolio activities, instead of relying on conversations with colleagues for answers. Previously, FPE was using a legacy CRM along with various Excel spreadsheets to track data. They needed a more efficient and collaborative way to aggregate and track data to inform relationship and deal management, and pinpoint where they should be focusing their time and energy. This led them to implement DealCloud.

Implementation

During the implementation process, DealCloud’s Account Management and Implementation teams helped FPE migrate their existing data onto the DealCloud platform and decide how to configure their platform to best suit their specific needs. They reviewed all of FPE’s data and determined which fields and dashboards their team needed to best aggregate and display their data, leading to a successful implementation in just one month.

As our team has expanded, DealCloud has enabled us to seamlessly share activities and knowledge across the firm. We are also able to absorb, analyse and action increasing volumes of relationship and company data as we continue to build a deep understanding of the people and the companies operating within it.

BEN COLE, INVESTMENT MANAGER, FPE CAPITAL

The solution

For FPE Capital, the transition to DealCloud brought structure to relationship and data management. DealCloud’s deal, relationship, and firm management platform, created specifically with the needs and challenges of private equity professionals in mind, now serves as FPE’s one secure location and has been configured to enable FPE to successfully:

  • Manage Relationships: By implementing DealCloud, FPE can better track and manage the integrity of its relationship data with intermediaries and prospect companies. The firm now records data relating to company information, financial information, prior interactions and fees paid, amongst other data, in one secure and cloud-based platform that can be accessed by any team member, anytime.
  • Structure Time & Processes: The team at FPE uses DealCloud to create structure and processes across the firm. In addition to each user using the platform 10-20 times daily, they use DealCloud to formalize their weekly team meetings and activity across the firm, and their deal pipeline. DealCloud enables them to allocate actions across the team and determine how and where to focus their time and energy.
  • Centralize Data: With all deal and relationship data in one secure, centralized location, FPE is able to aggregate data and draw insights from it. In DealCloud, the team can view how many deals they have looked at and how far those deals have progressed by source, size, sub-sector, and region, and by analyzing it have developed a deeper understanding of their activities and relationships. Tracking their data in one location has enabled FPE to gain a more sophisticated view of their intermediary relationships and investment landscape.

Partnering for success

Working closely with DealCloud’s team of private equity experts, FPE Capital designed a solution and roll-out plan that enabled their team to focus on relationship and deal management.

  • Implementation and data migration services
  • Ease of user adoption and workflow for consistent data capture
  • Data analytics and insight tools
  • Dedicated account management and client success teams
  • Building a foundation for scalable growth

Executive Summary

  • Created structured relationship and deal management processes and increased team efficiency
  • 10-20 daily average logins per professional
  • 130+ dashboards created by the team
  • 3x increase in the number of companies the firm is tracking since implementing DealCloud
  • DealCloud University training completed by every member of the firm, with 20% of the team Platform Manager certified