Lantern, a pioneering private equity data platform and technology provider, has today launched a suite of fund and portfolio monitoring products designed to improve performance at private equity firms and their portfolio companies.
Lantern combines deep private equity knowledge and experience with highly skilled data scientists and engineers to provide powerful data analytics and visualisation technology. The Company is founded by industry veteran Edward Moore, Founder, Chairman and former CEO of global fund administrator Aztec Group, which has supported the seed funding for Lantern’s launch.
In what is becoming a challenging business and fundraising environment, private equity firms are increasingly focusing on ways to improve their operational processes and enhance their performance to give them a competitive edge. Lantern, whose platform is built specifically for the private equity industry, has identified a ‘data analytics gap’ in the market and a need for private equity firms to benefit from data-driven insights and help managers unlock the full potential of their funds and portfolio companies.
“Over recent years, we’ve seen a significant uptick in fundraising which is driving an increasingly competitive market,” said Edward Moore, Founder and CEO of Lantern. “Combined with the macro-economic headwinds that our clients are now experiencing, we are seeing many firms pause and reflect on the levers they can pull to drive fund and portfolio performance. In a data rich environment optimising the management and use of data is increasingly seen as critical for each step of the investment process. Lantern puts cutting-edge technology and tailored PE data analytics that were previously the preserve of the very largest managers, within the grasp of every private equity firm.”
Lantern leverages and seamlessly connects fully audited, real-time and granular datasets to provide clients with a single source of truth and a robust picture of the fund universe that’s unrivalled in its accuracy.
Lantern fund monitoring provides performance dashboards to showcase and benchmark critical KPIs including NAV, IRR, DPI, RVPI and TVPI, as well as investment transactions and operational metrics such as fund fees and cash-on-cash returns. Lantern portfolio monitoring automates data collection and validation for GPs, enabling firm-wide access to actionable insights and enhanced decision-making.
“At Lantern, we’re on a mission to create the go-to private markets platform hosting the most trusted data sets, curated by the brightest minds and powered by the best technology,” continued Moore. “We believe that by breaking down data silos, augmenting data where additive and by making data more accessible and transparent we can deliver better understanding, support better decision making and ultimately drive enhanced performance for private equity firms and their investors. This technology really does have the potential to revolutionise how the industry sees and uses its data.”
The rich data information and visualisation platform, which has been in development for the last two years and started life as a project within parent company Aztec Group’s Innovation Team, has been built in close collaboration with private equity firms, with over 10 leading GPs involved in beta-testing, including growth investor, Highland Group.
As one of Lantern’s pathfinder clients, we’ve seen first-hand the speed at which the software has developed. Lantern’s technology has given us access to fund-level data and insights, through a beautifully intuitive platform. It’s the start of something I believe could be a game-changer in the market.
Ronan Shally, Partner and Chief Financial Officer, Highland Europe
Lantern is currently working on a suite of other products that are currently in beta, including investor dashboards and proprietary benchmarks.