Incorporated in 2013, PE Front Office is, spearheaded by Anup Kumar Adlakha, a name to be reckoned with in the fintech domain focused on the Alternative Asset sector. From its modest beginnings in Gurgaon, PE Front Office has grown its footprint across numerous market niches and geographical locations while providing an answer for the alternative asset sector. Its solution is firmly established in markets including those in India, Africa, Europe, the UK, the USA,and Southeast Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong). PE Front Office is actively used by over 100 alternate asset management firms managing investments worth over $30 billion across 15 countries.
The Leading Man
Anup Kumar Adlakha – Founder & CEO
Anup has over 29 years of experience in the IT services industry, 17 of which have been focused on the alternative investment management sector. Anup founded PE Front Office in February 2013 and has overseen its international expansion ever since. Anup previously served as the Chief Technology Officer for a PE firm with European headquarters. He was in charge ofoptimizing the IT strategy and guaranteeing IT services for the whole user base.
Services Offered by PE Front for Their Target Clientele
PE Front Office is acomprehensive and integrated suite of products that have been developed with a focus on the front and middle office processes for alternative investment management, including private credit/debt, private equity, venture capital, fund of funds, real estate funds, limited partners, and fund administrators.
The company’s state-of-the-art solutions include Deal Flow, Fundraising, Investment Management (covering both Equity and Debt), Portfolio Monitoring, Investor Management, Fund Administration, and Investor Portal. Detailed Reports and Analytics, Task and Activity Management, Outlook/Gmail Integration, Mobile Apps, Document Management, and Risk and Compliance Management are also available across the modules.
The PE Front Office solution can be installed on the client’s premises and is also available in a cloud-based subscription model. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for PE Front Office is housed on a virtual private cloud that is entirely secure and exclusive to each customer.
The Inception Story
The founders (Anup Adlakha & Ankur Agarwal) had the opportunity to thoroughly understand the difficulties and pain points faced by investment managers while working with a large private equity firm with a base in Europe. They understood that the lack of IT solutions providing businesses with end-to-end assistance had left the alternative asset sector severely neglected. A straightforward, affordable, and comprehensive industry-specific technology solution was required. Recognising this need, they designed the PE Front Office platform, a simple, seamless technical solution to address the specific needs of the alternative asset industry.
Differentiating Factors of PE Front Office
Working toward the goal of offering superior, self-service, and customizable solutions for all Alternate Asset Investment Management operations at reasonable prices, PE Front has made an indelible impact in the sector. The following are the main characteristics that set the company apart:
- PE Front Office uses Agile methodology to deliver the industry’s quickest implementation cycle while keeping the software solution cost-effective, fast, and responsive.
- PE Front Office solution has a flexible framework that easily allows customising per the customer’s specific functionality at any time. Their approach is to communicate in customer’s specific terminology, understand the business process, map it to the available functionality and customise the solution if required. If needed, PE Front Office integrates easily with any third-party data information source system, making it the ideal solution.
- PE Front Office values the feedback from both product demos and already-existing clients. Each feedback is carefully evaluated and shared with the product team to be included in the list of features that are desired. Since the PE Front Office’s founding, they have consistently sought to improve their product offering by incorporating inputs.
Ensuring Consistent Growth with an Innovative Set of Marketing Tactics
Client references and testimonials serve as the most reliable marketing promotionsin an industry that is niche and tightly knit, like the alternative asset industry. PE Front Office has also incorporated tried-and-tested marketing strategies like emailing, content marketing, social media marketing, digital advertising, and involvement in various conferences and events. PE Front Office is also a member of several reputed regional PE/VC associations, including Invest Europe, the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (HKVCA), and the South African Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SAVCA).
Anup Kumar’s Take on the Tech Advancements and R&D
Being a technology firm, PE Front Office recognises the value of staying current with new technological developments. They schedule regular workshops, training, and knowledge transfer sessions to ensure that the team is informed of the most recent technology trends in the market.
The PE Front Office is centred on R&D. Since its beginning in 2013, theprimary goal of the team has been to strengthen their solution so that it can handle the needs of an increasing number of alternative investment processes while still being user-friendly and straightforward.
Team & Work Culture – The Key Driving Force
The team at PE Front Office combines IT expertise, domain knowledge in private equity, and experience in international operations. The dedicated team members are skilled at handling both front- and back-end operations thanks to their wide variety of financial technology knowledge.
At PE Front Office, there is an open culture; employees are encouraged to express their ideas and feedback. They have kept their organizational structure simple and transparent to avoid any communication loss. Even during the Covid period different teams (such as Product, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc.), were able to communicate frequently and efficiently ensuring successful implementation of PE Front Office for various PE/VC firms.
Road Ahead
As innovation is their main forte, PE Front Office wants to continue innovating its solutions. Simultaneously, they look forward to accelerating their growth trajectory in the next few years. Coming out of covid-19, their focus is to expand globally and be a market leader in the Alternate Asset Management Solution space.
