AI for private equity
We help GPs put AI to work, starting inside your firm by optimising how your team originates, assesses and tracks deals. Then we roll it out across your portfolio companies as part of their value creation plans.
AI at the GP and across the portfolio
We start with the general partner: your own firm and deal team. We find where AI saves the most time between origination and the investment committee, and build it into the systems you already use. Then we find the value creation opportunities in each portfolio company, where people-heavy processes leave skilled staff doing routine work.
What we build for your firm
Origination: platforms and bolt-ons
We build pipelines that check company filings and the data providers you already pay for (e.g. ZoomInfo, Pomanda and Inven) against your investment criteria. They surface new platforms for the fund and bolt-ons for your buy-and-build plans, including companies that aren’t in a sale process, so more of your deal flow is proprietary. Each target arrives researched, with the reasons it fits, and outreach is one click to draft for your team to review.
Investment committee papers
AI that drafts investment committee papers and screening memos in your house format, from the information memorandum, your CRM and the data room. Your team reviews and challenges the draft, and the judgement stays with them. As they challenge and improve each one, the system learns from their changes, so drafts come closer to how your team would write them and take less time to produce.
Due diligence
First-pass AI due diligence on the data room, with red flags and questions for management, every point cited back to its source document. We also build and check financial models against the source data.
CRM and pipeline
Meeting transcripts and email update the CRM automatically, from intermediary catch-ups to management meetings, and follow-ups go to the right person. The pipeline stays current without anyone keying it in.
Your firm’s knowledge, with guardrails
Within your enterprise AI platform (e.g. Claude or ChatGPT), we build a context layer of how your firm works and invests, from your criteria and processes to past investment decisions. Guardrails set how your team should and shouldn’t use AI, so judgement stays with your people.
Investor reporting and fund operations
Portfolio KPIs pulled into one view, quarterly LP reports drafted from them, and fund workflows such as capital call and distribution notices.
The outcome: your deal team spends more of its time with companies and management teams, information is faster to find, and actions are captured and owned by the right people. And when LPs ask how the firm uses AI, you have something real to show them.
Then we take value creation into the portfolio.
Value creation across your portfolio companies
OpenKit’s experience across sectors lets us find the AI value creation opportunities in each portfolio company, especially in people-heavy businesses, where routine work takes skilled time away from clients and growth. What we find goes into each company’s value creation plan.
- Professional services Law firms, accountants, consultancies and financial advisers spend hours on drafting and client reporting, and AI can take the first pass.
- Buy-and-build Every acquisition is unique. We take the same diligence approach to find the best AI value creation in each, drawing on what we’ve seen work across the sectors we serve.
- Compliance and inspection services Reports and certificates written up from engineers’ notes, with nothing lost between site and office.
- Quotes and tenders First drafts from specifications and requests for quotation, ready for the team to price and check.
- Customer service Enquiries answered or routed, with the full history in front of whoever picks them up.
In each company we start with a handful of recurring, high-volume tasks and measure the time saved and its effect on EBITDA before building more. Our AI leads can work across several portfolio companies at the same time, so you can move as fast as you want, and we train each team to run what we build so the capability stays in the business through to exit.
AI exit readiness
A buyer may ask how the business uses AI and how exposed it is to it. A management team that answers clearly, with evidence, takes a question mark out of the process.
For portfolio companies approaching a sale, we produce an AI Exit Readiness Report: an independent view of where the business stands on AI, and a clear plan for what it means for the next owner. It builds on the findings report and roadmap the AI Audit already delivers, pointed at an exit.
What the report covers
- Where AI is already used
Every AI tool and workflow in use, and who owns and governs each one.
- Exposure and defensibility
How AI could change the market and the business model, and where the business stands against its competitors.
- The upside
A ranked, costed roadmap of AI improvements that a buyer can build on.
- Delivery so far
Workflows already live and the time they save, so the plan is backed by results.
- Data and governance
How ready the data is, and the policies and data protection already in place.
- Management readiness
A briefing so the management team can answer AI questions in management presentations and due diligence.
How it’s used
The report sits in the data room alongside vendor due diligence, supports the equity story, and gives the management team a reference throughout the process. After completion, the buyer has a plan to build on. Starting six to twelve months before a sale leaves time to show results; a standalone report typically takes a few weeks.
How we engage with private equity firms
Most engagements start with an AI Audit, with scope and fee agreed before the work starts. Firms then continue with an AI Implementation engagement to deliver the roadmap, at the firm level, in the portfolio companies, or both.
- AI Audit We look at the tools and AI already in place, how your team finds and assesses deals, and where the wins we’ve seen across our previous engagements apply to you. We identify the people who would have the biggest impact if they were fluent in AI, and what training and rollout should look like. Then we hand back:
- Executive summary
- Interview and findings report
- Implementation roadmap and training plan
- Costing and benefit assessment
- AI Implementation We build the priorities you agree into your firm’s systems and your portfolio companies, and train your team to own them, inside an agreed total amount of delivery capacity.
- AI Exit Readiness Report For a portfolio company approaching a sale: where the business stands on AI, its exposure and upside, and a costed plan a buyer can build on.
We train your team, not just your systems
We work inside your team, in person and hands-on, from the first day of the audit all the way through as your AI lead.
Systems nobody in your business understands do not last. While we build, we train your team to solve problems with AI themselves: to find a way through when they get stuck, to build their own tools and dashboards, and to approach each new task with AI in hand.
An engagement that sets things up but leaves your team unable to use them is a failed engagement. Training your people matters just as much as building systems that take a huge amount of work off them.
Already proven in investment banking and private markets
Since January 2026, OpenKit has worked inside a London boutique investment bank on a major AI transformation, from origination to the CRM, and continues as its embedded AI partner to maximise the value it creates.
Related work
One is an embedded engagement running in production at an investment bank. The other is a discovery engagement that validated the data before any reporting was specified.
Boutique investment bank, London A CRM that updates itself, with origination screening and drafting support Every inbox and every meeting feeds one shared record of the firm’s companies, investors and deals. Since Jan 2026 An OpenKit AI lead working inside the team every week 
FW Thorpe (Thorlux) Proving the data before specifying the report Occupancy records validated against the live dashboard, with board-ready reporting specified off the same data. ~6.5M Occupancy records validated Secure and private, as standard
Deal data stays yours and never trains anyone else’s model. We work under your NDAs and keep an audit log of what AI touched, hosted in UK or EU regions or on your own infrastructure. Private AI
ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials are certifications we hold, and we operate to UK GDPR. Solutions are designed to help meet the EU AI Act where it applies. We build to operate under the FCA’s expectations for accountability and record-keeping, and we are not authorised or regulated by the FCA.
The questions that decide it
What does an AI consultancy for private equity do?
We find where AI saves the most time in your firm and its portfolio companies, then build it into the systems you already use and train your people to run it. Assessment and delivery sit with one firm, under a lead we agree with you.
How can private equity firms use AI for value creation?
In two places. At the GP, AI speeds up origination, due diligence, investment committee papers and reporting. In portfolio companies, it becomes part of the value creation plan, taking routine work out of people-heavy processes and giving skilled time back to clients and growth.
Should we start at the GP or in the portfolio companies?
Usually at the GP. Your team sees the value first-hand, and the workflows are proven before a management team is asked to change. The audit also names the portfolio companies to start with.
Can you help a portfolio company prepare for exit?
Yes. The AI Exit Readiness Report shows a buyer where the business stands on AI and sets out a ranked, costed roadmap to build on. It also prepares the management team for AI questions in due diligence. Start six to twelve months before a sale if you can.
Can AI help with deal origination?
Yes. We build pipelines that check company filings and your data providers against your investment criteria, to surface new platforms for the fund and bolt-ons for your portfolio companies. Each target arrives qualified and researched, ready for your team to review.
Can AI draft investment committee papers?
Yes, as a first draft in your house format, built from your CRM and the data room with every source cited. Your deal team still owns the judgement and the final paper.
How do you keep deal information confidential?
We work under your NDAs and never use your data to train models. Hosting sits in UK or EU regions or on your own infrastructure, and OpenKit is ISO 27001 certified.
Does this work with our CRM and data providers?
Our verified integrations are Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Entra ID), Power Automate, Salesforce, REST and SOAP connections, on-prem PostgreSQL and Langfuse for prompt versioning. Connectors to your data providers are scoped at the audit. A new CRM or reporting system is a major system with its own scope.
Which AI tools do you use?
For private equity AI work we build on Claude in UK or EU regions, OpenAI on Azure UK or EU, or open-weights models on private GPU where the data cannot leave. The audit settles which one fits your data and the licences your firm already holds.
Will AI replace analysts and associates?
No. It takes routine work off them, so they spend more of their time on analysis and with management teams. The judgement stays with your people.
How is a private equity AI engagement structured?
It starts with the AI Audit, with scope and fee agreed before the work starts. Firms then continue with an AI lead at the firm, in portfolio companies, or both. An AI Exit Readiness Report is scoped per company. The schedule is agreed in your proposal, alongside the scope.
Do we have to continue with OpenKit after the audit?
No. The audit is a standalone engagement. You use the findings to decide the next step.
How is OpenKit different from a large consultancy or an IT provider?
Our job is changing how your people work with AI, and we work alongside your IT provider where you have one. Large consultancies often split strategy and delivery across separate teams on day rates. Here assessment and delivery sit with one firm, under a lead we agree with you.
What could your business do with AI?
Find out with experts who become part of your team. We uncover opportunities, get ideas working, and help your people build on the results. We reply within one working day.