Over the past decade, private markets have transitioned from a niche to a mainstream investment category. Private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real estate have all seen strong growth in assets under management, driven by the hunt for yield and diversification in a higher-rate world. At the same time, access has widened beyond large institutions to wealth managers and individual investors through vehicles such as ELTIFs, evergreen funds, semi-liquid strategies, listed investment companies and insurance wrappers.

This broadening of the investor base has important operational consequences. General partners, fund administrators, ManCos, depositaries and asset owners are all dealing with:

• Higher volumes of investors and transactions

• More frequent dealing and liquidity events in semi-liquid funds

• More complex structures across multiple jurisdictions

• More demanding reporting and transparency expectations from clients and regulators

The operating model and technology that worked for a small set of closed-ended drawdown funds no longer scale.

Retail style access raises the bar on data and control

Retailisation is now a mainstream theme. The revised ELTIF 2.0 regime, which has been applied since January 2024, has made it easier to offer long-term private asset strategies to a wider set of European investors. Evergreen and semi-liquid funds are growing quickly, and managers are experimenting with new channels and structures to reach high-net-worth and mass affluent clients.

For operations teams, this means:

• More frequent NAVs, subscriptions and redemptions

• A larger number of smaller investors, each with their own servicing and reporting needs

• Greater scrutiny from distributors and regulators on liquidity, valuation and disclosure

Spreadsheets and loosely connected point solutions cannot provide the level of control and auditability that this environment requires.

Regulation is focusing on NAV oversight and transparency

Regulators are also tightening expectations around valuations, oversight and investor protection.

Examples include:

• CSSF Circular 24/856 in Luxembourg, which sets detailed rules for the detection and correction of NAV errors and investment breaches and extends the scope to a wide range of funds, including alternatives

• The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which requires consistent and well-evidenced ESG disclosures at both the firm and product levels

• Ongoing national and EU-level work on valuation, leverage and liquidity risk in open-ended and semi-liquid funds

These developments are pushing managers, administrators, ManCos and depositaries to strengthen their NAV oversight, look through analysis and governance frameworks. Processes that rely on emailing files and manually checking spreadsheets are hard to defend in this context.

Why fragmented technology stacks are under strain

Most organisations have built their current technology stack over many years. They have added specialist systems to solve specific problems at specific times. A fund accounting engine here, a separate portfolio monitoring tool there, a standalone data warehouse and a reporting solution on top.

This best-of-breed approach has clear weaknesses:

• Limited or fragile integration between systems, which leads to multiple versions of the truth

• Process gaps that are filled by offline spreadsheets, macros and manual workarounds

• High change costs whenever a new product, jurisdiction or reporting requirement appears

• Key person risk around people who understand how data flows across this landscape

As product sets expand and regulatory expectations increase, these weaknesses are compounded. Onboarding a new fund or mandate becomes slower and more expensive. Operational risk rises. It also becomes harder to offer clients timely, self-service access to their data.

What a data-driven operating model looks like

A modern operating model for private markets is built around data rather than individual systems. The core idea is simple. Capture clean, structured data once, control it, and reuse it across the full lifecycle.

In practice, this means:

• A single source of truth for investors, funds, SPVs, assets, capital flows, valuations and fees

• Integrated processes from pipeline and deal closing through to NAV, investor servicing, treasury and reporting

• A data hub that connects to administrators, custodians, banks, CRMs and data vendors using scheduled file transfers and APIs where they are available

• Embedded controls such as maker checker workflows, access controls, exception rules and audit trails

• Self-service dashboards and reports for investment, finance, risk and client teams, without heavy reliance on IT

The goal is not technology for its own sake. It is to reduce manual effort and key person risk, shorten cycle times and give stakeholders a consistent, timely view of portfolios, cash and risk.

Full-stack platforms for private markets

To support this shift, many organisations are looking for full-stack platforms that can cover:

• Fund and portfolio accounting for private equity, private credit and real assets

• Investor servicing, capital call and distribution processing

• Data management, including integration, reconciliation and enrichment

• Analytics, look through and regulatory reporting

• Cloud hosting, security and operational support

daappa Studio+ is one example of this type of platform. It combines:

• Core investment and fund accounting for closed-ended and evergreen structures

• Integrated portfolio management, compliance and look-through capabilities

• A data hub that centralises transactional data and feeds downstream systems

• A reporting and analytics layer with configurable dashboards and self-service views

Studio+ is delivered as a managed, cloud-hosted service. This gives private asset managers, administrators and ManCos an operating model that can scale with new funds, asset classes and structures without the need to assemble and maintain a complex stack of point solutions.

A practical entry point: NAV oversight

The main challenge is often not knowing what good looks like. It is how to move from today’s mix of systems, files and manual steps to a more integrated model without disrupting business as usual.

One pragmatic way to start is with a focused NAV oversight solution.

daappa NAV Oversight allows firms to:

• Load holdings, transactions and NAV data from administrators or internal systems

• Run automated checks and tolerance rules on NAV movements and key metrics

• Track exceptions, investigations and sign off in a controlled, auditable workflow

• Produce dashboards and reports for boards, depositaries and regulators

It is designed for development banks, micro managers, AIFMs, ManCos and depositaries that currently rely on spreadsheets and manual checks. Once live, it creates a clean, structured dataset that can be extended into wider Studio+ capabilities such as look through, analytics and a full data hub.

Bringing it together

Private markets are set to remain an important source of capital and returns. They will also remain more complex and more visible to regulators and the public. Organisations that can run a data-driven operating model, with strong NAV oversight and integrated processing, will be better placed to manage risk, respond to change and serve their clients.

Moving away from fragmented legacy systems and spreadsheets is not a one-off project. It is a step-by-step shift in how data is captured, controlled and used.

daappa works with managers, fund administrators, ManCos and depositaries to plan and execute that shift, using Core and Studio+ as building blocks. If you would like to explore how this could work in your organisation, speak to our team to arrange a conversation or a focused proof of concept.