HighQ The questions to ask to make fundformation your competitive advantage How important is efficient investor onboarding to the client experience? What are the implications of time lost and high NIGO rates to the service you How easy is it to share knowledge and collaborate with colleagues and clients? How secure is your data and how consistent are your processes in a complex Will improving client lifecycle management with streamlined services The private equity and venture capital industry is at thecenter of many law firms’ strategic growth plans — andit’s little wonder why. These organizations spend onaverage $35 million on outside counsel for fund- anddeal-related work each year.1With global assets under Seizing opportunityand managing risk There are huge opportunities for the private equity industry, butalso significant risks. Private equity forms an important part ofinvestors’ portfolios, but the market has recently been buffetedby economic headwinds, such as uncertainty over the outlookfor growth ahead and a downturn in M&A activity. Added towhich, asset managers are being impacted by a substantialamount of regulatory change, including becoming subject to So, having a top-tier fund formation practice is vital. Thisis a complex, big-ticket area, where regulatory scrutinyis intense, the rules are changing fast, and competitionis fierce. Time is often of the essence and clients aredemanding. They need to have full confidence not only in However, all too often the investor onboarding process iscomplex, onerous, and prone to human error. Therefore,it’s vital to find a way to simplify and streamline it, makingit more efficient and effective, to improve the clientexperience and strengthen investor relations. By leveragingthe right technology solutions, you can provide a superior In this environment, asset managers need to adapt to thrive —and they need their outside counsel to do likewise. To do so,both must become increasingly tech-enabled. The growingdigitalization including tokenization, of funds and their assets, iscausing the funds industry to have to adapt to new strategiesand skills to remain competitive in this space. Technology is End-to-end fund formation process Save time & reduce complexity by streamlining investor onboarding, drafting & signing and deliver a superior Accurately andefficiently collect investor Securely collectand store documentsManage the signingprocess and report out In turn, this creates an opportunity for law firms. Leveragingsoftware solutions to provide unique experiences thatfacilitate collaboration and smooth-out the fund formationprocess should help attract and retain clients, and solveongoing productivity and profitability challenges. Many firmsare already using platforms such as Thomson Reuters® Gathering all this data manually, verifying it, and inputting itinto spreadsheets is very laborious and cumbersome. And Instead, why not centralize and standardize everything, andautomate as much as possible? Rather than sending outspreadsheets for investors to fill in with all their details, it’smuch easier if they can log into a dedicated portal andinput all the relevant information there, using a pre-preparedintake form. Logic can be built into these questionnaires to Is it time to reimagine your approach to fund formation?Here are some fundamental questions to ask: 1. How important is efficient investor onboarding to the In this space, workflows can guide investors through everystep of the process, including being given the ability toupload the necessary documents securely, so nothing These days, efficiency and accuracy are everything. Getinvestor onboarding right — quickly and seamlessly — andclients will be happy, compliance will be satisfied, and This makes life easier for them — and for you. Lawyers andclients can gain transparency over incoming requests andreal-time visibility over status, minimize risk, and close the Given that respondents to our inaugural study into the U.S.Private Equity/Venture Capital sector3undertake an averageof 51 M&A deals and 87 funding transactions annually, nowonder efficiency is one of the top three areas private equityclients rate as important. Their fund-raising and subsequent Ask yourself: How long does it take you to onboard investors?How will leveraging technology to run a smarter onboardingprocess help your clients stay on top of investor obligations?How can it help you ensure a faultless compliance process? Onboarding is a fundamental part of the fund formationprocess. It’s a legal requirement that investors are certified,and that checks are made to make sure that capital comesfrom legitimate sources. Know Your Customer (KYC)requirements and anti-money laundering rules loom large, “Having one source of truth andallowing everything to go throughone platform has increased HighQ users experience a 71%improvement in efficiency when of users agree that usingHighQ helps them to feel moreconfident they have n