ECI partner, Suzanne Pike, recently spoke to Real Deals about how we leverage the use of AI technology in the deal origination process, and how we incorporate our proprietary AI tool, Amplifind, to streamline lead sourcing, deal prioritisation and assess potential bolt-ons for portfolio companies.
To be competitive, ECI’s Origination Team needed to identify leads and meet target company management teams earlier and earlier. This dynamic, coupled with the strong growth profile of the companies we invest in, means the universe of businesses that may be a potential fit for ECI has grown significantly as we have moved up in deal size. With so much data now available, it’s become impossible for humans to analyse it all.
Created in 2020, Amplifind was enhanced and the prioritisation tool was embedded into our core processes from 2021. In the article, Suzanne describes that at the heart of Amplifind sits machine learning that sources and prioritises leads. She explains how it started life as a lead-sourcing tool, but that its remit has grown to effectively become the backbone of ECI’s origination research process.
Automating the analysis of company descriptions and performance has reduced the time spent on reviewing potential leads by 80%, freeing up analysts’ time for more in-depth research. Suzanne highlights that ECI has seen an eight-fold improvement in converting companies reviewed into quality leads when compared with our previous Companies House search approach.
While Suzanne discusses the benefits of using Amplifind in deal sourcing, she also identifies the impact it’s had on investors. Essentially investors want a track record and nothing trumps that she explains. But they also want to look forward and know that private equity firms have a coherent, repeatable model, and Amplifind demonstrates ECI have excellent central management and a robust process for triaging the hundreds of potential deals we see every year.
For a more detailed exploration of ECI’s innovative approach to deal origination with Amplifind, and learn more about how it’s harnessing technology to gain a competitive edge, read the full Real Deals article here.
