← Back to overview

    Investment Firms & Asset Management

    Services

    Bespoke AI software and expertise tailored to funds and portcos: the problem each service solves, how we help, and what it looked like the last time we did it.

    For the Firms

    Custom tools for GPs

    Enhance operational efficiency and drive insight generation, from the first diligence call to the data room at exit.

    AI Readiness Due Diligence

    Tailored scorecards, target calls, and a 100-day roadmap inside the deal window.

    The problem

    Deal teams are already at capacity, and analysts who are experts in corporate diligence are asked to judge the AI maturity and opportunity of a target without a rubric. The output stays general and high level when the investment committee needs specifics.

    How we help

    • A tailored AI readiness scorecard built with your deal team: technical infrastructure, data, and people, with quantified risks and opportunities.
    • LightSight in the room on target calls, then an assessment and a 100-day roadmap with action items, risks, and expected results, delivered inside the diligence window.
    • Diligence Process Tracker: one pane of glass for the deal, with tasks by deal team member and live risks, mitigants, merits, and opportunities.
    “We need LightSight in the room for every diligence call.”
    Analyst, after the first engagement

    Portfolio Management

    Live dashboards, conversational analytics, and market intelligence across every holding.

    The problem

    GPs and portfolio company leaders wait one to two weeks for answers to routine questions because every portco reports in its own Excel files and documents, and portfolio data sits in decks and inboxes. Fragmented sources make integration difficult and costly.

    How we help

    • Start by processing each portco's Excel files and documents into one database, then put all portfolio data under a single view: live dashboards with historical and predictive views across every holding.
    • Conversational analytics layered on operational and financial data, so the question is answered in minutes instead of a request chain.
    • Market intelligence on customers, competitors, and industry, delivered where the team already works.
    “We've never had this level of clarity, transparency, and immediacy of understanding the current state of our portcos.”
    General Partner

    Reporting Automation

    Pipelines that assemble the monthly operating report so the fund reviews instead of compiles.

    The problem

    Monthly reporting means chasing each portco for spreadsheets and re-keying them into templates. Every company reports differently, and the fund spends its time compiling instead of reviewing.

    How we help

    • Excel files and documents from every portco processed into one database, the same source the dashboards read from.
    • Pipelines that pull, validate, and assemble the monthly operating report, with the request emails gone.
    • Auditable, reliable metrics the CFO office can defend, built in accordance with the fund's compliance needs.

    Exit Planning

    The AI narrative, roadmap, and data room assets that maximize exit EV.

    The problem

    Buyers now underwrite AI adoption and remaining upside, not just the multiple. Exit prep that starts six months out has no credible way to show either.

    How we help

    • Strategic AI advisory 12 to 24 months before sale: what the company has already put to work and what the next owner can build on.
    • An AI roadmap and narrative that ties value creation to reported EBITDA and gives management a story to sit with buyers.
    • Data room assets prepared to back the narrative and pre-answer buyer questions.

    For the PortCos

    Custom AI solutions inside the portfolio company

    Leadership in the seat and builders in the workflow, so teams work smarter and faster and the company owns what ships. Every engagement drives EBITDA lift.

    Fractional AI Officer

    AI leadership in the seat: strategy, tool selection, governance, and investment calls.

    The problem

    Portcos are told to "implement AI" with no AI leader on the team and limited IT presence. Tools get bought, pilots stall, and nobody is accountable for connecting AI work to the operating plan or setting the rules for using the tools.

    How we help

    • A dedicated AI expert for the management team who roadmaps AI strategy aligned to the value-creation plan.
    • AI leadership education, then enterprise tool selection, then governance, so adoption scales without sprawl.
    • A prioritized opportunity map, where to train, where to buy, and where to build, without a full-time CAIO search at every holding.

    AI Steering Committee

    The standing forum that decides AI investments and drives adoption.

    The problem

    AI adoption is treated as the wild west: tool purchases are scattered, workflows are built one at a time by different users and teams, and there is no AI usage policy or governance in place, so centralization gets harder every quarter.

    How we help

    • A standing forum, twice weekly at one portfolio company, for technological investment decisions, tool adoption, leadership education, and roadmap execution, chaired by the Fractional AI Officer.
    • Prototypes and project plans from across the organization, aligned to the business strategy and reviewed on a fixed cadence.
    • The enterprise AI tools to standardize on, an AI usage policy, and a governance framework that drives adoption: fewer solutions, more users, not gated by per-seat licensing.
    “LightSight delivered a fantastic AI Education workshop for our leadership to help understand what tools we should snap to and where we should invest in AI, clearing up months of confusion of how to roll AI out across our organization for the best ROI and scattered AI tool spend.”
    CFO

    Embedded AI Engineers

    Builders inside the portfolio company, shipping with your subject-matter experts.

    The problem

    Pilots work locally; rollout stalls on security, scalability, and stability. Most portcos have never hired this kind of talent, and leadership worries an outside builder will not understand what makes the business competitive.

    How we help

    • LightSight engineers placed inside the portfolio company to learn the process alongside your operators, define and emphasize the competitive edge, then automate, standardize, and optimize the workflows behind it.
    • Mission-critical, scalable software built in accordance with your fund's compliance needs, with observability and runbooks.
    • Knowledge transfer so the internal team can extend and maintain what ships.

    Co-created Custom Solutions

    What the embedded engineers build: systems owned by the company at exit.

    The problem

    Bottlenecks in core processes, ERPs that no longer fit, and failed integrations that leave fragile, manual workarounds as the process. Off-the-shelf SaaS levels the playing field and leaves the workflows that differentiate the company unserved.

    How we help

    • One pane of glass across teams and processes, built on top of aggregated, clean data.
    • Systems co-built with your subject-matter experts that automate the bottlenecks, replace the ERP functions that are failing, and eliminate the manual workarounds.
    • Owned by the portfolio company at exit, not licensed back from a vendor.

    Three use cases recur across the portfolio

    • Process Automation

      Bespoke automations in the operating workflows that run the company: documents, handoffs, and repeatable machine work, with people left on exceptions only.

    • Conversational Analytics

      Ask questions of operating data in plain language and get governed, auditable answers instead of waiting on a report request.

    • Market Insights

      Continuous intelligence on customers, competitors, and sector movement, assembled by agents and delivered where the team already works.

    How we work

    Discovery, build, own

    A structured path from a first conversation to software the portfolio company runs itself, designed so you see results at every stage. Discovery is free.

    1. 1

      Discovery

      Free, about two weeks

      Understand the deal, the portfolio company, or the operating problem, align leadership, and find where AI creates real impact.

      • Initial consultationVirtual, 1 hour
      • Leadership alignment kickoffVirtual, 1 hour
      • AI fluency workshopIn person, half day
      • Process and opportunity identificationIn person, half day
      • Prototyping and feasibility sprintIn person, 2 to 4 days

      Outcome

      A prioritized list of use cases, a cost and payback view for each, and a recommended first build, validated against real data before any investment.

      You: Partners and Analyst LeadsLightSight: Innovation Leads
    2. 2

      Build

      1 to 3 months

      Co-create the solution with your subject-matter experts and ship it to production.

      • Project kickoff3 to 4 meetings a week, 1 to 2 weeks
      • Foundational sprintsVirtual, twice weekly, 2 to 6 weeks
      • Delivery sprintsVirtual demos, in-person final review, 2 to 4 weeks

      Outcome

      Production software with complete user journeys, reviewed and approved by leadership: infrastructure, data access, security, and an integrated UX.

      You: Domain ExpertsLightSight: AI Engineers
    3. 3

      Own

      Ongoing, at your pace

      The portfolio company owns the system. We help the team run it, extend it, and hire for it.

      • Custom workshopsVirtual or in person
      • Hiring supportTechnical screening by technical experts
      • Technical trainingVirtual or in person

      Outcome

      Your team gradually owns feature development at a pace that preserves quality, with the architecture, runbooks, and observability to do it.

      You: Firm-wide adoptionLightSight: Maintain & Advise

    Every engagement starts with a conversation, scoped to one deal, one portfolio company, or one operating problem.

    Schedule a consultation

    Accelerate Value Creation in 2 weeks, for free.

    Free Discovery and Software Development with our partners, scoped to one deal, one portfolio company, or one operating problem.

    Book a consultation

    Tell us where you are in the hold period: diligence on a target, a portfolio company that needs AI leadership, reporting that still runs on spreadsheets, or an exit story that needs evidence. We will come back with relevant examples and a first view on what is worth doing.

    Within two weeks of a first call, deal teams and operating partners typically have a prioritized list of use cases, a cost and payback view for each, and a recommended first build the portfolio company will own.

    The first conversation is free, and questions at any level are welcome. We reply within one business day.