This is part of our series of Solutions Spotlight blog posts demonstrating custom solutions that can be built within HighQ Collaborate using the iSheets module.
This venture capital screening solution is designed for private equity houses to manage and simplify the screening process of potential investment prospects. Using this simple solution built in HighQ Collaborate’s iSheets module, private equity houses can ask prospects looking for investment to complete an online application form in the form of an iSheets questionnaire.
As the prospect fills in the questionnaire, they’re assigned a score based on their answers (this score is hidden from the prospect). Based on this score, the iSheets solution undertakes a risk assessment of the company and assigns the prospect a status: either weak, good, or strong.
The data from the application form is stored in an iSheets database along with the status of the prospect, which gives the private equity house a snapshot overview of all the applications that have come in over a specific time period and whether each of them is worth pursuing or not.
This saves the private equity houses huge amounts of time that would otherwise be spent manually processing and assessing applications one-by-one as they come in. It means that analysts can instantly see which applications to follow up with. Analysts can easily and securely share the information with colleagues about the potential investment opportunity directly in the platform by directing their colleagues to specific iSheet records.
As well as saving the private equity house time, it also increases the fairness of the investment process. Rather than relying on the opinions of analysts to judge whether a prospect is weak or strong, the database judges against criteria pre-set by the private equity house.
It also gives the private equity houses the opportunity to encourage weak prospects to resubmit the questionnaire on a quarterly basis. As the iSheet database can filter and store all of the data from previous questionnaires, the private equity house can measure the growth of the prospect over time and they can publish their growth if desired.
When a prospect has been identified as a target, Collaborate’s file sharing module can be used together with iSheets to run in-depth due diligence on the prospect, and at the end of the process an accurate due diligence report can be automatically generated with the use of iSheets’ document automation feature.
Once the investment has been made, a new collaboration space will be set up for the newly-invested company. Here, the private equity house can share secure information with them; share playbook chapters with advice that a fast-growing company might need; and measure the company’s growth and improvement.
Key to this solution is the fact that the entire investment process can be managed within one platform using one toolkit. Importantly, this is more than simply risk assessment screening, but allows the investor and the prospect to communicate and collaborate from application through to post-investment.
To see a video demonstration of several other business solutions that can be built within iSheets, watch a recording of our webinar, iSheets Solutions Spotlight, now. You can also download an eBook containing all of our solutions spotlights and a video demonstration of document automation.
