Private equity is standing on the edge of its next competitive frontier, and our latest guide, Why every private equity firm needs a deal engine – and how to build it, explores exactly how firms can get there.
Drawing on market data from the AI Pathfinder Private Equity Benchmark Survey (September 2025), the guide reveals that 47.8% of firms are still only piloting AI tools, while fewer than 11% have achieved true scale. Most have invested in the plumbing - CRMs, market data platforms, and analytics tools, but not yet connected them into a single, intelligent and embedded system that learns and improves over time.
That’s the opportunity the guide unpacks: how leading firms are turning their datasets, CRMs, and proprietary knowledge into a unified private equity data engine that helps deal teams and portfolio managers spots deal opportunities, identifies inroads for connection, and supports relationship development.
Our new guide distils insights from work with leading firms to give deal, portfolio, and data teams a practical playbook for what’s next.
Inside, you’ll find:
What a PE data engine is (and isn’t)
How to buy, build, or “build with” , and why “with” wins
A 90-day adoption roadmap to show measurable impact
Real benchmarks from the AI Pathfinder Private Equity Benchmark Survey
The industry’s leading data providers have reshaped how dealmakers source and qualify opportunities. Platforms and sources like Sourcescrub, Capiq, Valu8 and PitchBook are essential, the backbone of market coverage.
But with so many firms licensing these high-quality datasets, access alone no longer creates differentiation.
The next edge will come from how firms engineer, orchestrate, and apply intelligence to that data. Private equity data engines make this possible: connecting internal systems and third-party sources, enriching them, and surfacing the most relevant, high-value opportunities in real time.
At Filament Syfter, we believe the firms that win from here will be those who turn data into intelligence - building connected, AI-ready systems that learn from every interaction and do much of the heavy lifting of research, sifting through data and surfacing the best opportunities.
The AI Pathfinder data shows clear momentum:
67% of firms are already exploring or piloting AI.
Deal sourcing is among the top three areas for AI investment.
Proprietary intelligence, not just more data - will define tomorrow’s leaders.
The firms that act now will identify better deals, make faster decisions, and build lasting conviction across the investment lifecycle. Access the guide, today.