U.S. patent application number 15/206152 was filed with the patent office on 2017-01-12 for unified alternative investment data administration automation system.
The applicant listed for this patent is Base Venture Investing, Inc.. Invention is credited to Christian Andraca, Steve Lemmer, Tim Morrison, John Pizzi, Craig Setera, Kim Vogel.
Application Number | 20170011463 15/206152 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 57731197 |
Filed Date | 2017-01-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170011463 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Pizzi; John ; et
al. |
January 12, 2017 |
UNIFIED ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT DATA ADMINISTRATION AUTOMATION
SYSTEM
Abstract
Systems, methods, and devices are presented for providing and
managing investments and workflow for investors and sponsors are
described. The system provides and utilizes an actionable,
reliable, transparent, real-time, collaborative marketplace for
facilitating funding and distribution and for reviewing the
performance of private placements via an online, authoritative,
unified compliance and execution platform for private placements
and other investments.
Inventors: |
Pizzi; John; (San Anselmo,
CA) ; Vogel; Kim; (Orinda, CA) ; Setera;
Craig; (Rochester, MN) ; Andraca; Christian;
(Novato, CA) ; Lemmer; Steve; (San Francisco,
CA) ; Morrison; Tim; (Hastings, MN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Base Venture Investing, Inc. |
San Francisco |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
57731197 |
Appl. No.: |
15/206152 |
Filed: |
July 8, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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62191104 |
Jul 10, 2015 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/06 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 40/06 20060101
G06Q040/06; G06F 17/30 20060101 G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A unified investment management system, comprising: a data
structure component that generates a data structure containing one
or more entries, wherein each of the one of more entries is
associated with an investment, and include: an identifier for the
investment; information representative of a fund associated with
the investment; and information representative of a user associated
with the investment. a request component that receives a request
via a user interface provided by the unified investment management
system to perform an action associated with investments managed by
the unified investment management system; a query component that
queries the generated data structure to identify information
associated with the investments managed by the unified investment
management system that satisfies the received request; and a
workflow component that performs an action utilizing the identified
information that satisfies the received request.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the entries associated
with the investment includes: a link to one or more documents that
represent a subscription of the investment between the fund
associated with the investment and the user associated with the
investment.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow component causes the
user interface provided by the unified investment management system
to present a fund profile interface that displays investments
managed by a specific fund.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow component causes the
user interface provided by the unified investment management system
to present an investor profile interface that displays investments
held by a specific investor.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow component causes the
user interface provided by the unified investment management system
to present a management profile interface that displays funds
managed by a specific management company.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the received request includes
information identifying a specific fund, and wherein the query
component queries the entries of the data structure to identify
investments tagged with information representative of the specific
fund identified in the received request.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the received request includes
information identifying a specific investor, and wherein the query
component queries the entries of the data structure to identify
investments tagged with information representative of the specific
investor identified in the received request.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the query component is configured
to query the generated data structure to obtain information
associated with a potential investor for a specific investment; and
wherein the workflow component is configured to: provide the
obtained information to a workflow associated with generating a
digital document that represents a subscription to an investment by
the potential investor with the obtained information; and render
the populated digital document.
9. A method performed by a unified investment management system,
the method comprising: generating a data structure containing one
or more entries, wherein each of the one of more entries is
associated with an investment; querying the generated data
structure to identify information associated with the investments
managed by the unified investment management system; and providing
the identified information to a workflow managed by the unified
investment management system that is associated with producing
records the investment.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the entries associated
with an investment includes: an identifier for the investment;
information representative of a fund associated with the
investment; information representative of a user associated with
the investment; and a link to one or more documents that represent
a completion of the investment between a fund associated with the
investment and the user associated with the investment.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the entries associated
with an investment includes: an identifier for the investment;
information representative of a fund associated with the
investment; and information representative of a user associated
with the investment.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the entries associated
with an investment includes: an identifier for the investment;
information representative of a fund associated with the
investment; and information representative of a user associated
with the investment; and information identifying a status of the
workflow associated with the investment.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein providing the identified
information to a workflow managed by the unified investment
management system includes causing a user interface provided by the
unified investment management system to present a fund profile
interface that displays investments managed by a specific fund that
is associated with the investment
14. The method of claim 9, wherein providing the identified
information to a workflow managed by the unified investment
management system includes causing a user interface provided by the
unified investment management system to present an investor profile
interface that displays investments held by a specific investor
that is associated with the investment.
15. The method of claim 9, wherein presenting the identified
information that satisfies the received request includes causing
the user interface provided by the unified investment management
system to present a management profile interface that displays
funds managed by a specific management company.
16. The method of claim 9, wherein querying the generated data
structure to identify information associated with the investments
managed by the unified investment management system includes
querying the entries of the data structure to identify investments
tagged with information representative of a specific fund
identified a request received from a user.
17. The method of claim 9, wherein querying the generated data
structure to identify information associated with the investments
managed by the unified investment management system includes
querying the entries of the data structure to identify investments
tagged with information representative of a specific investor
identified in a request received by a user.
18. The method of claim 9, wherein querying the generated data
structure to identify information associated with the investments
managed by the unified investment management system includes
querying the generated data structure to obtain information
associated with a potential investor for a specific investment; and
wherein providing the identified information to a workflow managed
by the unified investment management system includes: generating a
digital document that represents a subscription to an investment by
the potential investor with the obtained information.
19. The method of claim 9, wherein providing the identified
information to a workflow managed by the unified investment
management system includes generating a digital document that
includes compliance information for the investment.
20. A computer-readable medium storing a data structure, the data
structure comprising one or more entries associated with an
investment, and including: an identifier for the investment;
information representative of a fund associated with the
investment; and information representative of a user associated
with the investment.
21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein each of the
entries further includes: a link to one or more documents that
represent a subscription to the investment by the user associated
with the investment; and information identifying a status of a
workflow associated with the investment.
22. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein each of the
entries further includes: information representative of an entity
that manages the fund associated with the investment.
23. A method for dynamically generating a workflow associated with
an alternative investment vehicle, the method comprising;
obtaining, from an index of investment data, metadata associated
with the investment data; applying one or more logic operations to
the obtained metadata to determine a result; and dynamically
generating a workflow using the determined result for an
alternative investment vehicle.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein dynamically generating the
workflow using the determined result for the alternative investment
vehicle includes generating a workflow to generate a document
associated with the alternative investment vehicle.
25. The method of claim 23, wherein obtaining metadata associated
with the investment data includes obtaining investor information
and fund information associated with the investment data.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 62/191,104, filed on Jul. 10, 2015, entitled
UNIFIED COMPLIANCE AND EXECUTION PLATFORM FOR PRIVATE PLACEMENTS,
which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to systems,
apparatuses, and computer-implemented methods for managing and
generating data and business process workflows, such as workflows
associated with alternate investments.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Investments are assets purchased by users that, presumably,
appreciate in value over a period of time, providing the users with
returns (gains) to the assets. Example investment assets may
include stocks, bonds, property, funds, other complex investment
vehicles, and so on. For example, private placement investments
involve the sale of securities to a relatively small number of
select investors as a way of raising capital. Private placement
investors are commonly large banks, mutual funds, insurance
companies, high-wealth investors, and pension funds.
[0004] Advantages of investing in private placements can include,
for example, an ability to hire professional investment managers,
which may potentially be able to offer better returns and more
adequate risk management, the benefit of economies of scale (e.g.,
lower transaction costs), and increased asset diversification to
reduce systemic risk. Private placements are the opposite of a
public issue, in which securities are made available for sale on
the open market and, as a consequence, private placements are not
required to be registered with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. In many cases, detailed financial information is not
disclosed to investors, and in some cases, a prospectus is
waived.
[0005] The potential benefits of private placements (e.g., hiring
professional fund managers, and so on) and the risks of being less
regulated or unregulated by a central organization of repute have
created unique problems affecting efficient investment in private
place investments, particularly for smaller private placements that
may not have enough resources, know-how, time, or savvy to
privately organize, regulate, and disseminate private fund
information to a wide range and number of investors, often of
different types (e.g., mutual fund investor versus high-wealth
foreign individual investor), resulting in, e.g., less investor
confidence and inefficient market entrance and exit strategies.
[0006] In addition, information associated with other complex or
opaque investment vehicles may be difficult to provide to many
investors, causing the investors and the managers of investments to
miss out on matching investments with suitable investors. In such
cases, conventional mechanisms for managing transactions between
parties (e.g., hiring professional fund managers) and/or collecting
and aggregating data underlying the transactions and associated
processes generally suffer from various drawbacks, such as
inefficient or cumbersome procedures often performed with unrelated
entities, administrators, and documents.
[0007] The need exists for a technology that overcomes the above
problems, as well as one that provides additional benefits.
Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and
their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and
not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will
become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the
following Detailed Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a basic and suitable computer
that may employ aspects of the described technology.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a basic and suitable network
and network resources that may employ aspects of the described
technology.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a unified compliance and
execution platform for private placements that employs aspects of
the described technology.
[0011] FIG. 4A is an example user interface that is configured to
allow sponsors and investors authorized access into an UCEP
marketplace.
[0012] FIG. 4B is an example user interface for displaying various
investor and/or sponsor characteristics.
[0013] FIG. 5 is an example user interface dashboard.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a strategy user interface.
[0015] FIGS. 7A-7H illustrate various embodiments for displaying
investment information.
[0016] FIGS. 8A-8G are example user interfaces that depict a
profile user interface.
[0017] FIGS. 9A-9B are example portfolio user interfaces.
[0018] FIG. 10 is an example vault user interface.
[0019] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for
providing a private placement investment to an investor.
[0020] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for
providing a private placement investment by a sponsor.
[0021] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating various components
of a unified investment management system.
[0022] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for
performing actions associated with one or more investments.
[0023] FIGS. 15A-15F are example user interfaces presented by the
unified investment management system.
[0024] FIGS. 16A-16F are example user interfaces presented during
completion of a subscription of an investment.
[0025] FIGS. 17A-17C are additional example user interfaces
presented by the unified investment management system.
[0026] FIGS. 18A-18B are example user interfaces associated with
the contents of a data vault provided by the unified investment
management system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Overview
[0027] Systems and methods for managing investments, such as
presenting targeted or specific information associated with
alternative investments, dynamically generating workflows based on
investment data (e.g., resulting in documents representative of
agreements between parties, documents completed for compliance
purposes, and so on), facilitating the funding and disbursement of
investments, and so on, are described. The systems and methods may
be part of, or provided by, a platform supported by unified
investment management system. The unified investment management
system performs various actions to manage different types of
alternative investments, such as private placement investments,
fund-based investments (e.g., investments shared by multiple
investors and managed by an entity), and so on.
[0028] In some embodiments, the unified investment management
system may include a data structure component that generates,
maintains, modifies, updates, and/or accesses a data structure
containing one or more entries, wherein each of the one of more
entries is associated with an investment. For example, each entry
of the data structure relates information associated with an
investment, such as an identifier for the investment, information
representative of a fund associated with the investment,
information representative of a user associated with the
investment, and other information.
[0029] The system, therefore, may utilize the investment-tailored
data structure to perform various actions associated with managing
and providing investments on behalf of its users. For example, the
system may include a request component that receives a request via
a user interface to display information associated with investments
managed by the unified investment management system, a query
component that queries the investment-centric data structure to
identify information associated with the investments managed by the
unified investment management system that satisfies the received
request, and an information component that presents the identified
information that satisfies the received request.
[0030] In some embodiments, the system may apply various business
logic algorithms or operations to data retrieved from the data
structure in order to generate and/or augment workflows associated
with the investments. For example, the system may inject the data
into the algorithms to calculate or otherwise determine various
results associated with a target workflow, such as a workflow
associated with capital statement generation, other document
generation, compliance document generation, capital call
commencement, and so on.
[0031] A workflow, in some embodiments, manages and administers
processes associated with investments and/or funds managed by the
system. A workflow tracks and manages all steps or operations
performed by the system associated with investments. Workflows
generate records and other documents, such as records used to
provide compliance and audit information (e.g., to support audits,
regulators, and so on), records used during transactions, and so
on.
[0032] For example, a workflow may obtain data from the data
structure relating various data objects to an investment, perform
various logic algorithms (e.g., capital management logic) utilizing
the data (e.g., investor information and ownership percentages) to
calculate, using the logic (e.g., a specific fee structure), to
determine or calculate values (e.g., fees) to be provided in
transactions, documents, and so on.
[0033] Therefore in some embodiments, the system utilizes an
investment specific data structure, which includes entries that
relate information for investments, in order to perform various
actions associated with managing investments. Such a data
structure, therefore, enables the system to perform various complex
actions associated with process workflows, such as workflows
associated with managing private placement investments, workflows
associated with rendering and displaying various views, profiles,
or interfaces of information (e.g., fund interfaces, investor
interfaces, and so on), workflows associated with managing
subscriptions of investments by investors, workflows associated
with performing compliance and other ancillary functions, and so
on.
[0034] Further, the system, via the utilization of the specific
data relationships, enables transparent viewing and access of data,
documents, meta data, audit records, and so on, to investors, fund
managers, compliance officers, third parties, and so on. The
system, therefore, may transparently exchange data and resulting
records between internal parties and/or external, third, parties,
among other benefits.
Examples of Workflows Associated with Private Placement
Investments
[0035] Although the system is described later herein, the following
section provides details regarding the use case of managing
workflows for private placement investments using aspects of the
systems described herein.
[0036] The inventors have recognized that private placement
investments often operate based on a per-fund, per-investor, and/or
per-industry basis for, e.g., raising funds; disseminating
investment information; locating and qualifying investors;
transferring funds; complying with state, federal, and
international regulations; escrowing capital; distributing
investment capital; reporting; and other investment concerns. Small
to midsize investment funds may not have enough time or money to
create reliable back-end technology for managing private placement
operations. Instead, sponsors may resort to time-consuming and
inconvenient methods of conducting business, such as mailing and/or
emailing binders, prospectuses, questionnaires, and other
investment data; conducting in-person or telephone conferences to
discuss terms; and separately engaging accountants, lawyers,
trustees, beneficiaries, escrow agents, etc. For a single fund,
this manual and often unwieldy process can be repeated over and
over for every prospective investor because not all investors of
the same fund share the same terms, require execution of the same
documents, and/or share the same capital accounts and transfer
mechanisms, for example. Sponsors of multiple funds may repeat this
entire process for each new fund.
[0037] Introduced below are methods, devices, and systems
(collectively herein referred to as "technology") related to
providing and utilizing an actionable, reliable, transparent,
real-time, collaborative marketplace for facilitating funding and
distribution and for reviewing the performance of private
placements via an online, authoritative, unified compliance and
execution platform (UCEP) for private placements. UCEP's
marketplace, in various embodiments, is industry-independent. For
example, real estate developers, bond investors, energy investors,
and other industries can independently and simultaneously leverage
the marketplace, regardless of investor type, fund size, or
objectives.
[0038] UCEP's authoritative online technology organizes, schedules,
verifies, shares, notifies, and analyzes private placement
operations (among other operations) without the back-and-forth,
manual steps currently performed by sponsors and investors. In some
embodiments, the technology provides a centralized "back office"
for some or all private placement funds. For example, the UCEP
marketplace provides enhanced risk management and due diligence
tools, strategies, and configurable workflows; sponsor and
investment profiles; fund search and filtering techniques; online
and collaborative access (e.g., via a local area network (LAN),
wide area network (WAN), and/or mobile communication); synchronized
escrow management; document digitization with document type
recognition technology, configurable payment flow (i.e., capital
calls in and distribution out); and access into/from third-party
technologies (e.g., via application programming interfaces
(APIs)).
[0039] In various embodiments, the technology provides an online
portal to support all or virtually all fund sponsors' and
investors' private placement operations currently being performed
manually, semi-manually, offline, or semi-offline. The described
technology can also supplement online transactions that require
separate, often disconnected steps that may or may not occur over
different communication means. For example, a sponsor emails
document A to an investor and then, after a random amount of time,
the investor faxes executed document A and document B back to the
sponsor, who saves documents A and B to a computer folder to be
later verified. The sponsor must separately review document B to
determine its type (e.g., a term agreement, a Form D that is a
document that the SEC requires a company to file when it issues
securities in a private placement under Regulation D, and/or a
Private Placement Memorandum (PPM)), whether any next steps are
required (e.g., the sponsor must now obtain the sponsor's
attorney's approval), and any consequences for the sponsor's and
investor's workflow (e.g., document C is no longer required because
the investor sent document B; however, document Z may now be
required).
[0040] UCEP generates, modifies and executes sponsor- and
investor-specific private placement workflows, which, in one or
more embodiments, are operations, computations, strategies,
goal/objective realizations, etc., that are desired (e.g., by one
or more sponsors/investors or industry norms) and/or necessary
(e.g., by government decree) for investing in a fund. Non-limiting
workflow examples include, in one or more embodiments, verifying
each party's compliance with and completion of document requests;
dynamically adding steps to a new or existing workflow to conform
with regulatory requirements (e.g., an investor may change his/her
profile such that new verification and/or documents are necessary
to prove that he/she is a "sophisticated" investor, etc.);
verifying and linking to a third party (e.g., an investor's savings
account); generating reports; forecasting and determining
per-investor return on investment (ROI); and creating and/or
managing new workflows. Workflow operations are, in some
embodiments, time-based; automatically and/or manually determined;
triggered (e.g., in response to receiving investor approval,
sending, via an encrypted network communication, forms A-D to one
or more accountants); configured to move capital between bank
accounts and escrow accounts; and reusable for and across other
investors/sponsors/funds/industries. UCEP generates workflows, in
various embodiments, based on investor profiles, sponsor profiles,
sponsor and investor input, regulatory requirements, historical
information, industry information, and other private and publicly
available information, for example.
[0041] In one or more embodiments, UCEP technology receives
information (e.g., fund-related documentation, online/offline
forms, documents, and other data) from sponsors, investors, and
third parties. Information is received digitally (e.g., by being
uploaded to a server, emailed, or shared from a third-party system,
via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or other data transfer means known
in the art). UCEP analyzes the received information and, in one or
more embodiments, is configured to determine the nature/type of the
information (e.g., regulatory, term agreement, etc.), any requests
within the information (e.g., requests for signatures, dates,
Social Security number, bank account information, email addresses,
spouse's name, checkboxes, etc.). UCEP generates and/or references
a workflow (e.g., a series of steps and timing for completing fund
investment) and determines where in the workflow to associate
(e.g., via a database entry or other logical association) the
received and/or requested information. For example, a term
agreement may include a request (e.g., have a "blank" space) for an
investor's name, bank account number, tax ID, signature, etc. UCEP
can detect the request and, in some embodiments, automatically fill
out requested information based on, for example, data in a party's
profile. Additionally or alternatively, UCEP is configured to
prompt a party to enter missing data via, e.g., a graphical user
interface (GUI), email, Short Message Service (SMS) message or
other means of notification, which can then be automatically saved
by UCEP and added to the party's profile, for example.
[0042] UCEP provides an online portal for private placement
investing. In various embodiments, UCEP shares and manages
aggregated, digested, and synthesized fund information that is
provided by fund sponsors, provided by investors, and/or separately
gathered by UCEP technologies (e.g., UCEP can automatically
retrieve public/private information from online resources, such as
regulatory documents at government computers). Parties can access
the information, via online capable technologies (e.g., computers,
phones, tablets, etc.), to, for example, perform due diligence,
review a fund's performance, and compare ROIs for different funds
within the UCEP marketplace. Investors can directly invest, via
UCEP, in one or more funds, for example, at an agreed upon amount
and digitally execute any necessary documents to fulfill
contractual obligations, all without leaving UCEP's online portal.
In one or more embodiments, UCEP provides investor tools for
reviewing, e.g., a fund's performance reports, creating online
portfolios of funds, and linking external systems, such as
third-party accounting programs (e.g., Addepar) and/or investment
accounts (e.g., Bank of America, Pensco, Roth account, IRA,
etc.).
[0043] In one or more embodiments, UCEP technology automates
private placements based on UCEP profiles. For example, UCEP can
create, store, and manipulate respective investor and sponsor
profiles, which include some or all data required to complete
investment documents. Profiles can include, in some embodiments,
personal information (e.g., Social Security information, spouse's
name, bank/investment account numbers, third-party login/passwords,
birthday, electronic signature storage, etc.), investment
information (e.g., portfolios, investment strategy, ROIs, financial
account information for processing a capital call, etc.), and other
information (e.g., notification preferences, third-party software
information, etc.). Profiles are used by UCEP for a variety of
purposes, such as, e.g., automating document completion (e.g.,
filling out forms), applying electronic signatures,
designing/suggesting investment strategies, generating personalized
ROIs, etc.
[0044] UCEP, in one or more embodiments, can manage the delivery,
notification, approval, and acknowledgement of documents to/from
all parties. For example, when a document is available by UCEP
(e.g., the document is uploaded or linked from a third-party
account), UCEP technology, in some embodiments, sends one or more
notification messages (e.g., email and/or SMS, etc.) to inform
parties (e.g., investors) of the document's availability. The party
(e.g., investor), in response to receiving the notification, can
access UCEP to review and execute the document. Then UCEP
technologies can verify that the document was properly executed,
update the party's (e.g., investor's) workflow (e.g., by sending a
new document to the investor or to the sponsor), and/or notify the
sponsor.
[0045] In various embodiments, UCEP can trigger a capital call and
transfer capital from the investor's financial accounts (e.g., via
one or more bank account numbers in the investor's profile) in
response to detecting that necessary documents were properly
completed (e.g., the documents were digitally signed via the
investor's verified e-signature). For example, to facilitate or
"facilitate and automate" automatic capital calls, UCEP can store
(e.g., in a personalized profile) financial account information for
the sender and the recipient of money, designate multiple financial
accounts for different purposes (e.g., two accounts can each be
associated with one or more different financial accounts), manage
electronic transfer of money between a sender (e.g., investor) and
a recipient (e.g., sponsor or escrow company), communicate with the
Automated Clearing House (ACH) or other means for transmitting
capital, and automatically initiate money transfer based on
progression of a UCEP workflow (e.g., some or all of the workflow's
steps are detected by UCEP as being complete). In some embodiments,
UCEP technologies combine delivery of capital distribution and
performance data. Harmonized distribution of funds and associated
reporting simplifies an investor's management of each of his or her
private placement investments, which, in some instances, may have
different and multiple types of capital distribution, such as real
estate funds that may include each of periodic dividends, capital
return, and appreciation, for example.
[0046] In various embodiments, UCEP is configured to automatically
add, modify, and/or remove documents, procedures, information,
and/or requests for information to UCEP associated storage (e.g., a
database) and/or to a party's profile, based on, for example, an
investment type (e.g., a real estate fund versus bond fund),
investor type (e.g., individual versus institutional investor),
jurisdictional (e.g., domestic versus foreign), and/or other
characteristic. For example, foreign investors investing in United
States investments may have additional eligibility requirements,
such as requiring additional withholdings and/or other information
required by various regulations (e.g., Office of Foreign Assets
Control, the Patriot Act, the EB5 program, etc.). UCEP can
determine from one or more profile elements (e.g., a tax ID), that
an investor is a non-U.S. (i.e., foreign) investor and, in
response, request (e.g., via a GUI, SMS, or voice prompt) that the
foreign investor fulfill additional requirements. In various
embodiments, UCEP generates and/or modifies steps within the
foreign investor's workflow to obtain and manage the requested
information. As another non-limiting example, a high net worth
("sophisticated") investor may need to periodically prove by law
his or her financial status (e.g., every three months). If the
investor's status changes such that the investor no longer
qualifies as "sophisticated," UCEP will request the investor to
update his or her status to requalify before allowing the investor
to proceed with other steps required to invest into a private
placement investment.
[0047] In one or more embodiments, UCEP provides APIs and/or other
programmatic techniques for integrating with third-party software
to, e.g., remotely perform and/or request operations of the
third-party software. For example, UCEP can integrate with other
reporting services such as Mercer, which is a company that provides
advice and services during various stages of the investment
decision, risk management, and investment monitoring process.
Mercer and/or similar organizations/technologies can issue their
own assessment reports that are used by investors to determine the
risk/reward of a particular fund, for example. UCEP can automate
the process of requesting and receiving a Mercer report, for
example, all while the investor remains within the UCEP
marketplace. For example, instead of a sponsor separately
contacting and meeting with Mercer employees to establish a Mercer
account, uploading documents to Mercer servers, and signing various
agreements, etc., UCEP provides "single-click" access (and/or other
automated technology) into Mercer, without requiring additional
steps traditionally required before UCEP technology. As a further
example, UCEP can provide technology such as an indicator (e.g., an
icon) within a GUI that, when selected by a sponsor and/or investor
(e.g., via a mouse, touch screen or other input device), causes
UCEP to automatically send to Mercer some or all of the required
data (e.g., data associated with a party's profile) to produce a
Mercer report and, if some information is still required, prompt
the party to enter the missing data (e.g., via the UCEP's user
interface or other input method). UCEP exchanges information with
Mercer to facilitate the report's generation within Mercer and
provide the completed Mercer report, via the UCEP marketplace, to
the sponsor and/or investor. Messages and/or requests, regardless
of when issued from a third party (e.g., Mercer), can be delivered
to UCEP and then sent to a party's UCEP account for viewing
offline. Billing for third-party transactions, such as for a Mercer
report, can be integrated into UCEP's own billing system or
directly billed to the sponsor/investor.
[0048] UCEP, in various embodiments, includes criteria-based
filtering and matching for, e.g., viewing private placements within
the marketplace. UCEP, as discussed above and further below, is a
system of record for private placements and stores specific and
generalized characteristics that are associated/tagged (e.g.,
linked via a database) for each investment, sponsor, and
potential/actual investor. Some characteristics include a category
or type of investment (real estate versus stocks), fund manager,
amount of capital raised, fee structure, multi-unit versus
single-family real estate, risk profile, amount of debt, location
of investment, age of fund, the fund's/sponsor's goals, frequency
of pipeline updates, type/method of distribution (e.g., capital
appreciation versus income), fund manager's performance history,
etc. Investors can apply filters (e.g., by manipulating a GUI or
entering keyword text that is converted by UCEP into one or more
specific search queries) to display investments having desired
characteristics. Filtering can be narrowed or broadened by an
investor to scale across the entire marketplace of investments
within the UCEP marketplace. For example, an investor may search
for funds exceeding a certain ROI for residential real estate
investments of apartment buildings with 50+ units in a desired
geographic location. Additionally and/or alternatively, in some
embodiments, filter-based searching is automated by UCEP based on,
for example, data within an investor's profile. For example, an
automated UCEP search can include profile information (e.g., based
on learned habits, implications, investment history, or manually
entered data) that forms the basis of a query that, when executed
by UCEP, attempts to locate new and/or existing funds that meet the
investor's unique profile.
[0049] In some embodiments, fund profiles can be saved and/or
associated with an investor's new or existing investment portfolio.
For example, an investor can add a fund to a "favorites" list to,
e.g., further review or compare it to other funds that would be an
alternate investment opportunity or a comparable.
[0050] In one or more embodiments, UCEP includes aggregated
portfolio forecasting. As described above, UCEP stores and/or has
access to specific capital call, distribution data, and performance
metrics. Various UCEP technologies use some or all of this
information to forecast future performance information, future
capital calls, and future distribution information based on, e.g.,
funds' characteristics, as described above. For example, as a
system of record for private placement funds, UCEP obtains rich
data (e.g., from an investor, sponsor, third parties, reports,
funds' performance history, public information, etc.) on a per-fund
basis for all funds within the UCEP marketplace. Based on the rich
data collected over the life of each fund within the marketplace,
UCEP technology, in some embodiments, periodically generates
metadata to determine, e.g., actual ROI and investment forecasts.
The more funds within UCEP, the higher the fidelity of the
metadata. As the corpus of metadata becomes richer, UCEP can
provide more accurate forecasts and ROIs based on, e.g.,
performances of similar funds (i.e., funds having similar
characteristics) within the UCEP marketplace. UCEP is configured to
determine and provide access to forecasts and projections as
scores, reports, narratives, percentages, graphs and/or
visualizations.
[0051] In some embodiments, metadata (and other information) is
used by UCEP to generate investor-specific private placement ROIs
("UCEP ROIs") by analyzing actual capital calls and distributions.
Private placements, as mentioned above, are less regulated or
unregulated by any central authority that could, in theory, verify
fund performance information provided by fund managers. This lack
of transparency can create fund integrity concerns and increase the
difficulty of determining a particular investor's ROI from
sponsor-reported ROIs, each of which could be an ROI averaged
across multiple different investors and different types of
investors (e.g., individual high-wealth investors versus a mutual
fund), for example. As the central record authority for funds
within its marketplace, UCEP has access to rich metadata for
creating new metrics (e.g., unique ROIs) separate from, and in
comparison to, generic (or misleading) metrics provided by fund
managers. For example, a single fund may include hundreds of
investors of different types (e.g., mutual funds, institutional
investors, private investors, etc.); however, a fund manager may
provide a single ROI for the overall fund. As the "man in the
middle" between fund sponsors and investors, UCEP is configured to
collect information associated with potentially each of the
hundreds of investors. UCEP "knows", for example, the investor
type, the investor's actual capital amount, the investor's actual
distribution data (e.g., frequency and type of distribution), etc.
In one or more embodiments, UCEP uses this information to compute
unique ROIs based on, for example, a specific investor or investor
type. UCEP's independent verification of fund performance injects
authoritative trustworthiness into private placements and aids
investors with up-to-date, actionable metadata for making critical
business decisions and, at the same time, reducing risk inherent in
self-reporting or semi-self-reporting private funds.
[0052] The following description provides specific details for a
thorough understanding and enabling description of these
embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that
the described technology may be practiced without many of these
details. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may
not be shown or described in detail, so as to avoid unnecessarily
obscuring the relevant description of the various embodiments.
[0053] Certain details are set forth in the following description
and in FIGS. 1-12 to provide a thorough understanding of various
embodiments of the disclosure. Other well-known structures and
systems often associated with private placement investments have
not been shown or described in detail below to avoid unnecessarily
obscuring the descriptions of the various embodiments of the
disclosure. Additionally, a person of ordinary skill in the
relevant art will understand that the disclosure may have
additional embodiments that may be practiced without several of the
details described below. In other instances, those of ordinary
skill in the relevant art will appreciate that the methods and
systems described can include additional details without departing
from the spirit or scope of the disclosed embodiments.
[0054] Many of the details, dimensions, functions, and other
features shown and described in conjunction with the Figures are
merely illustrative of particular embodiments of the disclosure.
Accordingly, other embodiments can have other details, dimensions,
functions, and features without departing from the spirit or scope
of the present disclosure. In addition, those of ordinary skill in
the art will appreciate that further embodiments of the disclosure
can be practiced without several of the details described
below.
[0055] The terminology used in the description presented below is
intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even
though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description
of certain specific embodiments of the described technology.
Certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, any
terminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner
will be overtly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed
Description section.
[0056] The techniques introduced below can be implemented by
programmable circuitry programmed or configured by software and/or
firmware, or entirely by special-purpose circuitry, or in a
combination of such forms. Such special-purpose circuitry (if any)
can be in the form of, for example, one or more
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable
logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
etc.
[0057] FIGS. 1-2 and the following discussion provide a brief,
general description of a suitable computing environment in which
aspects of the described technology can be implemented. Although
not required, aspects of the described technology may be described
herein in the general context of computer-executable instructions,
such as routines executed by a general- or special-purpose data
processing device (e.g., a server or client computer). Aspects of
the described technology described herein may be stored or
distributed on tangible computer-readable media, including
magnetically or optically readable computer discs, hard-wired or
preprogrammed chips (e.g., EEPROM semiconductor chips),
nanotechnology memory, biological memory, or other data storage
media known or derived from future storage technology configurable
to store computer instructions. Alternatively, computer-implemented
instructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data
related to the described technology may be distributed over the
Internet or over other networks (including wireless networks) on a
propagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagnetic
wave, a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time. In some
implementations, the data may be provided on any analog or digital
network (packet-switched, circuit-switched, or other scheme).
[0058] The described technology can also be practiced in
distributed computing environments where tasks or modules are
performed by remote processing devices, which are linked through a
communications network, such as a LAN, a WAN, or the Internet. In a
distributed computing environment, program modules or subroutines
may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that portions of
the described technology may reside on a server computer, while
corresponding portions reside on a client computer (e.g., PC,
mobile computer, tablet, or smart phone). Data structures and
transmission of data particular to aspects of the described
technology are also encompassed within the scope of the described
technology.
[0059] Portions of the described technology can be practiced on
and/or distributed between one or more network appliances. A
network appliance is a stand-alone device connected to a network
and can be configured to communicate with another network
appliance, server, and/or other computing device.
[0060] Referring to FIG. 1, the described technology employs a
computer 100, such as a personal computer or workstation, having
one or more processors 101 coupled to one or more user input
devices 102 and data storage devices 104. The computer 100 is also
coupled to at least one output device such as a display device 106
and one or more optional additional output devices 108 (e.g.,
printer, plotter, speakers, tactile or olfactory output devices,
etc.). The computer 100 may be coupled to external computers, such
as via an optional network connection 110, a wireless transceiver
112, or both.
[0061] The input devices 102 may include a keyboard, a pointing
device such as a mouse, and described technology for receiving
human voice, touch, and/or sight (e.g., a microphone, a touch
screen, and/or smart glasses). Other input devices are possible
such as a joystick, pen, game pad, scanner, digital camera, video
camera, and the like. The data storage devices 104 may include any
type of computer-readable media that can store data accessible by
the computer 100, such as magnetic hard and floppy disk drives,
optical disk drives, magnetic cassettes, tape drives, flash memory
cards, digital video disks (DVDs), Bernoulli cartridges, RAMs,
ROMs, smart cards, etc. Indeed, any medium for storing or
transmitting computer-readable instructions and data may be
employed, including a connection port to or node on a network, such
as a LAN, WAN, or the Internet (not shown in FIG. 1).
[0062] Aspects of the described technology may be practiced in a
variety of other computing environments. For example, referring to
FIG. 2, a distributed computing environment with a network
interface includes one or more user computers 202 (e.g., mobile
devices) in a system 200, each of which includes a GUI program
component (e.g., a thin client component, web browsers, etc.) 204
that permits the computer to access and exchange data, such as
network and/or security data, with a network 206 such as a LAN or
the Internet, including web sites, FTP sites, live feeds, and data
repositories within a portion of the network 206. The user
computers 202 may be substantially similar to the computer
described above with respect to FIG. 1. The user computers 202 may
be personal computers (PCs) or mobile devices, such as laptops,
mobile phones, or tablets. The user computers 202 may connect to
the network 206 wirelessly or through the use of a wired
connection. Wireless connectivity may include any forms of wireless
technology, such as a radio access technology used in wireless LANs
or mobile standards such as 2G/3G/4G/LTE. The user computers 202
may include other program components, such as a filter component,
an operating system, one or more application programs (e.g.,
security applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet
applications, or Internet-enabled applications), and the like. The
user computers 202 may be general-purpose devices that can be
programmed to run various types of applications, or they may be
single-purpose devices optimized or limited to a particular
function or class of functions. More importantly, any application
program for providing a GUI to users may be employed, as described
in detail below. For example, a mobile application or "app" has
been contemplated, such as one used in Apple's.RTM. iPhone.RTM. or
iPad.RTM. products, Microsoft.RTM. products, Nokia.RTM. products,
or Android.RTM.-based products.
[0063] At least one server computer 208, coupled to the network
206, performs some or all of the functions for receiving, routing,
and storing of electronic messages, such as security data, web
pages, audio signals, electronic images, and/or other data. While
the Internet is shown, a private network, such as an intranet, may
be preferred in some applications. The network may have a
client-server architecture, in which a computer is dedicated to
serving other client computers, or it may have other architectures,
such as a peer-to-peer, in which one or more computers serve
simultaneously as servers and clients. A database or databases 210,
coupled to the server computer 208, store some content (e.g.,
security-related data) exchanged between the user computers 202;
however, content may be stored in a flat or semi-structured file
that is local to or remote from the server computer 208. The server
computer 208, including the database(s), may employ security
measures to inhibit malicious attacks on the system and to preserve
the integrity of the messages and data stored therein (e.g.,
firewall systems, secure socket layers (SSL), password protection
schemes, encryption, and the like).
[0064] The server computer 208 may include a server engine 212, one
or more web management components 214, a content management
component 216, and a database management component 218. The server
engine 212 performs basic processing and operating system level
tasks. The web management component 214 handles creation,
streaming, processing, and/or routing of networking and/or security
data. The web management component 214, in various embodiments,
includes technology for storing private placement data and
providing a private placement portal, described below. Users may
access the server computer 208 by means of a network path
associated therewith. The content management component 216 handles
processes and technologies that support the collection, managing,
and publishing of private placement data, network data, and/or
other data. The database management component 218 includes storage
and retrieval tasks with respect to the database, queries to the
database, and storage of data. In some embodiments, multiple server
computers 208, each having one or more of the components 212-218,
may be utilized. In general, the user computer 202 receives data
input by the user and transmits such input data to the server
computer 208. The server computer 208 then queries the database
210, retrieves requested pages, performs computations, and/or
provides output data back to the user computer 202, typically for
visual display to the user.
[0065] FIG. 3 is a block diagram 300 of a unified compliance and
execution platform for private placements including several
components and/or engines 302-326, such as an investor component
302, sponsor component 304, portal component 310, fund component
312, document processing component 314 (which may include document
management and business workflow components), analysis component
316, due diligence component 318, payment component 320,
third-party component 322, and other components/engines 326. UCEP
provides a centralized, authoritative, collaborative, online
workflow management marketplace for private placement investing.
Investor component 302 gathers information from investors, such as
login information, contact information, investment objectives,
financial status, bank/savings/investment accounts, spouse
information, notification preferences, and other information useful
for determining an investor's preferences, investment strategies,
portfolio holdings, investment history, and preferred/favorite
funds and for creating an investor profile. Sponsor component 304
is similar to investor component 302 and can include similar types
of information. Sponsor component 304 can additionally include
advertisement and marketing information, sponsor information, and
other information useful for providing to an investor. Portal
component 310 provides technology for supporting an interface
(e.g., a GUI) to a virtual space (e.g., a webserver-based system,
database, mobile application, etc.) that hosts UCEP information and
tools for sponsors and investors, such as workflows, data
repositories, report generators and viewers, and management tools
for uploading, downloading, and manipulating (e.g., e-signing)
documents, etc. Sponsors and investors can search the UCEP
database(s) for specific funds (e.g., based on one or more fund
characteristics), update their profiles, and create/manipulate
portfolios of funds, for example. Fund component 312, in various
embodiments, manages sponsor funds, including storing and hosting
fund documentation, storing/generating/managing fund workflow
(e.g., which documents are needed, their order for
review/completion, timing considerations, notifications, etc.),
and/or authenticating investors' access to fund information via,
e.g., the portal component 310. Document processing component 314
provides tools for manipulating and providing access to documents
made available by investors or by sponsors or obtained by UCEP
(e.g., UCEP technology can manually or automatically download
regulatory or other documents from online resources). Some tools
provided by the document processing component 314 include document
upload, download, storage, securitization, retrieval, digitization,
and manipulation (e.g., reviewing, signing, highlighting,
commenting, revising, or other means of document processing).
Analysis component 316, in various embodiments, processes,
analyzes, compiles, sorts, compares, and evaluates fund information
for determining general and investor-specific ROIs, generates
reports (e.g., for comparing funds, ROIs, forecasting, etc.), and
automatically selects and/or suggests funds that meet criteria of a
sponsor's and/or investor's profile, for example. Due diligence
component 318 provides sponsors and investors with access, via
portal component 310, to fund data, information, profiles,
marketing, and documentation for determining, e.g., whether or not
to invest into one or more funds. Payment component 320, in one or
more embodiments, accesses investors' (and sponsors') capital
accounts for, e.g., investing in one or more private placement
funds. For example, payment component 320 can access investors' and
sponsors' investment accounts, saving/checking accounts, IRAs, etc.
for transferring capital to UCEP, to an escrow account/agent,
and/or directly to a sponsor's account for investing in funds and
distributing capital returns. Third-party component 322 provides
access (e.g., via APIs) into software, systems, and platforms
operated by third parties. For example, data can be sent from and
to third-party accounting, reporting, project management,
investment, and other products for integrating into their
technologies. Similarly, UCEP can pull data (e.g., via APIs) from
third-party programs into UCEP for use by other components 302-326,
such as analysis component 316 (e.g., for generating reports).
Other components 326 are used by, available to, and/or programmable
by UCEP/sponsors/investors.
[0066] FIGS. 4A-10 illustrate an example embodiment generated by,
e.g., portal component 310. By non-limiting example, FIGS. 4A-10,
in one or more embodiments, depict an online portal, such as a
website. To simplify understanding of UCEP technology, FIGS. 4A-10
feature real estate private placement investments; however, funds
may invest in any industry to create a multi-private placement
investment marketplace.
[0067] FIG. 4A depicts an example login GUI 400 that is configured
to allow sponsors and investors (or potential sponsors and/or
investors) authorized access into the UCEP marketplace. Investors
and sponsors can enter usernames 402 and passwords 404 for logging
in 406 to the UCEP marketplace. FIG. 4B shows an example GUI 420
implemented by UCEP technology for displaying various investor
and/or sponsor characteristics 422, including but not limited to
first name 424, last name 426, email address 428, other information
(not shown) 430 and investor/sponsor characteristics 432 that are
submitted (e.g., via button 436) to UCEP for generating, e.g., one
or more sponsor and/or investor profiles. For example,
investor/sponsor characteristics 432 display characteristics
primarily for sponsors who might be wealth advisors, pension funds
or endowments, financial institutions or trust companies, real
estate developers, or other types of industry sponsors; however,
UCEP, in other embodiments, displays investor/sponsor
characteristics for different types of investors (e.g., high-income
investor, IRA investor, etc.). Optionally, a message 434 is
provided to send additional information to UCEP for creating a
profile.
[0068] FIG. 5 illustrates an example user (e.g., sponsor or
investor) dashboard 500. In various embodiments, dashboard 500 is
used by a user to navigate to various features implemented by UCEP
and for displaying fund information display 508. Fund display 508
can display information (e.g., fund advertisements, open/close fund
information, portfolio status, ROIs, and/or other customizable
information) automatically, periodically, and/or manually (e.g., by
selecting indictors 510). Menu bar 502 includes navigable menus for
viewing sponsor/investor information 502a, information regarding
UCEP 502b, marketplace services offered 502c, education materials
502d, interactive comments 502e, and contact information 502f.
Sponsor/investor information 502a includes navigable menus for
accessing investor/sponsor-specific information 506, such as
Strategies 506a, Investing 506b, Profiles 506c, Portfolio 506d and
Vault 506e, each of which is further discussed below.
[0069] FIG. 6 depicts a non-limiting example of a strategy user
interface 600 that is one embodiment of a user interface displayed
after the strategies menu option 506a of FIG. 5 is selected.
Strategy user interface 600 includes fund information 602a-602c,
which is similar to fund information display 508 and which displays
to sponsors and/or investors, for example, advertisements for funds
seeking investment, UCEP-selected funds that match one or more
characteristics in a sponsor's and/or investor's profile,
advertisements for funds seeking investment, etc. Strategy user
interface 600, in various embodiments, includes a search engine 604
for searching for funds having one or more characteristics 606,
such as a particular fund type (e.g., real estate), an open or
closed fund, fund type subcategory (e.g., residential and/or
commercial real estate), jurisdiction/geography (e.g., domestic-,
foreign-, state-based investments), and/or other characteristics
(e.g., ROI, capital raised, term, etc.) for categorizing funds.
[0070] FIGS. 7A-7H illustrate various embodiments for displaying
investment information after selecting Invest menu option 506b.
FIG. 7A depicts a user interface 700 that displays contact
information 702 associated with a sponsor, e.g., based on the
sponsor's profile or other information. FIG. 7B depicts a unified
fund analysis interface 703 generated by UCEP to display
fund-specific information (e.g., for the ABC Horizontal Fund),
including information derived from information and documentation
received from fund sponsors. For example, in some embodiments, fund
sponsors upload documents (e.g., PDFs, Google Docs, etc.) into
their private account within the UCEP marketplace. UCEP technology
is configured to scan uploaded documents, perform character
recognition, identify the document type (e.g., a prospectus) and
its subsections, recognize portions of the documents that request
investor feedback (e.g., signature blocks, approval indications,
etc.), and act on this information. In various embodiments, once
information is recognized by the technology, it is available for
use by other aspects of the described technology, such as profiles,
search strategies, and making recommendations. Overview section 704
displays fund summary information extracted from recognized
information, and menu bar 706 displays selectable menu options
706a-706g for displaying additional information at, e.g., display
section 710. For example, display section 710 displays fund profile
information when the profile menu option 706a is selected. FIG. 7C
is an example of a display of a fund's approach 712 that is
displayed by UCEP technology after the associated fund's
information is available (e.g., it is uploaded by a sponsor) and
after the approach menu option 706b is selected. Similarly, FIG. 7D
is an example of a fund's performance data 714 that is displayed
when the performance menu option 706c is selected. FIG. 7E is an
example of a fund's management team 716 that is displayed by UCEP
technology when the team menu option 706d is selected. FIG. 7F is
an example of a fund's trending information 718 that is displayed
by UCEP technology when the trend menu option 706e is selected.
FIG. 7G is an example of a fund's investment pipeline information
720 that is displayed by UCEP technology when the pipeline menu
option 706f is selected, and FIG. 7H is an example of a fund's
library of legal, marketing and due diligence materials 722 that is
displayed when the library menu option 706g is selected.
[0071] Referring to FIG. 7H, a fund's library includes some or all
of the documents (or links to the documents) necessary to research
and invest in a fund. Investors can access fund documents (e.g., by
clicking on links associated with the documents), review the
documents (e.g., via UCEP document viewers), sign and date
documents (e.g., via UCEP document manipulation tools), and submit
to UCEP executed documents according to a workflow automatically
determined by UCEP and/or configured by sponsors using, for
example, one or more components 302-326 (e.g., the fund component
312). For example, an investor can access investment documents 722a
by clicking respective links for, e.g., Private Placement
Memorandum, Subscription Agreement, Fund LLC Agreement, and Form of
Promissory Note; can access marketing documents 722b by selecting
e.g., Fund Overview; and can access due diligence documents 722c,
by selecting, e.g., Fund Overview, Manager Questionnaire, Financial
Statements and Pipeline Opportunities. Each of the respective types
of documents 722a-722c, in some embodiments, is available for
review and execution (as necessary) without the investor leaving
the UCEP marketplace (e.g., documents can be e-signed within UCEP).
In various embodiments, one or more of each of the respective types
of documents 772a-722c are downloadable for review and execution
and, subsequently, can be uploaded into UCEP, which will, for
example, scan, categorize, and verify the documents and store them
in one or more UCEP data repositories. In one or more embodiments,
when a document has completed one or more stages of a workflow
(i.e., one or more steps of reviewing, signing, and funding an
investment), UCEP will notify the other party and proceed to the
next step in the workflow (e.g., verifying funds for sending to
escrow).
[0072] FIGS. 8A-8G are non-limiting examples of a profile user
interface 800 when the profiles menu option 506c is selected, for
example. Profile user interface 800 includes, for example, profile
menu bar 805, investor menu 802 (or, alternatively, sponsor menu
(not shown)) for modifying existing sponsor and investor profiles,
and one or more links 804 for creating new profiles. For example,
in reference to FIGS. 8A-8B, when the investor menu option 805a is
selected, UCEP is configured to display and save 808 to its
repositories account type profile information 806a, regulatory
profile information 806b, and citizenship information 806c, for
example. Other profile information (e.g., preferred fund types,
desired ROI, etc.) is contemplated by the inventors. FIG. 8C is
another example of profile information requested by UCEP, such as
affiliation information 810 that is displayed when the affiliations
menu option 805b is selected. FIG. 8D is an example request of
situation information 812 that is displayed when situation menu
option 805c is selected. FIG. 8E is an example request of risk
information 814 that is displayed when risk menu option 805d is
selected. FIG. 8F is an example request of experience information
816 displayed when experience menu option 805e is selected, and
FIG. 8G is an example request of objectives information 818
displayed when objectives menu option 805f is selected. Profile
user interface 800, as referred to in FIG. 8G, can also include
other options, such as an option 820 for requesting that UCEP
analyze and generate investor-specific ROIs based on, for example,
one or more types of profile information. For example, if option
820 is selected (e.g., by a mouse), UCEP is configured to generate
a UCEP ROI. The UCEP-generated ROI is, in one or more embodiments,
based on a particular fund (e.g., XYZ real estate fund) and one or
more of the investor's profile characteristics. For example, UCEP
can generate an ROI for investor X based on investor X being
identified (via his/her profile) as having an investor type of
high-value investors even if that fund only issues general ROIs
(i.e., irrespective of the investor type, etc.). UCEP-generated
ROIs are useful to an investor, at least because they can remove
opacity and confusion around computing the actual ROI for a
specific investor in the fund.
[0073] FIGS. 9A-9B depict exemplary portfolio user interfaces 900
implemented by UCEP for viewing, via investor profile menu 902,
investor- and/or fund-specific reports via report menu 904. For
example, referring to FIG. 9B, UCEP can generate various types of
reports (e.g., quarterly reports 904a-904c, UCI ROI reports 904n,
etc.) by selecting one of the reports via report menu 904.
[0074] FIG. 10 depicts an example vault user interface 1000 for
displaying indicators 1004 for accessing some or all fund documents
for each fund in an respective investor's portfolio 1002. For
example, in FIG. 10, an investor's portfolio includes the Private
Capital Management fund, AEIOU fund and BridgeHead fund, the
documents of which are accessible (e.g., by selecting the library
links 1006) in respective libraries for each fund, as described
above.
[0075] FIG. 11 is a diagram of an exemplary investor data flow 1100
that engages various components of the UCEP marketplace. In one or
more embodiments, data flow 1100 can be some or all of an
investor's workflow for investing in a fund. Data flow 1100 starts
at step 1102, then proceeds to the investor login step 1104, where
an investor logs into his/her account or sets up a new account in
the marketplace. At step 1106, the investor searches for funds that
meet the investor's criteria (e.g., a real estate fund with a high
ROI) and at step 1108 adds that fund to the investor's portfolio or
otherwise indicates an interest in the portfolio (e.g., by
associating the fund as a personal "favorite"). At step 1110, the
investor decides whether or not to add any additional funds for
potential investment. For example, more than one fund may meet the
investor's search criteria at step 1106 and, optionally, the
investor can add this fund for further review. Additionally or
alternatively, at step 1110, the investor may search for more funds
by returning to step 1106. When all funds are added for further
review, at step 1112, UCEP tools are provided for performing due
diligence of each added fund. For example, UCEP tools can be
engaged for reviewing, completing, and/or signing documents, as
described above. At step 1116, UCEP determines whether all forms
necessary to invest in at least one of the added funds have been
completed by the investor (or the investor's agents) and verified
as accurate and complete. If, at step 1116, UCEP detects that a
document within a fund's workflow has not been properly completed
(e.g., the investor has not completed all of the required blanks),
the flow returns to step 1112. Otherwise, if one or more of the
investor's capital accounts has not previously been linked (e.g.,
via APIs) to the investor's profile, at step 1118, UCEP establishes
communication to third-party capital accounts for investing in one
of the funds. At step 1120, capital is transferred from one or more
of the third-party capital accounts into the UCEP marketplace (or,
optionally, a separate escrow account or to the sponsor's
designated capital account), and the investor is now invested in
the one or more funds. The data flow ends at step 1122. One or more
steps of data flow 1100 are not required for investing in a fund.
For example, if the investor does not need to search UCEP for a
fund (e.g., a fund was previously identified by the investor) and a
capital account was previously linked (or the investor chooses to
transfer money outside of UCEP), then steps 1006-1010 and 1018 are
not necessary for investing in a fund.
[0076] FIG. 12 is a diagram of an exemplary sponsor data flow 1200
that engages various UCEP marketplace components 302-326.
Specifically, sponsor data flow 1200 describes various steps
1202-1226 for investing in a new fund. Some steps may be combined,
and some steps are optional yet are shown to aid the reader in
understanding various aspects of UCEP technology. The sponsor data
flow 1200 starts at step 1202 and then proceeds to step 1204, where
UCEP receives information for a new (or for modifying an existing)
fund. For example, a sponsor can create a fund by uploading or
sending links to fund documentation and filling out forms provided
by UCEP. At step 1206, fund documentation is processed. For
example, UCEP can analyze uploaded fund documentation to determine
a document type (e.g., a prospectus, agreement, etc.); determine
who needs to review the document (e.g., the investor and/or the
investor's attorney, accountant, spouse, etc.); and identify what
information is requested in the document (e.g., an investor's
signature, account number, Social Security number, etc.) based on
identifying signature blocks, blank spaces, or other identifiers
within a document. At step 1208, UCEP generates a profile for the
fund that determines the look and feel of the presentation of the
fund within the UCEP marketplace, associates characteristics with
the fund (e.g., the fund is a commercial real -estate fund
investing in foreign multi-user apartment complexes, a tech-startup
fund focused on medical devices, or a fund managed by three
sponsors with a history in residential real estate investing in
Arizona, etc.), generates one or more workflows associated with an
ordering of steps required to invest in the fund (e.g., an investor
must complete eight forms; however, forms 4-5 must be completed at
the same time while form 7 must be completed only after forms 1 and
9 are executed). Workflows are adapted by UCEP to fit each
individual investor based on, e.g., that investor's profile (and
optionally the sponsor's profile). For example, a high-wealth
individual may need to complete an extra form (e.g., to prove
his/her wealth) that is not required by a mutual fund; therefore,
UCEP will automatically create a step in the high-wealth
individual's workflow to request that the extra form be completed
in an order determined by the workflow. If the high-wealth
individual is a citizen of a foreign country, as determined based
on the investor's profile (for example), additional forms may be
required and added to the foreign high-wealth investor's workflow.
At step 1210, UCEP delivers and/or sends notification of available
fund documents to a prospective investor. The investor can supply
the requested information, the need for which can be emphasized to
the investor. For example, the investor may be informed by UCEP
(e.g., by narrative and/or highlighting) to sign page 3 of a
document and initial page 4, and/or UCEP will automatically fill
out the requested information based on the investor's profile
(e.g., UCEP will automatically fill in an investor's Social
Security number, account information, etc.). At step 1212, some or
all of the requested documents are received, via UCEP, from the
investor and, at step 1214, it is determined whether the documents
are accurate and complete. If the documents are not accurate or
complete, a notification and/or the requested document(s) are sent
back to the investor at step 1210. Otherwise, if the documents are
verified as accurate and complete, at step 1216, UCEP will, in one
or more embodiments, determine whether any additional documents are
required in an investor's workflow and, if so, will return the flow
to step 1210. When all documents necessary for investing in the
fund have been received and verified as accurate and complete, at
step 1218, UCEP, in some embodiments, is configured to receive the
investor's capital for investing in the fund (e.g., UCEP or a third
party will escrow the capital) before the capital is ready to be
invested, at step 1220. In some embodiments, after investment of
step 1220, other actions are performed, such as receiving and/or
sending financial statements and investment reports and determine
investor-specific ROIs (as described above). The flow 1200 ends at
step 1226, however, additional steps can be added and some are
option (e.g., steps 1222-1224). These steps, among other features
of UCEP, provide a centralized authority that injects reliability,
stability, and transparency into the entire market of private
placements.
Examples of the Unified Investment Management System
[0077] As described herein, in some embodiments, a unified
investment management system facilitates the management,
subscription, and/or presentation of investments and associated
information. The system, which may be included within UCEP 300 or
include various components of the UCEP 300 described herein,
generates, maintains, and utilizes an investment-based data
structure or index, where each entry of the data structure or index
represents an investment managed by the system and includes
information relating various aspects of an investment (e.g., fund,
investor, and so on) with one another.
[0078] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating various components
of a unified investment management system 1300. The system 1300
includes functional modules or components that are implemented with
a combination of software (e.g., executable instructions, or
computer code) and hardware (e.g., at least a memory and
processor). For example, the system 1300 may include a data
structure component 1310, a request component 1330, a query
component 1340, and an information component 1340.
[0079] In some embodiments, the data structure component 1310 is
configured and/or programmed to generate a data structure
containing one or more entries, wherein each of the one of more
entries is associated with an investment. For example, the data
structure component 1310 may generate, update, and/or modify a data
structure or other data object, such as a table, index, or database
of records that each represent an investment, such as an investment
asset or vehicle.
[0080] The data structure, or index, therefore, may be a collection
of tags (e.g., metadata) applied to the data objects stored by the
system 1300. For example, given a collection of data objects, such
as investor data objects, entity data objects, sponsor data
objects, vehicle data objects, document data objects, workflow
result data objects, and so on, the index may tag one or more of
the different data objects with other, related, data objects. The
index, therefore, may represent a relational database of tagged
objects, where each object may be associated with a tag to some or
all of the other objects. In other words, the index relates the
data as metadata to other data within the system.
[0081] The following is an example of a generated data structure or
index of investment data:
TABLE-US-00001 Investment ID Fund Investor Document Result/Status
Partners II Key Offshore Jones Subscription1.pdf Signed Group
Capital Fund Abbott, Benson Offer.pdf Unsigned Private three
Startup Morris Compliance.pdf Signed Housing Dev Community Jones
Offer.pdf unsigned
[0082] Therefore, the data structure relates various different
types of information associated with an investment, such as an
investment shared by many investors, a private a private placement
investment, a real estate investment, and so on. Each entry of the
data structure may include some or all of the following information
or data:
[0083] An identifier for the investment;
[0084] Information representative of a fund associated with the
investment;
[0085] Information representative of a user associated with the
investment;
[0086] Information or a link to one or more documents that
represent a result of business logic applied to the data (e.g.,
subscription logic result of an investment between the fund
associated with the investment and the user associated with the
investment);
[0087] Information or a link to a signature or acceptance documents
associated with the investment;
[0088] Information identifying a current result or status of a
workflow associated with an investment or other related data (e.g.,
unsigned document, accepted terms, and so on);
[0089] Information associated with permissions, authorizations, or
security applied to the data;
[0090] Information representing user-provided inputs or information
(e.g., electronic signature files, identification files or
documents, verification files, user relationships, and so on;
and/or other information, tags, or metadata.
[0091] In some cases, the system may create additional records
based on the data within the data structure. For example, when
updating an entity record, the system 1300 may retrieve an updated
value after a business process or workflow, update the index with
the new value, and provide the new value to a record or
document.
[0092] Thus, an entry in the data structure or index, for a given
investment or vehicle, may include an identifier for the
investment, the name of a fund managing the investment, the name(s)
of investors to the fund, information representing documents
associated with the vehicle, information associated with workflows
performed or currently being performed for the vehicle, information
identifying statuses or results for various processes of the
workflows, and so on.
[0093] The investment-based data structure, therefore, may act as a
queryable data object, data structure, index, and/or relational
database for the system 1300, enabling the system 1300 to quickly
and efficiently manage, retrieve, obtain, and/or access data stored
by the system 1300, and provide the data to various workflows
managed by the system 1300.
[0094] The system 1300 may receive and store the data from various
sources. For example, the system 1300 may receive data input from
users, fund managers, administrators, and so on, may extract data
from documents stored with the system 1300, may retrieve or access
data from various third party services or entities, and so on.
[0095] In some embodiments, the request component 1320 is
configured and/or programmed to receive a request (e.g., via a user
interface provided by the unified investment management system
1300) perform actions associated with stored data. As described
herein, the actions may be actions to dynamically generate
workflows, such as workflows that track, manage, and/or display
information associated with investments managed by the unified
investment management system 1300.
[0096] For example, the system 1300, via various selectable user
interface elements (e.g., displayed menus, filters, buttons, and so
on), may receive input from users associated with requests for
information. The requests may be associated with displaying certain
types of information, rendering or publishing graphical data
analyses, rendering or publishing documents associated with the
investments (e.g., completion documents, subscription documents,
compliance information, and so on), beginning or completing
workflows, and so on. Further details regarding the different types
of user interfaces provided by the system 1300 are described
herein.
[0097] In some embodiments, the query component 1330 is configured
and/or programmed to query the generated data structure or index to
identify information associated with the investments managed by the
unified investment management system 1300, such as information that
satisfies a received request. The query component 1330 may query
the information stored in the data structure provided herein to
identify one or more investments and related information (e/.g.,
tags or metadata) for certain query terms and values. For example,
a query using the term investor=Jones may provide results
identifying the investments owned or held by the investor named
Jones, and/or the information related to the name Jones within the
data structure.
[0098] The query component 1330, therefore, may query the entries
of the data structure to identify investments and/or other data
tagged with information representative of the specific fund
identified in the received request, investments tagged with
information representative of the specific investor identified in
the received request, workflows associated with the investment or
tagged data, and so on.
[0099] In some embodiments, the workflow component 1340 is
configured and/or programmed to dynamically generate or modify
workflows associated with investments managed or tracked by the
system 1300. The workflow component 1340, for example, may render
or publish various different interfaces resulting from workflows,
such as fund interfaces that present information satisfying the
request, investor interfaces that satisfy the received request, and
so on. The workflow component 1340, therefore, may cause the system
1300 to present a fund profile interface that displays investments
managed by a specific fund, including information tagged to the
investments, an investor profile interface that displays
investments held by a specific investor, including information
tagged to the investor, a management profile interface that
displays funds managed by a specific management company, including
information tagged to the management company, and so on.
[0100] As an example, the system accesses an index of information
tagged to a specific investor (e.g., metadata currently assigned or
associated with the investor), and renders an investor profile that
includes a display that identifies the various associations or
relationships between the investor and other data objects managed
by the system 1300. The display may include, for example, funds
owned by the investor, in progress workflows that include the
investor, and status information regarding compliance documents
stored by the system 1300 for the investor.
[0101] In addition, the workflow component 1340 may perform various
actions associated with dynamically generating or modifying
workflows, such as actions to generate or complete forms or
documents, such as investment subscription forms, investment
completion forms, signature forms, compliance forms, and so on. For
example, the workflow component 1340 may inject investment data
into different logic algorithms to calculate information used to
populate a digital document, such as a document that represents a
subscription to an investment by a potential investor, and stage or
render the populated digital document for viewing via the
interface.
[0102] Thus, as described herein, by providing a specifically
configured data structure of investment information (such as a
tagged index), the system 1300 is capable of presenting various
different views of information associated with the investments,
regardless of the complexity of relationships between the parties
and entities associated with the investments, among other
benefits
[0103] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 1400 for
performing actions associated with investment data stored by the
system 1300. The method 1400 may be performed by the system 1300
and, accordingly, is described herein merely by way of reference
thereto. It will be appreciated that the method 1400 may be
performed on any suitable hardware.
[0104] In operation 1410, the system 1300 generates a data
structure or index containing one or more entries, where each of
the one of more entries is associated with an investment. For
example, the generated data structure, as described herein, may
include entries that relate an identifier for the investment,
information representative of a fund associated with the
investment, information representative of a user associated with
the investment, information or a link to one or more documents that
represent a subscription of the investment between the fund
associated with the investment and the user associated with the
investment, information or a link to a signature or acceptance
documents associated with the investment; and/or other information,
and so on.
[0105] In operation 1420, the system 1300 receives a request to
perform an action associated with investments managed by the
unified investment management system 1300. For example, the system
1300, via various selectable user interface elements (e.g.,
displayed menus, filters, buttons, and so on), may receive input
from users associated with requests for information or actions. The
requests may be associated with displaying certain types of
information, rendering or publishing graphical data analyses,
rendering or publishing documents associated with the investments
(e.g., completion documents, subscription documents, compliance
documents, and so on), starting or continuing workflows related to
producing records associated with investments, and so on.
[0106] In operation 1430, the system 1300 queries the generated
data structure to identify information associated with the
investments managed by the unified investment management system,
such as for data that satisfies a received request. For example,
the query component 1330 query the entries of the data structure to
identify investments tagged with information representative of the
specific fund identified in the received request, investments
tagged with information representative of the specific investor
identified in the received request, and so on.
[0107] In operation 1440, the system 1300 performs an action using
the identified information, such as an action that presents the
identified information that satisfies the received request, via one
or more dynamically generated profiles based on metadata associated
with the query. For example, the workflow component 1340 may cause
the system 1300 to present a fund profile interface that displays
investments managed by a specific fund, an investor profile
interface that displays investments held by a specific investor, a
management profile interface that displays funds managed by a
specific management company, and so on.
[0108] In some embodiments, as described herein, the system 1300
may utilize various logic algorithms (e.g., rules, applied
formulas, routines, and so on) to determine values or other results
as part of workflow operations. For example, the system 1300 may
obtain data associated with a statement for an investment (e.g.,
investor information and ownership percentages), apply specific
logic (e.g., a fee structure) and determine fees to be assigned to
the various investors (or, fund balances). The system 1300,
therefore, stores various types of logic (e.g., capital management
logic, allocation logic, fee logic, process management logic, and
other business or calculation specific logic), which may be
utilized when completing various transactions, tasks, operations,
and/or other workflow processes.
[0109] Therefore, the system 1300 provides users (e.g., investors,
fund managers, and so on) with various profiles or views into a
large amount of data associated with investments and various
entities that own, hold, and/or manage the investments. Via the
platform described herein, which, in some embodiments, obtains data
(and various tagged relationships) to be presented via the
investment-based data structure, a user/manager may navigate
various profiles to view information associated with investments,
search for new investments, populate and generate documents, store
documents and other data, dynamically generate and modify
workflows, and so on. The following user interfaces illustrate the
various types of profiles and other information that may be
displayed or presented by the system 1300.
[0110] FIG. 15A is an example user interface 1500 of a fund
profile, which displays information associated with investment
allocations for the fund. As described herein, the system 1300 may
obtain the depicted information by querying the data structure with
the name or another identifier for the fund, and render the
interface 1500 accordingly.
[0111] FIG. 15B is an example user interface 1510 of an investor
profile, which displays information associated with alternative
investments held by the investor. As described herein, the system
1300 may obtain the depicted information by querying the data
structure with the name or another identifier for the investor, and
render the interface 1510 accordingly.
[0112] FIG. 15C is an example user interface 1520 of an investment
profile, which displays information associated with investors of a
certain investment (e.g., a specific private placement investment).
As described herein, the system 1300 may obtain the depicted
information by querying the data structure with the name or another
identifier for the sponsor of the investment, and render the
interface 1510 accordingly.
[0113] FIG. 15D is an example user interface 1530 of a manager
profile, which displays information associated with investment
vehicles managed by a certain manager. As described herein, the
system 1300 may obtain the depicted information by querying the
data structure with the name or another identifier for the manager,
and render the interface 1510 accordingly.
[0114] FIG. 15E is an example user interface 1540 via which users
may access service providers. As described herein, the system 1300
may obtain the depicted information by obtaining information
related in the data structure to various investment vehicles and
sponsors, and render the interface 1510 accordingly.
[0115] FIG. 15F is an example user interface 1530 of active
actions, or "to-dos," managed by the system 1300. As described
herein, the system 1300 may obtain the depicted information by
obtaining information related in the data structure to a specific
user, and render the interface 1510 accordingly.
[0116] As described herein, the system 1300 may assist in various
work flows associated with investor subscriptions of investments.
FIGS. 16A-16F are example user interfaces presented during
completion of a subscription of an investment.
[0117] For example, FIG. 16A is an example user interface 1600 via
which a user (e.g., investor) may initiate a subscriber workflow.
FIG. 16B is an example user interface 1610 via which the system
1300, by querying the data structure, manages compliance actions
associated with investment subscriptions. FIG. 16C is an example
user interface 1620 depicting the system 1300 populating a
subscription form via data obtained or identified via the data
structure.
[0118] FIG. 16D is an example user interface 1630 depicting the
system 1300 rendering a legal document based on the populated
subscription form. FIG. 16E is an example user interface 1640
depicting the system 1300 sharing the rendered legal document with
other parties managed by the system 1300. FIG. 16F is an example
user interface 1650 depicting a status of the investment
subscription work flow.
[0119] Of course, the system 1300 may provide other user
interfaces, such as interfaces configured to display information
managed by the system, interfaces configured to add or remove
information, and so on. For example, FIG. 17A is an example user
interface 1700 depicting a management company profile that displays
information associated with different managed funds. As another
example, FIG. 17B is an example user interface 1710 via which a
user may select an investment vehicle and view detailed information
about the investment and relationships to investors, managers, and
so on. FIG. 17C is an example user interface 1720 via which a user
may select an investor and view detailed information about the
investor and his/her relationships with various investment
vehicles.
[0120] FIG. 18A is an example user interface 1800 depicting the
contents of a document vault managed by the system 1300. As
depicted, via the data structure described herein, the system 1300
may identify, obtain, and present information for each of the
stored documents, such as the fund associated with the document,
the investor associated with the document, the date/time when the
documents was generated or completed, and so on. In some cases, the
user interface may stage or provide preview versions or displays of
documents or information before or during the completion of
document uploads.
[0121] FIG. 18B is an example user interface 1810 depicting an
upload interface that facilitates the uploading of documents to the
document vault managed by the system 1300. As depicted, the user
interface 1810 provides user-selectable elements configured to tag
documents with metadata. These elements, or tools, may facilitate
bulk-tagging of documents, individual tagging of documents, and so
on. Once tagged, the documents, metadata, and associated investment
data may be added to the data structures described herein.
[0122] For example, when a document is stored or uploaded to the
data vault (via various upload mechanisms), the system 1300 may tag
the document with various metadata associated with the document,
such as metadata associated with an entity, sponsor, vehicle,
document, workflow result, and so on. The system 1300 may then
identify, sort, filter, and/or find documents via the tagged
metadata.
[0123] Therefore, in some embodiments, the system 1300 creates and
maintains a data structure or other data object for all investments
managed by the system 1300. The data structure includes an entry
for each investment under management, where each entry includes an
identifier for the investment, information representative of a fund
associated with the investment, information representative of a
user associated with the investment, and other related information.
Using the data structure, the system 1300 is capable of quickly and
efficiently rendering various different profile views of the large
amounts of data managed by the system, such as fund profiles,
investor profiles, and so on.
Use Cases for the Unified Investment Management System
[0124] As described herein, the unified investment management
system 1300 maintains alternative investment data in various
indexed relationships, and performs various actions associated with
the indexed data, such as workflow steps or processes that would be
too cumbersome or inefficient to perform without the indexed data,
among other benefits
[0125] For example, the following workflows may perform operations
using indexed data:
[0126] Capital Statement generation, where investor information and
fund performance information is obtained and presented via one or
more views. For example, the workflows may utilize the data when
automatically generating capital statements (e.g., including
commentary) and distributing (e.g., a mail merge of unique investor
specific information with overall fund performance information),
staging, and/or displaying the statements;
[0127] Investment tracking, where an investment may be tracked and
managed from the initial identification of potential investors
(e.g., via prospect profiles that identify investors, probability
of investments, potential investment amounts, and so on) for a fund
of vehicle, the various workflows associated with generating
records for a completed investment transaction, the performance of
the investment, compliance or maintenance information, and so
on;
[0128] Compliance records generation, such as information useful to
an investor for providing fiduciary oversight and related
information;
[0129] Private Placement Investment management, where the workflows
(as described herein) may initiate a capital call from a financial
account (with or without approval), based on the completion of a
document signing;
[0130] Capital Call and Distribution Processes, where the system
1300 stores the financial account information for the sender and
recipient of money; enables either party to update their financial
account information and/or designate multiple accounts for
different purposes; manages the business logic and workflow for
money movement from the sender to recipient; utilizes ACH or other
methods to transmit the money; initiates money movement based on
the completion of capital calls, streamlines interactions with
foreign investors; and so on;
[0131] Audit Processes, where the system 1300 stores historical
log/audit trail information (e.g., information involving
pre-financing interactions, due diligence review, compliance, and
so on) that tracks the investor/manager/user access of data by
viewing, editing, downloading, and so on, within the system 1300.
The system, therefore, may utilize the related data to review data,
metadata and logic, date stamps, user interactions (locations and
time periods) within the system, compliance dates, reporting dates,
and other information, events, or actions; and so on.
[0132] In some embodiments, the system 1300 may forecast future
performance and cash flows for investments, vehicles, funds, and
other data objects. The system 1300 may utilize stored information
to forecast future results given past results; forecast results at
fund levels; forecast events at fund and investor levels, forecast
events at group of funds levels/aggregated levels, determine
recommendations for target market/investors based on tracked or
determined benchmarks (e.g., age, location, strategy, investor
type, historical occurrences, and so on).
[0133] For example, the system 1300 may perform aggregated
portfolio forecasting, where the data relationships generated and
maintained by the system 1300 include specific capital call and
distribution data and performance data. Using the data, the system
1300 may forecast and/or present performance information based on
the storage of specific and general characteristics for private
placement investments, and/or forecast and/or present future
capital call and distribution information based on the storage of
specific and general characteristics for private placement
investments, among other information.
[0134] In some embodiments, the system 1300 may collaborate,
integrate, or exchange information with various third party
systems, such as fund accounting systems. The collaboration may
facilitate the storage and access to performance data/reports, the
delivery performance reporting data/reports along with the related
distributions as described herein, the delivery of performance
reporting data/reports to third party reporting systems (e.g.,
Adepar, Advent/Blackdiamond, and so on). The delivery may be via
manual processes, export, email, APIs, system integrations, and so
on.
[0135] For example, the system 1300 facilitates the exchange or
sharing of investment opportunities via third party marketplaces
that provide investments available to various audiences, such as
crowd fund groups, institutional investors, and so on. In some
cases, the third party systems may utilize various components or
processes described herein, such as transactions, investments,
compliance processes, and so on.
[0136] In order to exchange information, the system 1300, in some
embodiments, publishes and/or provides APIs, which provide third
party systems with access to data, processes, workflows, and so on,
provided by the system. Via the APIs, the system 1300 enables data
to be imported from or exported to third parties, which may speed
up, increase the accuracy of, and/or increase the scope of various
reporting processes of financial data, performance data, compliance
data, and so on.
[0137] APIs may also facilitate third party partnerships, which may
enable investment approval by certain financial platforms, enable
investment by approved third parties (e.g., service providers,
authorized users, and so on), sharing of data or documents with
approved third parties, and so on. The system 1300, therefore, may
act to manage or provide data to many different parties internal
and/or external to the system 1300.
Examples of User Experience Functions of the Unified Investment
Management System
[0138] In some cases, the system 1300, via various user interfaces,
may provide notifications to users. The notifications may include:
alerts associated with workflow activities, alerts associated with
investment events, alerts associated with changes or modifications
to documents or workflows, and so on.
[0139] Additionally, the system 1300 may provide various
communication mechanisms to facilitate the exchange (e.g., internal
to the system 1300) between investors and/or fund managers. Example
mechanisms may include chat boxes, notation or annotation
recording, emails, instant messaging, voice communications,
document sharing, and so on. As described herein, the system may
tag any or all recorded messages or communications to the various
associated entities, and record the tags in the indexes described
herein. Thus, in some embodiments, the system 1300 described herein
manages investment data, such as data associated with alternative
investments, via one or more indexes or other data structures that
maintain relationships between various data objects. Via these data
relationships, the system 1300 may generate or provide information
to workflows (which may generate documents or records), render and
present various profiles of information, and so on.
Conclusion
[0140] In general, the detailed description of embodiments of the
described technology is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit
the described technology to the precise form disclosed above. While
specific embodiments of, and examples for, the described technology
are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent
modifications are possible within the scope of the described
technology, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize.
For example, while processes or blocks are presented in a given
order, alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps,
or employ systems having blocks, in a different order, and some
processes or blocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided,
combined, and/or modified. Each of these processes or blocks may be
implemented in a variety of different ways. Also, while processes
or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these
processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel, or may be
performed at different times.
[0141] The teachings of the described technology provided herein
can be applied to other systems, not necessarily the system
described herein. The elements and acts of the various embodiments
described herein can be combined to provide further
embodiments.
[0142] The techniques introduced above can be implemented by
programmable circuitry programmed or configured by software and/or
firmware, or entirely by special-purpose circuitry, or in a
combination of such forms. Such special-purpose circuitry (if any)
can be in the form of, for example, one or more
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable
logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),
etc.
[0143] Software or firmware for implementing the techniques
introduced here may be stored on a machine-readable storage medium
and may be executed by one or more general-purpose or
special-purpose programmable microprocessors. A "machine-readable
storage medium," as the term is used herein, includes any mechanism
that can store information in a form accessible by a machine (a
machine may be, for example, a computer, network device, cellular
phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), manufacturing tool, any
device with one or more processors, etc.). For example, a
machine-accessible medium includes recordable/non-recordable media
(e.g., read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic
disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices;
etc.
[0144] The term "logic" and "components" as used herein, can
include, for example, special-purpose hardwired circuitry,
software, and/or firmware in conjunction with programmable
circuitry, or a combination thereof.
[0145] These and other changes can be made to the described
technology in light of the above Detailed Description. While the
above description details certain embodiments of the described
technology and describes the best mode contemplated, no matter how
detailed the above appears in text, the described technology can be
practiced in many ways. The described technology may vary
considerably in its implementation details, while still being
encompassed by the described technology disclosed herein. As noted
above, particular terminology used when describing certain features
or aspects of the described technology should not be taken to imply
that the terminology is being redefined herein to be restricted to
any specific characteristics, features, or aspects of the described
technology with which that terminology is associated. In general,
the terms used in the following claims should not be construed to
limit the described technology to the specific embodiments
disclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed
Description section explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the
actual scope of the described technology encompasses not only the
disclosed embodiments but also all equivalent ways of practicing or
implementing the described technology.
[0146] To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the
described technology are presented below in certain claim forms,
but the applicant contemplates the various aspects of the described
technology in any number of claim forms. For example, while only
one aspect of the described technology is recited as a
means-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.112, 6, other
aspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or
in other forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable
medium. (Any claims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C.
.sctn.112, 6 will begin with the words "means for," but use of the
term "for" in any other context is not intended to invoke treatment
under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.112, 6.) Accordingly, the applicant reserves
the right to pursue additional claims after filing this application
to pursue such additional claim forms, in either this application
or in a continuing application.
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