How Evolem manages 1,000+ deals and projects in Intapp DealCloud

Founded in 1997, Evolem is a family office based in Lyon, France. The firm’s entrepreneurial investment approach aligns with management teams and is focused on long-term strategic vision. Evolem supports the development of benchmark sector groups within each of its investment industries. The firm has 23 employees and has supported 90 companies with €200 million invested since its creation.

The Challenge

Prior to implementing DealCloud, the Evolem team leveraged spreadsheets to manage their pipeline and relationship data. As the firm grew, its partners knew they needed to evolve past relying on conversations with colleagues for knowledge-sharing, moving toward a model that would allow the firm to centrally store data and make information accessible to all necessary users across the firm. Evolem leaders realized the firm’s spreadsheets were not sophisticated enough for the complex relationship and deal structures of the private equity team. After evaluating numerous generic CRM providers, the team understood they needed technology that was purpose-built for private equity industry professionals. This business need led them to implement DealCloud.

Implementation

The DealCloud implementation team migrated Evolem’s existing pipeline and relationship data onto the DealCloud platform. The DealCloud and Evolem teams worked closely together to evaluate the firm’s business needs and determine which fields and dashboards were needed to best aggregate and display necessary data. Because the DealCloud platform is purpose-built for capital markets firms, DealCloud’s implementation team taught Evolem best practices for private equity teams and configured their workflows effectively. The DealCloud implementation team was able to successfully complete Evolem’s private equity team implementation in just 3 to 4 months.

Recognizing the success of the DealCloud platform for Evolem’s private equity team, the firm decided to implement DealCloud for their philanthropy team as well. The DealCloud implementation team easily configured many of the same dashboards to aid the firm’s philanthropy team with pipeline and contact management.

Post-implementation, Evolem continues to work with a dedicated DealCloud client success manager to receive ongoing training and ensure that the platform is always configured to fit their day-to-day processes. As the firm’s business constantly grows and evolves, the DealCloud client success team has been able to modify, improve, and configure the platform to address the firm’s changing needs.

The DealCloud team has demonstrated a deep understanding of our activities and our specific needs as a family office. The platform is easy to use and flexible, which allows it to fit in perfectly with every type of Evolem activity. With DealCloud, we better monitor interactions with our contacts and improve our deal flow management efficiency

MAXIME BOYER, FORMER PARTNER, EVOLEM

The solution

The DealCloud platform — created specifically with the needs and challenges of capital markets professionals in mind — now serves as Evolem’s centralized and secure location for all deal and relationship data. DealCloud is configured to help the firm improve multiple aspects of its business, including the following:

  • Pipeline Management: Leveraging DealCloud, Evolem creates custom and highly configurable dashboards that deliver a full picture of each stage of their pipeline. The DealCloud platform serves as a comprehensive, cloud-based solution, saving dealmakers time and helping them execute on deals more efficiently from anywhere.
  • Contact Management: Evolem uses DealCloud to track and manage complex relationships and interactions with intermediaries. The firm tracks all engagements, including virtual and in-person meetings, and accesses a detailed view of each touchpoint, including frequency and nature of each contact with their intermediary network in DealCloud. In addition, Evolem leverages the relationship data stored in DealCloud to manage the firm’s newsletter contact lists.
  • Deal Tracking: DealCloud helps the Evolem team track every stage of the deal lifecycle. Because many firm team members have incentives based on the number of deals they bring to the firm, the data in DealCloud is associated with a deal linked with each team member’s profile. This data allows Evolem’s management team to easily track the deals each dealmaker brings in and works on. The firm can also view how many deals have been converted into a management presentation, received a letter of intent, and ultimately converted to a deal.

Partnering for success

  • Implementation of a highly configured platform
  • Dedicated implementation and client success teams
  • Foundation for scalable growth
  • Firmwide data transparency

Executive Summary

  • 1,000+ deals and philanthropy projects managed in DealCloud
  • Two-thirds of Evolem employees leverage DealCloud daily
  • 20% of firm are Certified Platform Managers, including Evolem’s CEO
  • Three new users added in less than one year
  • 150+ dashboards created
  • Increased time saved through better communication across all teams