AI in Private Equity: Redefining Risk, Speed, and Strategy

​Explore how AI is transforming deal sourcing, due diligence, portfolio management, and infrastructure investment — and what that means for your firm’s competitive edge.

​As generative AI reshapes private equity, our timely event arms financial leaders with the latest strategies, tools, and insights.

​Speakers:

​Gelila Zenebe Bekele, Director, Aone Partners

​Aone Partners is a private search fund partnership supported by Trilogy and a group of 14 top software CEOs, technology founders, and global investors collectively overseeing more than $1 billion in AUM. Prior to Aone, Gelila worked at BlackRock, partnering with the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and endowments. She also served as a Director at a high growth software holding company that acquires and scales vertical market SaaS businesses. Gelila has published studies with Harvard Business Review used in classrooms at Stanford’s flagship entrepreneurship courses, covering IPOs, search funds, M&A, and venture capital fund formation. At Forbes, Gelila writes a weekly column covering emerging technologies and new models of capital allocation that are shaping private markets. 

​Mason Lender, CEO & co-founder, Vantager

​At Vantager, Mason Lender is redefining private-market due diligence with faster insights, smarter workflows, and more confident decision-making. The AI-powered platform supports LPs representing more than $100B in AUM, streamlining pre-trade diligence, analysis, and reporting. To date, Vantager has processed thousands of private funds and over 100,000 investments — more than 70% across private equity and venture capital, nearly 12% in secondaries, with the remainder spanning private debt, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, and select hedge funds. Mason, a Yale graduate in statistics, data science, and global affairs, previously worked at Google and McKinsey & Company.

​Nikita Sharkov, VP, Long Arc Capital

​Long Arc Capital is applying the firm’s deep AI expertise and active ownership philosophy to help its portfolio companies become category leaders. Through its Center of Excellence, bringing together hundreds of in-house developers and data specialists, the firm partners with management teams across financial services and technology to build and scale high-growth businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. By deploying advanced AI solutions at the intersection of analytics, management, and marketing, Long Arc’s Center of Excellence helps portfolio companies solve complex challenges and accelerate commercial performance. In this session, Nikita Sharkov will discuss how these AI capabilities are being embedded across Long Arc Capital’s portfolio to drive sustainable growth.

​MODERATED BY: 

​Ilona Limonta-Volkova, Principal, Bright Ventures

​Ilona Limonta-Volkova is a venture capital investor with a deep focus on fintech and financial innovation. As a Principal at Bright Ventures, she evaluates and supports startups shaping the future of money. She writes for Forbes and This Week in Fintech, and through her newsletter Bear and the Bull and her Money Memories podcast (NPR), she breaks down the forces driving global finance with sharp insights and accessible storytelling.

​SPONSORED BY:

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​AGENDA:

​​5.30 pm - 6.30 pm Registration & Networking

​​6.30 pm - 7.30 pm Discussion Panel

​​7.30 pm - 8.30 pm Networking

​A few topics to discuss:

• ​Accelerating Due Diligence & Exit Execution: AI systems that streamline diligence reviews, risk analysis, valuation modeling, and buyer profiling for faster and more precise exit readiness

• ​Operational Value Creation with AI in the Portfolio: Discover best-in-class approaches turning GenAI into measurable ROI in portfolio companies — predictive analytics, and process automation

• ​Infrastructure & the PE AI Economy: Decode what mega-deals (like KKR’s $4B AI data center bet) signal about long-term infrastructure plays and AI’s role as an asset class

• ​Risk, Governance & Investor Alignment: Address emerging risks — data quality, model risk, cybersecurity, bias, and governance. Learn how firms are aligning AI initiatives with LP expectations and regulatory demands

• ​From Proof-of-Concept to Profit: Avoiding pilot purgatory in AI initiatives by learning how mid-market PE firms move beyond experiments into full-scale deployment unlocking trillions in value potential

​Who Should Attend:

• ​Private equity GPs and LPs exploring AI as a competitive differentiator

• ​Deal teams and investment professionals evaluating new tools in underwriting and portfolio management

• ​CIOs, operating partners, and portfolio company leadership

• ​Technology-focused investors, advisor firms, and digital-transformation executives

​Position your firm to lead — not follow — as PE evolves into a data-driven, AI-enabled ecosystem.

​About the Event Hosts

​The Vertical
The Vertical is a leading online publication spotlighting international tech founders and investors shaping the future of innovation.