LemonEdge, a modern, low-code accounting platform powering the private capital industry, has completed a $4 million funding round, led by Blackstone Innovation Investments with participation from existing investors, including Sidekick Partners, Lauren Iaslovits (co-founder of Investran and a pioneer of private capital market technologies) and Tikhon Bernstam (founder of Parse and Scribd). The financing increases capital raised to date to $7 million, all within the first year of launch.
LemonEdge enables Private Capital firms to automate and digitise their end-to-end complex accounting processes, many of whom rely on older systems or spreadsheets. In a first for the industry, LemonEdge combines a modern, purpose-built financial engine alongside a customisable low-code platform with a suite of advanced reporting and scenario tools. The company’s cloud-native technology has been designed to support the unique and varied requirements of the private capital industry at scale and across asset classes.
Compared to traditional services, the powerful low-code platform is 20x faster to implement and run. The financial engine is created from the ground up to better understand partnership accounting and allocations. The platform provides firms with increased flexibility, real-time investor reporting, and greater operational efficiencies in a complex environment.
Jamie Nascimento, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at LemonEdge, comments: “The growing requirement by Private Capital firms to have the highest efficiencies, while dealing with complexity in an agile manner is becoming more of a prerequisite for staying ahead in the market. Firms are looking for ways to deliver efficient, accurate content to clients with the goal to ultimately provide the highest level of client service in a timely manner. There is no longer the leeway to process calculations outside of systems, manually post multiple transactions, or run separate solutions for the end-to-end accounting and middle office.”
John Stecher, Chief Technology Officer at Blackstone, commented: “We recognise LemonEdge was born out of scale and complexity, and we are excited for what their next-generation technology can bring to the Private Capital industry. We look forward to partnering with their team to continue to expand their platform.”
Gareth Hewitt, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at LemonEdge, commented: “We’re delighted to bring Blackstone into our round and have the support of such prestigious investors who similarly recognise the need for such a generational shift. Blackstone has unique insight into a diverse range of asset classes and understands the technology problems in the industry today. They’re a natural fit to have on board and as a strategic partner, will help us solve the market challenges currently restricting Private Capital firms from reaching their full potential.”
Earlier this month, LemonEdge was appointed by Kensington Capital Partners as their front-to-back office accounting solution. LemonEdge will be powering the firm’s Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Fund of Fund structures alongside an Investor Portal.
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About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $881 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
About LemonEdge
LemonEdge is the first and only low-code development platform for the complex accounting demands of the private equity industry. LemonEdge enables businesses to develop or customise solutions 20x faster than traditional approaches. LemonEdge’s private capital product provides asset managers and administrators with the core infrastructure for fund, portfolio, and LP-level accounting. The platform has easy-to-use reporting and analysis capabilities, which can seamlessly handle scale and complexity. Clients can quickly integrate 3rd party systems, spreadsheets, and proprietary financial processes via LemonEdge’s low-code platform. This intuitive and highly customisable approach delivers on today's complex requirements for efficient fund management.
Combined with LemonEdge’s unique set of building blocks for financial services, from a multi-currency general ledger, auditing, risk management, to complex data handling and reporting, you can give your solutions the edge they need.
About Sidekick Partners
Sidekick Partners (www.sidekickpartners.com) is a U.S.-based venture firm with an extensive track record of partnering with innovative, high-growth technology start-ups, including Chronograph, DailyPay, Everlywell, and Ring. Sidekick Partners led the Seed round for Chronograph, a leader in portfolio monitoring technology for private capital investors. Sidekick Partners represents a group of highly strategic investors, including successful entrepreneurs, private equity partners, and senior corporate executives. Sidekick Partners will utilize its deep ties to the private equity industry to help LemonEdge expand in North America. www.sidekickpartners.com
About our Team:
Gareth Hewitt, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at LemonEdge:
Gareth is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LemonEdge. He is a technology professional with over 20 years of financial services software experience. After Edinburgh University, Gareth was responsible for developing alternative asset software at Accounting Frameworks and later at eFront. This experience became the foundation for launching a cloud-based configurable software solution in 2011. Gareth then co-founded Bridge Fund Solutions, which he later sold. His experience with the current legacy system approaches to data integration, customisability, modelling, complex accounting, and scalability solidified his belief that there is a deep-rooted need for a powerful modern development platform with integrated accounting in financial services.
Jamie Nascimento, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer at LemonEdge:
Jamie is Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of LemonEdge. He has 20 years of experience in marketing and sales and holds a degree in computer science and artificial intelligence. Jamie’s ability to combine logical thinking with a creative aptitude, while also developing insight strategies, has helped him deliver strong growth across numerous brands in the FMCG market. Jamie’s expertise from working in global, multi-tiered organisational structures to start-up and scale-up businesses has given him a uniquely structured and entrepreneurial approach.
