Top 5 Entity Management Platforms for PE‑Backed Companies

As private equity (PE)- backed firms manage dozens or sometimes hundreds of legal entities across various jurisdictions, entity management solutions for private equity have become increasingly crucial. As spreadsheets, binders, and siloed systems no longer suffice, a growing number of private equity professionals are adapting to specialized platforms to reduce risk and automate compliance and corporate governance. In this overview, we will highlight features you need, compare the top five platforms, including an in-depth look at Commenda, and help you choose the most suited solution for the portfolio you are trying to build.

The Complexity of Entity Management in PE-Backed Companies

Private equity entity management software addresses a unique set of challenges:

Overlapping Entities

Private equity funds typically include a separate legal entity, such as an LLC, for each fund, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a portfolio company, and other private equity vehicles, including co-investments. Trying to oversee dozens of entities manually, along with governance, ownership, and compliance strategies, will lead to missing deadlines and errors.

Disintegrated Information & Files

Parts of the data silos are made up of emails, shared drives, and PowerPoint making up the traditional approaches using Excel. The risk involved with this setup obstructs cooperation and collusion of finance, investor relations, and tax teams.

Compliance Complexity

Funds and portfolio companies are required to maintain ongoing filings (annual returns, beneficial ownership, FATCA/CRS, etc.) for each of the multiple jurisdictions. The number of deadlines increases with every new fund and investment.

Knowledge Risk

The loss of personnel coupled with critical operational information stored in people’s heads and scattered binders, can drive data loss, operational disruption, and heightened legal risk.

Private equity (PE) firms can now digitally store data, documents, and compliance workflows on one secure platform with multi-entity management software, eliminating the need for multiple digital and physical files. This serves as the single, definitive source of truth.

Why entity management is vital for private equity portfolios

Legal entity management for PE firms goes beyond filing cabinets; it creates the framework for:

Compliance: Automated reminders and checklists for meeting milestones (e.g., passing annual general meetings, filing licenses, etc.) increase accuracy in submissions and reduce the risk of late filings.

Risk Mitigation: Prevent unauthorized corporate actions from outdated officers and directors by having a single source of truth for documents to control the signing or executing of transactions.

Operational Efficiency: Enable teams to retrieve entity details and structure charts instead of creating them, increasing focus on fund strategy, portfolio management, and other high-value tasks.

Investor Transparency: Provide LP with on-demand, up-to-date governance records for monitored due diligence processes fortified with active structure charts.

Scalability: The current paradigm of a manual workload explosion is conveniently a thing of the past, as new funds are being launched into new vehicles and acquisitions are being made. The platform ecologies with seamless integration.

Key Features to Look for in Entity Management Software

When choosing corporate governance software for private equity, make it a point to focus on these capabilities:

Any versatile entity lifecycle management solution tailored for PE-backed businesses is powered by these unique features.

Top 5 Entity Management Platforms for PE-Backed Companies

Here is the list of the five best entity management platforms tailored to private equity, ranked according to their strategic value for PE-backed companies.

Commenda

• Overview: Commenda is a private markets-specific platform of enterprise-grade. It provides an all-in-one registry, compliance workflows, and governance dashboards.

• Entity Registry & Document Hub: Aggregate all formation docs, investment agreements, K-1s, and other related documents.

• Compliance Automation: Tracking of annual meetings, regulatory filings, and beneficial ownership in real-time across every jurisdiction.

• Ownership Tracking: Accurate LP and equity charts through seamless integration with Cap Table Management.

• Governance & Roles: Directors, officers, and signatories are assigned automated expiration term tracking notifications.

• Custom Structure Charts: Any entity can generate and export as a PDF or PowerPoint.

• Collaborative Access: Role-based internal permissions with external counsel, auditors, or other team members.

• APIs & Integrations: Fund accounting, CRM, and data rooms link for a systems ecosystem.

• Enterprise Security: SOC 2 certified, two-factor authentication, and single sign-on(SSO).

Because of their private equity workflows, Commenda integrates deeply with client systems and manages complex fund structures seamlessly at scale.

Ontra Atlas

• Overview: Ontra developed Atlas to solve the ‘maze of paper documents’ using a single, singular digitized source of truth for private fund managers.

• Central Data Model: Consolidates the corporate governance info corpus, which includes entity relationships, authorized signatory, and documents into a single view.

• Visual Structure Charts: Custom Org charts that are editable and dynamic, updating with new data changes.

• Role & Permission Controls: Control access for internal vs external stakeholders as per roles.

• Audit Trails: Entity data history tracking for compliance and due diligence.

• Document Management: Key documents such as organizational certificates, investor agreements, and capital call notices can be stored and tagged.

• Reporting & Exports: Easy exports for regulatory filing, K-1 preparations, and investor updates. All done in one click.

Atlas is made for GCs looking for an entity management solution tailored for the entire private market lifecycle.

Athennian

• Overview: With Athennian, private equity firms, law firms, and venture capital possess access to a single, modern, multi-jurisdictional platform.

• Global Compliance Engine: Keeps track of filing responsibilities for more than 80 jurisdictions with automated deadlines.

• Collaborative Workspace: Legal, tax, and finance teams can work simultaneously without worrying about versioning or conflicts.

• Dynamic Entity Maps: Ownership hierarchies are complex and take seconds to visualize and drill into entity details.

• Smart Tasks & Alerts: Automatic alerting and workflow triggering for renewals, filings, and board actions.

• API-First Architecture: Integration of third-party systems, such as fund accounting and cap tables, is automated within the system.

Athenian has industry-leading cross-border entity management, a proprietary data model, and top-notch security features.

Diligent entities

• Overview: Within the Diligent governance suite, Diligent Entities offers comprehensive entity management features in addition to board governance and risk management functionality.

• Entity Master Data: Repository of entity profiles, directors, officers, and ownership with nexuses is maintained.

• Compliance Dashboard: Monitor filings, certificates, and licensure maintenance for various jurisdictions and organize them by their due dates.

• Board Intelligence: Served seamlessly with board books, meeting management, and other governance services.

• Secure Collaboration: Control who can view and edit sensitive information with advanced permissions.

• Mobile App: Complete required tasks and view relevant entity details from anywhere.

Diligent suits firms that have a high need for coordinating board governance and entity management.

Lextree for Entity Management

• Overview: Lextree is ideal for small PE firms or users who are new to the system and need streamlined onboarding.

• 14-Day Free Trial: Try without any commitment within two weeks.

• Intuitive Interface: Setting up accounts entails importing entities and documents and assigning roles, which takes a few minutes.

• Basic Compliance Tracking: Handle corporate actions, annual renewals, and changes in directors.

• Cost-Effective: More affordable than established managers.

Lextree lacks some high-end integrations for large companies, but for teams moving from spreadsheets to a digital registry, it provides a swift solution.

Comparative Analysis of the Top Platforms

Legend: ✓ = Robust support; • = Basic or add-on module required.

How to Pick The Best Entity Management Tool For Your PE-Backed Company

Choosing the most suitable entity management software comes down to the company’s size, fund intricacy, and need for integration. This checklist can help:

• Scope & Scale
  • Number of entities and their geographical locations.
  • Plans (establishing new funds, Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), and add-on acquisitions).

• Compliance Needs
  • Does your business provide multi-jurisdictional coverage for beneficial ownership, FATCA/CRS, and annual returns?
  • Is it necessary to have audit trails and regulatory-grade logs?

• Corporate Governance Management
  • Would you integrate board portal software or maintain different systems for board governance?
  • Why would you require real-time structure charting about fundraising and LP Reporting?

• Document & Data Management
  • Is the platform able to pull in your existing documents and metadata?
  • Does it support secure external sharing and version control?

• Systems Integrations
  • Do you need API access to cap table, fund accounting, CRM, or data-room tools?
  • How important is integrated data in reducing redundancy?

• User Experience and Adoption
  • Can non-legal staff use the platform without difficulty?
  • What kind of training and support is offered?

• Security and Compliance
  • Is there a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification from the vendor?
  • Are there role-based permissions with SSO (single sign-on)?

• Cost and Implementation Timeline
  • How much will it cost to license, implement, as well as run this over time?
  • At what speed can you put in place the solution with available data?

Real Rationale gained through iterated focus frames brings clarity surrounding ideal vendors, as alignment with set criteria optimizes the operational model alongside the technical ecosystem.

Commenda: Streamlining Entity Management for PE-Backed Companies

Private equity companies in need of an enterprise-level solution will find Commenda’s tailored entity lifecycle management for PE-backed businesses indispensable.

Centralized Registry & Document Hub

Save all entity details, including formation documents, investor agreements, and board minutes, to one super-safe cloud system.

Real-Time Compliance Tracking

Create yearly reminders for beneficial ownership updates and regulatory renewals to reduce last-minute deadline mishaps.

Real-Time Ownership & Cap Table Integration

Improve equity structures and LP allocations using the Cap Table Management integrated with Commenda.

Cross-Border Entity Management

Encompass global operations with pre-programmed Cross-Border Entity Management rules, FATCA/CRS, and local filing requirements.

Entity Ownership Tracking

Access Entity Ownership Tracking software designated for tracking investment and SPV ownership for up-to-date governance.

Custom Governance Dashboards

Effortlessly manage complex corporate actions by visualizing board compositions, officer tenures, and signatory powers.

Enterprise-Class Security

Commenda ensures your protected data through SOC 2 compliance, data encryption at rest and transit, SSO, and fine-grained permissions based on roles.

API-First Integration

Allows end-to-end automation and data unification by linking to your fund accounting, CRM, and data-room solutions.

Commenda offers private equity-specific design, service excellence, rich feature set that allows companies to reduce risks through managing legal entity complexities while allowing legal teams to concentrate on strategies instead of entity management.