Former Palantir and Carlyle executives raise $885m for AI-focused private equity firm

Aldaron, a new private equity firm co-founded by former Palantir and Carlyle executives, has successfully raised $885 million for its debut fund, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. This brings the firm's total assets under management to nearly $1 billion, with a focus on employing artificial intelligence to boost revenues and enhance operations at portfolio companies.

The firm's founders, Jay Grewal, Evan Mendez, and Will Oberndorf, have extensive backgrounds in technology and investment. Grewal led Palantir's commercial business, Mendez specialized in US technology buyouts at Carlyle, and Oberndorf managed private markets investments at his family's investment office. In March, Aldaron completed its first acquisition, acquiring a majority stake in Oak Point Partners, a firm specializing in purchasing residual assets from companies, including those in bankruptcy proceedings.

Since the acquisition, Aldaron has implemented AI tools to expedite research and identify investment opportunities, increasing its weekly transaction identification from one or two to 10 to 12. Oak Point anticipates revenues to increase up to fivefold over the next four to five years, with its workforce growing by approximately 20% to 75 employees since March.

The company plans to expand to 100 employees within a year, with half of its 12 current employees being engineers who collaborate directly with portfolio company management teams to develop and implement AI systems. Aldaron's strategy emphasizes revenue growth and operational expansion over workforce reductions, reflecting the growing interest in AI as a value creation tool among private equity managers.