We spoke with IMM Hong Kong’s Head of Operations to understand how Quantium’s software helped them centralise their data sources for easy and quick analysis, automate time-consuming routine tasks, and accurately manage complex fund structures.
THE CHALLENGE
IMM Investment, originally founded in 1999 as a venture capital firm, has grown into one of Asia’s leading multi-asset alternative investment companies It boasts a robust presence in venture capital, growth equity, and infrastructure, managing $6.4 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM), which solidifies its position as a prominent player in the region.
The firm has built a strong reputation based on its successful track record, enabling it to raise numerous venture capital and private equity funds since 2010. This success has attracted significant investor interest and trust. To further enhance its global strategy, Quantium was brought in to support IMM Hong Kong, an emerging independent investment platform that expands IMM Investment’s reach and capabilities in key markets. Through innovative strategies and a commitment to excellence, IMM continues to drive growth and deliver value to its investors.
We spoke with Yena Lee, Head of Operations at IMM Hong Kong, to understand how Quantium’s software enhanced their investment operations through:
- Centralizing data sources for comprehensive, timely analysis
- Accurately recording and reporting on complex fund structures, with the flexibility to configure the software according to their needs
- Leveraging Quantium’s deep operational expertise to ensure smooth implementation and adoption
- Sophisticated portfolio management functionality, for faster portfolio return analysis across industry/country and custom labelling
THE SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION
Before partnering with Quantium, IMM Hong Kong’s operational infrastructure relied heavily on Excel spreadsheets to manage their fund-related data and processes. This manual approach, while functional in the early stages, became increasingly unsustainable as the company rapidly expanded its number of funds and portfolios.
As IMM Hong Kong raised more funds and diversified across multiple strategies with co-investment vehicles, the complexity of managing their operation and giving investor transparency escalated. Given IMM Hong Kong’s growth trajectory and their increasing need for scalable operations, it soon became evident that they required a more sophisticated solution that could integrate and automate data management across their fund structures.
HOW QUANTIUM HELPED IMM HONG KONG INCREASE THEIR OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
1. Centralised data sources for comprehensive, timely analysis
With multiple funds under management and a range of disparate data streams, IMM Hong Kong encountered significant challenges in consolidating information across the organisation. The absence of a centralised software solution also made it difficult for IMM Hong Kong’s management team to gain a holistic view of their operations, including performance metrics, financial data, and risk assessment.
Quantium’s software system offered exactly that: a centralised platform that would allow IMM to streamline operations, consolidate data, and provide their leadership with the comprehensive insights necessary to scale effectively and strategically. Since implementing Quantium, IMM Hong Kong has been able to get a much clearer, consolidated view of their fund data and investor information, enabling them to better target their audience and operations without increasing their team size.
Quantium has significantly reduced the time required to generate reports – a task that previously took a full day of manual work now takes the team less than 1-2 hours, through the power of automation and consolidated data streams.
In addition, the Quantium database offers a CRM function, which allows IMM Hong Kong to share documents and email notifications to their LPs easily. Before Quantium, sending distribution notices to LPs was a time-consuming task, requiring 100+ emails to be prepared for each LP as well as ensuring the correct attachments for each individual email. Now, this process is automated – with a few clicks, the IMM Hong Kong team can send out 100 emails with 100 different (correct) attachments from the system in just a few clicks. The CRM function has thus greatly helped increase the team’s efficiency, because they no longer need to manually check and send emails one by one – this was extremely time consuming as they were often dealing with hundreds of LPs and attachments.
2. Flexibility to customise the software in line with IMM Hong Kong’s needs
While assessing system options, the adaptability of Quantium’s software stood out as a critical requirement to the IMM Hong Kong team due to their unique operational structure. IMM Hong Kong’s multi-asset strategy—spanning venture capital, and energy and infrastructure—meant they had diverse data and reporting requirements that couldn’t easily fit into an off-the-shelf solution. Their operations were characterised by a range of fund structures, regulatory frameworks, and investor demands that required a high level of software customisation.
Quantium’s ability to adapt its platform to these idiosyncrasies played a pivotal role in the decision-making process. IMM Hong Kong has been increasing its number of new funds and co-investment funds, which are intertwined with existing vintage funds in the form of parallel investment / feeder fund / child fund with combinations of SPV entities. Quantium’s system allows them to treat these complex fund structures correctly, while still being able to automate the accounting journal at every entity level and pick up the transaction allocations all the way to top-level LPs. With all this data maintained in Quantium, IMM Hong Kong can freely leverage the system’s integrated reporting tool to build ad-hoc reports on an as-needed basis, such as an LP registry, investor NAVs, fund carry aggregation, and more.
IMM Hong Kong needed a partner who could offer a bespoke solution, not just software, which Quantium delivered through a combination of configurable features and agile development. The flexibility of the system allowed IMM Hong Kong to configure dashboards, reporting tools, and workflows tailored to their specific needs—whether it was for detailed fund performance tracking or comprehensive investor reporting.
3. Deep operational expertise, ensuring a smooth implementation and adoption
IMM Hong Kong placed significant value on the hands-on support offered by Quantium’s team, whose deep expertise in the alternative investment sector was crucial. IMM’s operations involved a complex array of fund structures, investor requirements, and reporting standards. Quantium’s domain expertise ensured that they fully understood these operational intricacies, allowing them to address challenges that went beyond mere software implementation. The depth of knowledge within the Quantium team enabled them to quickly grasp the nuances of IMM Hong Kong’s business, from unique data workflows to regulatory obligations. This understanding was key in delivering a tailored solution that met IMM Hong Kong’s exact needs.
Moreover, Quantium’s responsiveness and proactive approach meant that any necessary adjustments were made swiftly, minimising disruption during the transition from manual processes to the new centralised system. The collaborative, attentive support from Quantium’s experts gave IMM Hong Kong confidence in the system’s ability to handle their growing operational complexity, while also streamlining processes and improving efficiency. This close partnership ultimately allowed for a smoother, more effective implementation, setting IMM Hong Kong up for long-term success.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, Quantium’s combination of adaptability, expertise, and value that allowed IMM Hong Kong to address its complex operational needs while positioning the firm for future growth, providing a comprehensive platform for centralised data management, flexible fund structure reporting, and efficient investor communication. By consolidating data streams and automating tasks, IMM Hong Kong has reduced the time spent on reporting and LP correspondence, enhancing team productivity without increasing headcount. Quantium’s customisable software also ensures accurate recording and reporting across IMM Hong Kong’s complex, multi-asset funds, while their operational expertise facilitated a smooth implementation.
“Quantium provides a highly effective and intuitive fund management platform. Its reporting tool, in particular, has been very helpful in streamlining data consolidation and various reporting generations with its flexible capabilities. We are also impressed by Quantium’s customer service teams with their focus on creating positive client experiences.”
– Yena Lee, Head of Operations at IMM Hong Kong