Hamilton Lane

Business Challenge

While private markets have experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, the tools and technology available to investors have not kept pace.

Analytics Solution

In 2016, Hamilton Lane (HL) partnered with a Boston-based technology company to create Cobalt LP (Cobalt), an analytics platform that enables limited partners (LPs) to make data-driven decisions leveraging HL’s proprietary data and analytics. HL invested balance sheet capital into the partnership and built an internal team, led by Griff Norville, to manage the business.

Impact

Cobalt was an immediate internal success, driving internal efficiencies for quarterly industry insights, market research and portfolio planning. Cobalt enables HL teams to service clients more efficiently, cutting turnaround time on requests and quarterly reporting. To date, HL teams have run more than 325,000 analytics projects on the platform for more than 650 client accounts.

Cobalt has also proven a commercial success, emerging as a new technology service line sold directly to LPs. This service has become a meaningful source of revenue for HL, enabling HL to connect with segments of LPs who may not have otherwise engaged with HL. HL’s Cobalt client base has expanded to over 70 clients globally. Those Cobalt clients can now analyze their portfolio and market data using the same tools and analytics as HL professionals. 

In 2020, HL wholly acquired the Cobalt business. The Cobalt team at HL has grown to 18 dedicated employees with ongoing plans for growth. The Cobalt team features several Drexel alumni, including Mike Buck (’05), who leads software development, and Muriam MacIntosh (’15, MBA ‘16), who leads customer success. The Cobalt team works closely with HL’s Private Market Analytics group, led by Bryan Jenkins (’12) and featuring Bridget Higgins (’17) to develop new tools and analytics.

HL expects Cobalt will continue to be a key analytics solution for both internal and external users.