Schroders Capital Expands Use of AI: Virtual Investment Committee Agent Arrives

Schroders Capital , the private markets arm of Schroders Group, has announced the expansion of its range of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) tools with the introduction of an innovative “ virtual investment committee agent ”.

This new AI tool aims to further enhance the investment decision-making process. Developed by Schroders Capital’s data science team, this proprietary solution has been specifically designed to complement the firm’s existing Generative AI Investment Analyst (GAiiA).

Since its launch 12 months ago, GAiiA has enabled Schroders Capital’s private equity professionals to efficiently sift through large amounts of data , accelerate due diligence and produce first drafts of investment summaries.

Professionals retain full responsibility for reviewing the AI-generated results, integrating the analysis, providing their own risk and opportunity assessments and finalizing the documentation before making any investment decisions. While AI tools support the process, every investment decision at Schroders Capital is made exclusively by experienced professionals.

The Investment Committee's new virtual agent is designed to interact seamlessly with GAiiA, reviewing preliminary documents produced by GAiiA and providing further insights into topics such as industry dynamics, business model considerations and risk factors based on Schroders Capital's historical investment data.

Investment team members evaluate and build on the virtual agent’s feedback and can instruct GAiiA to produce an improved version of the original analysis, which is then resubmitted to the team for review. With the help of these new tools, Schroders Capital’s experts are able to conduct more precise, consistent and detailed analysis, aiming to analyse even more investment targets than ever before.

Both the investment committee’s virtual agent and GAiiA have undergone extensive internal testing . Schroders Capital will continue to develop and enhance the capabilities of both tools over time. In parallel, Schroders Capital is investing in the ongoing development of its team’s skills, ensuring that advances in artificial intelligence are matched by the deep experience and judgment that underpin the firm’s investment philosophy.

Since its introduction, GAiiA has supported the private equity team by generating early drafts of investment committee memoranda and responding to specific requests regarding target investments during direct investment/co-investment due diligence. Importantly, GAiiA has already assisted in over 40 investment cases and has now also been adopted by the firm’s primary and secondary markets teams, broadening its application to all types of private equity investments.

“The launch of the new virtual investment committee agent is an important milestone in the evolution of our investment process,” said Nils Rode , Chief Investment Officer, Schroders Capital. “By integrating this innovative system, we are bringing even greater rigor to Schroders Capital’s investment decision-making process. Likewise, the implementation of GAiiA across all types of private equity investments and the planned future enhancements support our mission to elevate our investment analysis to a new level, giving our clients access to cutting-edge expertise and our employees the development of new skills for an AI-driven future of work.”