AI Pathfinder 2025: practical steps from curiosity to capability

AI Pathfinder 2025 brought together the true PE AI mobilizers in Europe; senior professionals actively driving AI advantage inside their firms. The atmosphere was refreshingly candid and collaborative, with leaders openly sharing lessons from the front lines of AI adoption in private equity.

Themes from the day

• Insightful talks & panels explored the practical realities of deploying AI in private equity, with clear examples of impact.

• Working sessions dug into the foundations needed to make AI stick — from building the business case to strengthening data architecture and driving cultural change.

• Community-led exchange gave the event a collegial feel, with genuine curiosity and willingness to learn from each other’s approaches.

• A big-picture close reminded us of the role PE professionals can play in shaping not just financial returns, but also a more resilient economy in uncertain times.

Our breakout session: origination reinvented

Deal Engine hosted a session with Rory Cooke (Inflexion), who shared how his firm built an integrated market data stack to transform origination:

• Connecting four to five paid-for market data sources with alternative datasets to create a 360° view of every top-of-funnel target, using Deal Engine as the internal data warehouse.

• Linking Deal Engine, DealCloud, and SharePoint, with proprietary AI models layered in to shape sourcing strategy.

• Using the combined data to create a rich internal data lake that now supports use cases beyond origination — from due diligence to preparing IC memos.

Audience questions highlighted the importance of the human “mobilizer” inside a PE firm — someone who can:

• Manage up, securing budget and leadership backing for the vision.

• Manage across, aligning stakeholders and shaping different requirements into a coherent execution plan.

As Phil Westcott, CEO of Deal Engine, put it:

“Preparing a PE firm for the age of AI requires an internal visionary & mobilizer, supported by a great technical partner.”

Building the business case

To make the discussion practical, the room split into small groups for a hands-on exercise:

• Each table coached a volunteer through building a business case to present to their investment committee.

• One team focused on designing a pre-meeting brief that leveraged everything the firm already knew about a prospect — pulling together internal and external knowledge into one coherent view.

Takeaways

The clear message from AI Pathfinder: AI in private equity is moving beyond pilots and into real workflows. Success comes not just from the technology, but from the leadership, data foundations, and cultural change needed to embed it across firms.

For Deal Engine, it was an opportunity to show how origination is being reinvented — and to learn alongside the community that is making it happen.