Aldaron, a newly established private equity firm founded by former executives from Palantir and Carlyle, has closed its debut fund with approximately $885m in commitments, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
The fundraising brings the firm’s total assets under management to nearly $1bn, with the strategy focused on using artificial intelligence to increase revenues and improve operations at portfolio companies.
Founded by Jay Grewal, Evan Mendez and Will Oberndorf, Aldaron targets US businesses with enterprise values between $200m and $1bn.
Grewal previously co-founded Palantir’s commercial business, where he led more than 600 engineers, while Mendez worked on US technology buyouts at Carlyle. Oberndorf previously led private markets investments at his family’s investment office.
The firm completed its first acquisition in March, taking a majority stake in Oak Point Partners, a business specialising in acquiring residual assets from companies, including those undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
Since the acquisition, Aldaron has reportedly introduced AI tools to accelerate research and identify investment opportunities. Oak Point now identifies 10 to 12 potential transactions each week, compared with one or two previously.
Oak Point reportedly expects revenues to increase as much as fivefold over the next four to five years. Its workforce has grown by approximately 20% to 75 employees since March, with plans to reach 100 within a year.
Half of Aldaron’s 12 employees are engineers, who work directly with portfolio company management teams to develop and implement AI systems.
The strategy prioritises revenue growth and operational expansion rather than workforce reductions, reflecting increasing interest among private equity managers in using AI as a value creation tool.
