Rev. Date November 8, 2024
Private Asset Data Uploads
How do I upload private asset data?
If there are private asset investments you’d like to analyze that aren’t currently provided by Venn in the Data Library, you can upload your own data by selecting “+Investments/Portfolios” and clicking on “Upload Private Asset Data” from the pop-out menu.
Click the "Formats and Templates" tab and download the template that best suits your dataset. Only .xls format is supported for private data at this time. Follow the instructions in the template to populate data (also included below). Click the "Upload Data" tab and add the completed template file to the uploader. Once uploaded, all private asset data will be available in the Private Asset Data section of the Data Library.
How do I revise or add new data to an existing uploaded investment?
To update any data for user-uploaded funds, data must be re-uploaded using the uploader. When updating data for existing investments you can choose to: overwrite the full dataset, overwrite just the overlapping data (if there’s a data revision), or append new data.
What template should I use to upload my data?
Venn provides two templates for uploading private asset data, each with different data input requirements for the cash flow modeling computations:
Privates Template with Historical Cash Flows - this template should be used for private asset investments with historical cash flow transactions data available (e.g. capital calls, distributions, NAVs)
Privates Template with Cumulative Cash Flows - for investments that you don’t have the historical cash flow transactions readily available, you can use this template to upload the most recent Values and Cumulative Contributions instead.
Private Asset Data Upload Template Instructions
The private asset data upload template consists of two instructional tabs and three data tabs that users must complete:
#Instructions - overview of data tabs in the template and general instructions for completing the template.
#Asset Class and Strategy - Venn uses different sets of parameters for the cash flow pacing model depending on the asset class/strategy of the investments. Please refer to this tab for what Asset Classes and Strategy are available as inputs.
Metadata - this tab is used to populate metadata of the funds such as vintage, fund status, etc. Please note that the Capital Commitments for each fund should be entered in this tab as well.
Performance - this tab is used to upload the funds’ performance data (net IRR %, net multiple, RVPI %, DPI %, called %).
Cash Flow - this tab is used to either upload the historical cash flow transactions (Capital Call, Distribution, Value) or the most recent Value and Cumulative Contributions, depending on the template chosen.
Below are important instructions to be aware of when populating the template:
When completing the data template, please ensure that the name of the funds in the “Fund Name” columns across the tabs are consistent to ensure that the correct data gets mapped to each fund.
The columns that are highlighted are inputs that are mandatory for the cash flow projection computations.
The Performance tab is not mandatory for cash flow modeling, but the fund names and the as-of dates are highlighted because they are required for any performance data to be correctly uploaded into Venn.
Metadata Tab
Venn uses different sets of parameters for different types of investments for the cash flow pacing model. Please refer to the table below for the available inputs for the Asset Class and Strategy fields for Venn to be able to select the set of parameters for the cash flow pacing model.
The asset class must be entered exactly the same as one of the options below for the cash flow model to run.
Venn recommends users to select one of the options below for strategy, but leaving this field blank or entering a user-defined strategy will not prevent the modeling of cash flow pacing.
Note that the “sub-strategy” field is available for any custom categorization inputs. This field will not feed into the cash flow pacing model and is for display purposes only.
Performance Tab
Enter performance data as a percentage value (without the % sign), not as decimals (e.g. “15” for 15% instead of “15%” or “0.15”).
Cash Flow Tab
Ensure you use one of the following Transaction Types. Any other descriptors (e.g. “Contribution” instead of “Capital Call”) will not be recognized by the uploader.
Capital Call
Distribution
Value
Enter all cash flows as a positive number.
In the Privates Template with Cumulative Cash Flows, if multiple data points are entered for Value and Cumulative Contributions for the same fund, only the data as of the latest date will be used.
Private Asset Portfolio Construction
A Private Asset Portfolio is a portfolio made up of only private asset investments and can be used for the private asset-specific analytics listed above. Please note that a private asset portfolio does not consist of any returns information, and as such cannot be used for Venn’s return-based analyses, such as factor analyses. To use Venn’s return-based analytics, please create a returns-based portfolio instead.
Step 1. Open a new portfolio
Private Asset portfolios can be created by clicking “+Investments/Portfolios” from the left-side panel and selecting the “CREATE NEW PRIVATE ASSET PORTFOLIO” option. After selecting the option, you can name your portfolio and also choose to create a new portfolio from scratch or from an existing portfolio.
Another method to create a new portfolio is to open an existing private asset portfolio in Studio, then clicking “Save As…” at the bottom of the allocation panel.
Step 2. Add investments
Once you click “create,” Venn will redirect you to Studio. Click the calculator icon next to the portfolio’s name in the Input panel to open the Portfolio Allocator Panel. You can click the “+” icon to add investments; both Venn-provided private asset investments and user-uploaded data may be added. Finally, enter the Capital Commitments, and save the portfolio. Once saved, you will be able to access the portfolio from your Private Asset Data Library and add it to other Studio or Report Lab reports.
Step 3. Input allocations
As default, when an investment is added to a portfolio, the investment’s commitment size saved as metadata (either system-provided or user-uploaded, also shown in the Manage Data page of the investment) will be displayed. This number can be altered, and based on the capital commitment entered in the allocator panel, all relevant metrics will be scaled accordingly. For example, if a fund’s cash flows are based on an initial capital commitment of $10M and a user enters $20M as the commitment for the fund in their portfolio, cash flow data will be scaled by x2.
Note that the strategy/asset class structure is only available for the returns-based portfolios.
Please note Private Asset portfolios may only be created, configured, and modified in Studio.
Private asset portfolios are less liquid than public asset portfolios and have additional risks, including the risk of loss. Cash flow pacing models rely on historical data and the typical cash flow profiles of an asset class or strategy to make projections based on assumptions. A fund’s or portfolio’s actual cash contributions and distributions will be different from those shown by the model. This document highlights certain aspects of this feature. As an overview, it does not discuss all material facts or assumptions. Please see Important Disclosure and Disclaimer Information.