NLC has launched a market-first fund finance technology platform designed to help lenders track, manage and gain insights into loans, improving the efficiency and credibility of their borrowing.
The asset manager has introduced Infinitas, a platform available to general partners (GPs) to manage their fund finance portfolios.
Infinitas offers a comprehensive suite of tools for sub-line financing, allowing managers to view the live status of their borrowing, monitor usage and covenants, and track the history of fund-level loans.
Neno Raic, managing partner at NLC, told Alternative Credit Investor that as far as the manager understands there is “nothing the same” as Infinitas and that it is “by far the most developed in the market”, with the platform “made by fund finance people for fund finance people”.
“There are three features platform allows you to do: it provides you with visibility of existing borrowing live, it helps you manage ongoing loans and borrowing base, and an intelligence of your books,” Raic said. “You can use it to improve your operations going forward and give a snapshot of what you are doing today.”
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The platform also tracks fund reporting requirements and includes interactive functionality, enabling users from different organisations to log in and collaborate.
In addition, the platform provides limited partner analytics, allowing GPs to see which LPs are in their portfolio and assess advance rates.
“We are a lender, we know this market inside and out, and all the functionality that we’re building is purposely made for what the borrowers actually need,” Raic said.
The platform has been available as a standalone product for GPs since October, although Infinitas has been live for around three years. It was initially built to manage NLC’s internal book before being made available to the firm’s clients.
NLC said this distinguishes it from other providers in the market, as the firm uses the system internally to manage its own lending activities on a daily basis.
Raic said: “We saw how inefficient and manually intensive it was for us as a lender at the time but also for our borrowers and realised there must be a better way to do it.”
Shailen Patel, managing director at NLC, added: “From what we have seen and heard across the market, GPs have an increasing focus on efficiency and automation, but a lack of credible choice when it comes to managing their growing portfolio of fund finance borrowings.”
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The firm also said that, to a large extent, the platform already includes a full set of features for asset-backed lending. It added that the system is continuously developed by an internal team and will continue to evolve to support the full range of fund finance products, with new features often driven by GP feedback.
“Coming from big tech and startups, I’ve seen first-hand the value of building technology that genuinely improves operations and business outcomes,” said Kresimir Slugan, chief technology officer at NLC. “Private markets are seeing strong momentum around adopting technology and artificial intelligence, with a real focus on adopting them without losing flexibility or a bespoke way of working. With Infinitas, we’re delivering exactly that for the fund finance market.”
The fund finance platform operates separately from NLC’s lending business.
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