Private Equity
Know the technology risk before you sign, fix it in the first 100 days and evidence it at exit. Falx gives private equity firms and their portfolio companies technical due diligence, security uplift and senior technology leadership.
Service Details
Cyber security and technology for private equity comes down to one question: what will this platform do to the value of the deal? You get a clear answer before you sign, a plan to fix what matters in the first 100 days and evidence that holds up when a buyer looks at it at exit.
We work with UK private equity firms, their deal teams and the portfolio companies they back. Our engineers assess and harden the technology, and our advisers turn the findings into decisions about price, priorities and risk. See how we support other sectors on our industries page.
INFO
You get one team across the whole hold period. The people who diligence the target can also fix what they find and prepare the evidence for exit, so nothing is lost between stages.
What keeps deal teams up at night
Technology risk hides in places a financial model does not show. You deal with three kinds:
Risk you cannot see before signing
Management presentations rarely mention end-of-life systems, unsupported code or a single engineer who holds all the knowledge. You need an independent view of the platform before the price is fixed, so surprises become negotiating points instead of write-downs.
One breach, whole-fund problem
Ransomware or a data breach in one portfolio company can halt trading, trigger regulator interest and damage the fund's reputation with investors. You raise the security floor across the portfolio, starting with the exposures that threaten value most.
Questions that stall an exit
Buyers now probe cyber security early in diligence. Weak answers lengthen the process or chip away at the price. You go to market with controls in place and the evidence to prove it.
Across the deal lifecycle
Technology risk changes shape as a deal moves forward. Here is what you need at each stage, and what we hand over.
From deal stage to deliverable
What you need
- Pre-deal: an honest view of the target's platform and security
- Completion: findings priced in or covered by the deal terms
- First 100 days: urgent risks closed and a plan the board backs
- Hold period: technology leadership and day-to-day IT that scale
- Exit: evidence that survives a buyer's diligence
What you hand over
- A technical due diligence report ranked by deal impact
- Red flags separated from issues to fix after completion
- A costed, prioritised 100-day remediation plan
- Board-ready risk reporting across the portfolio
- A vendor due diligence pack and data room evidence
Before the deal, our technical due diligence service assesses architecture, security, scalability and the team, as the first stage of our deal security solution. After completion, a fractional CISO or CTO can lead the 100-day plan, board advisory keeps directors informed, and managed services run IT and security day to day. A security posture review and penetration testing give you a fresh baseline before exit.
Standards your portfolio companies are asked for
Customers, insurers, lenders and buyers increasingly expect recognised frameworks. Each has its own service page:
FCA
Systems and controls evidence for the fund manager, and for any portfolio company carrying out regulated activities.
Cyber Essentials
The UK government-backed baseline, often required for public sector contracts and a quick early win after completion.
ISO 27001
An information security management system that larger customers and buyers recognise, scoped to the business.
UK GDPR
Customer and employee data protected, with breach response ready for the 72-hour reporting window.
Read more on FCA compliance support, Cyber Essentials certification, ISO 27001 and UK GDPR support.
Solutions for private equity
You get proven services combined around the deal and the value creation plan, not a fixed package. Buy-and-build strategies only create value if platforms can integrate and scale, so we tie technology decisions to the investment thesis.
Deal Security
Find out how secure, resilient and scalable a target’s platform really is before you invest.Strategic Advisory
Technology strategy tied to the value creation plan, not to vendor roadmaps.Technology Transformation
Modernise and consolidate systems so acquisitions add value instead of duplicating cost and risk.Secure Cloud Environments
Cloud foundations that let acquired businesses integrate quickly and safely.
How an engagement runs
We start by agreeing scope and deadlines around your deal timetable. Then we assess the technology, rank what we find by its effect on value and stay on to fix it if you want us to.
Assess
Platform, security and team reviewed against the deal thesis
Prioritise
Findings ranked by impact on price and value
Deliver
Remediation, leadership and evidence through to exit
Securing a private equity backed insurance group
We partnered with a private equity backed, buy-and-build insurance services group to secure their move to cloud-native infrastructure. Our team supported regulatory compliance, strengthened IT operations, modernised infrastructure and informed acquisition decisions through technical due diligence.
Many portfolio companies sit in regulated sectors. See how we support financial services and insurance businesses. All of our framework work sits within our governance services.
Frequently asked questions
Put a number on technology risk before it moves the price
Whether you are weighing a target, planning the first 100 days or preparing a business for sale, tell us where the deal stands. You get engineers and advisers who report in terms your investment committee can act on.