RockPort Capital

SITUATION

RockPort Capital is a multi-stage venture capital firm that invests in the areas of alternative and traditional energy, mobility, and sustainability. RockPort has a collaborative approach to investing, deep domain expertise, and insights into all aspects of energy and cleantech. With nearly $850 million in capital under management and offices in Boston and San Francisco, RockPort is globally recognized as being among the most established energy-focused venture capital firms.

At the heart of every strong venture capital investment is a profound commitment to partnership, not only within a firm, but also with entrepreneurs and limited partners (LPs). With collaboration comes the need for excellent communication. On the investor relations side, RockPort constantly strives to improve the way in which information is distributed to its investors. RockPort’s previous investor communication platform was not living up to the firm’s expectations.

Bettina Metais, RockPort’s investor relations director, recalls, “Our previous investor communication platform was an old product with always something to fix and we had a hard time with their upgrades. Service quality was going downhill, so we decided to look for a simpler, more reliable solution that fit our needs and offered a better cost/benefit balance.”

SOLUTION

To provide an easier way for LPs to obtain investment updates, RockPort deployed the cloud-based Intralinks investor reporting portal. Intralinks supports 120 users across two investment funds, providing RockPort’s LPs with quick, hassle-free access to quarterly reports, account statements, K-1s, distribution notices, capital call notices, and more. Intuitive dashboards streamline the uploading process for RockPort, allowing LPs to securely log in from anywhere, anytime to see their fund information in one place. “Many of our LPs already were using Intralinks with their other GPs, which was a big factor in our decision,” notes Metais. “Intralinks is well known across the financial industry for its ease of use and reliability. That intrigued us.”

BENEFITS

Since using Intralinks, RockPort can upload reports efficiently with consistent results every time. The firm also uses Intralinks' FileSplit tool to individualize investor reports, shaving off more than 80 percent of the time it took in the past.

Suzie Morano, RockPort’s finance director, says, “Intralinks is simple in a good way, which saves us a lot of time and headaches. There’s technology built in that lets us automatically split one giant PDF into individually tailored reports for each investor. Now we can share quarterly account statements in a fraction of the time it used to take us.”

Metais adds, “We feel more assured with Intralinks. We don’t have to spend time checking on it to make sure documents actually upload correctly. It just works every time.”

In addition to account statements, RockPort distributes several other quarterly reports. Each report takes approximately one minute to upload into Intralinks instead of the ten minutes that was required previously.

RockPort also improved security with Intralinks. Before, the firm had to actively manage system access for each of its LPs. "Once LPs are granted access, Intralinks handles password administration directly with the user – a streamlined and secure process” Metais notes.

Morano also points out that trouble calls related to password problems and other system issues have been eliminated. “We’d get a dozen or so calls every month. Now we simply don’t receive any.”

Adding new users is a breeze as well, since most of RockPort’s clients already use Intralinks. “We just enter the user’s email address and the rest of their information is already in the system,” Metais explains. “That’s a big time-saver for us and makes life much easier for our LPs, too.”

Beyond providing an easy and reliable solution for investor reporting, Intralinks presents investors with a familiar, Microsoft® Windows environment, custom-branded for RockPort Capital.

Metais concludes, “On top of everything else, Intralinks is in sync with our professional branding. The template picks up the same design theme as our website so our investors instantly know they’re in a RockPort Capital portal. That helps reinforce our image as a first-class firm in front of clients.”