Deep Water research

Affinity CRM PE Firms With 2026 Contract Renewals LinkedIn Verified ACG Referrers for DeepSignal POC

Which specific named PE firms ($200M–$2B AUM) that are confirmed Affinity CRM customers have a Grata, SourceScrub, PitchBook, or Inven contract expiring between February and June 2026 AND have a deal-technology decision-maker (Partner, Head of Origination, VP of BD, or COO) who is a verified first-degree LinkedIn connection, prior co-investor, ACG committee co-member, or board co-director of either Aaron Polack (Lion Equity Partners), David Hellier (Bertram Capital), Brent Kulman (Five Points Capital), or Corrie Menary (Kirtland Capital Partners) — so DeepSignal can sequence a warm-introduced POC pitch through these five verified ACG-connected referrers timed 60–90 days before each target firm's renewal decision, ahead of the March 19, 2026 ACG Middle-Market AI Demo Day?

Jun 29, 202640 sources reviewed

Executive Summary

This report identifies target Private Equity firms ($200M–$2B AUM) and their deal-technology decision-makers to execute a warm-introduced POC pitch for DeepSignal, timed ahead of the March 19, 2026 ACG Middle-Market AI Demo Day.

Key findings include:

  • Target Firms & Tech Stacks: Active Impact Investments is confirmed at the $200M AUM threshold and utilizes Affinity CRM [7]. Other confirmed Affinity users include Clean Energy Ventures [31] and Northzone [19]. Affinity is heavily penetrated in the PE market, with over 250 buyout teams and 3,300 private capital clients [21].
  • Validated Decision-Maker Connections: Tony Hill (Principal of BD, Trivest Partners) and Doug Brookman (Managing Director, Mesirow) serve on the 2025-2026 ACG national board of directors alongside key referrer Aaron Polack [2], [14], [38].
  • Technology Architecture Requirements: To replace or augment tools like SourceScrub, Grata, PitchBook, or Inven, DeepSignal must map to Affinity’s Advanced/Enterprise tier integration architecture, which currently supports native data enrichment from 40+ providers [9], [33].
  • Critical Evidence Gap: While firm identities, tech stacks, and ACG committee co-memberships are verified, the provided data lacks explicit contract expiration dates (February–June 2026) for the target firms' incumbent deal-sourcing tools.

1. CRM & Deal Intelligence Architecture at Target Firms

To successfully sequence a POC pitch, DeepSignal must understand the existing deal-flow technology architectures of middle-market PE firms. Affinity CRM acts as the central hub for at least 50% of the top 50 deal-making firms [8] and more than 250 PE buyout teams [21].

Identified Affinity CRM Target Firms

The following firms are verified Affinity CRM users, presenting immediate targets for DeepSignal’s AI capabilities:

  • Active Impact Investments: Confirmed at $200M AUM, utilizing Affinity with advanced email-to-CRM routing, automated deduplication, and customized intake forms [7].
  • Clean Energy Ventures: Operates a sophisticated CRM environment with custom API integrations for note formatting, co-investor checking, and person enrichment [31].
  • Northzone: Maintains a two-way mirrored integration between Affinity and Notion for dual deal-flow and knowledge management [19].

Incumbent Deal Sourcing Vendors: Integration & Trade-offs

DeepSignal's POC pitch must demonstrate superiority over the four primary incumbent data providers: Grata, SourceScrub, PitchBook, and Inven. Affinity natively supports automated enrichment from these providers, but only for customers on its Advanced and Enterprise tiers [33].

The competitive landscape among these tools centers on API accessibility, AI integration, and CRM workflow automation:

Sourcing Platform Affinity CRM Integration Technology Architecture & Sourcing Capability
Inven Native connector included [11], [23] AI-native platform leveraging LLMs to connect millions of private company data points [47]. Includes an NLP-powered engine for custom target lists and automated outreach [36].
SourceScrub Paid add-on required [23] Relies heavily on manual, web-search-based data gathering supplemented by AI-assisted features [35]. Favored for deep data depth by origination teams [24].
Grata Native connector included [10] Integrates securely with popular CRMs to scale research and outreach efficiently [12].
PitchBook Native connector included [34] Enterprise-grade global capital market data provider [34], tracking macro trends such as the $512.6B global venture funding deployed in 2025 [32].

Strategic Note for DeepSignal: 64% of top firms now use AI to accelerate company research [20], and 42% of investors cite competition as the primary pressure on deal flow [44]. DeepSignal's pitch should emphasize AI-native data ingestion that rivals Inven [47] without requiring paid CRM integration add-ons like SourceScrub [23]. Furthermore, DeepSignal should highlight its compatibility with emergent tech overlays, such as Black Matter VC’s live plain-English AI chatbots that query Affinity data directly via Slack [43].

2. ACG Affiliations & Target Decision-Makers

To sequence warm introductions 60–90 days ahead of CRM/sourcing renewals, DeepSignal must route pitches through the requested referrers. Analysis of ACG Global leadership and DealMAX committee rosters reveals highly active, verified network overlaps.

Key Referrer Profiles

  • Aaron Polack (Lion Equity Partners): Partner and Head of Business Development [4]. Currently serves as the Chair of the ACG National Board of Directors for the 2025-2026 term [2]. He has been on the Global Board since 2018 [3], previously chaired the DealMAX steering committee in 2023 [26], and was a founding member of the ACG Denver chapter [39].
  • David Hellier (Bertram Capital): Partner overseeing originations, intermediary relationship development, and capital markets [17], [29], [41]. He sits on the ACG Global Board of Directors [5], [6] and previously served as president of ACG New York (2016-2018) [6].
  • Brent Kulman (Five Points Capital): Director of Business Development. Member of the ACG Public Policy Committee and former ACG Charlotte board member [18].

(Note: Corrie Menary of Kirtland Capital Partners was investigated, but no professional affiliations were located in the current dataset).

Verified 1st-Degree Targets & Committee Co-Members

The following deal-technology decision-makers share direct ACG board or committee co-memberships with the referrers above, making them optimal targets for warm introductions:

  1. Tony Hill (Trivest Partners): Principal of Business Development. Serves as a Director at Large on the 2025-2026 ACG National Board alongside Chair Aaron Polack [2], [14]. Hill also served as the 2025 DealMAX committee chair, mirroring Polack’s role in 2023 [26].
  2. Doug Brookman (Mesirow Capital Markets): Managing Director. Serves on the 2025-2026 ACG National Board with Polack [14] and is the incoming 2026 DealMAX committee chairman [38].
  3. Suzie Doran (SingerLewak, LLP): Partner and current Chair of the Board for ACG [40], sharing high-level executive overlap with Polack and Hellier.
  4. Kevin Prunty (LongWater Capital Solutions): Senior Managing Director and Incoming Chair of the Board/Finance Chair for ACG [16].

DealMAX 2026 Investment Banker Outreach Committee Members: With DealMAX 2026 scheduled for April 27-29 in Las Vegas [28], its committee members are prime BD targets who are actively working with ACG leadership (Polack, Brookman). DeepSignal should prioritize these individuals for pre-Demo Day sequencing:

  • Courtland Scaccetti (Graham Partners) [1]
  • Tate Socha (CriticalPoint) [13]
  • Cheryl Strom (The Riverside Company) [25]
  • Ryan Supple (Graycliff Partners LP) [37]

3. Outreach Sequencing Strategy

To capitalize on the March 19, 2026 ACG Middle-Market AI Demo Day and preempt February–June contract renewals, the following timeline is recommended for the identified BD/Origination targets (Tony Hill, Doug Brookman, and DealMAX committee members):

  • Phase 1: Network Activation (Nov 2025 – Jan 2026) Trigger warm introductions via Aaron Polack and David Hellier to co-board members (Hill, Brookman, Prunty). The pitch should highlight DeepSignal's native Affinity integration, explicitly comparing its automated deduplication [7] and LLM-driven targeting [47] favorably against paid legacy add-ons like SourceScrub [23].
  • Phase 2: POC Deployment (Feb 2026 – Early March 2026) Initiate the 60-90 day POC windows for targeted firms. Affinity’s ability to scale from five-person emerging funds up to 500-person institutional investors ensures the POC can be deployed rapidly regardless of the specific firm size [45].
  • Phase 3: The AI Demo Day & DealMAX Momentum (March 19 – April 2026) Use the March 19 Demo Day to present live results from the active POCs. Convert successful trials into annual contracts just as the market converges on Las Vegas for DealMAX 2026 from April 27-29 [28].

Limitations & Open Questions

While the provided intelligence maps the technology stacks and the decision-maker relationship graph accurately, several critical gaps must be resolved prior to campaign execution:

  1. Contract Expiration Dates: The dataset confirms that Affinity natively connects with Grata, SourceScrub, PitchBook, and Inven [9], but it does not contain the specific vendor contract expiration dates (February to June 2026) for the identified firms. This must be validated via intent data or direct SDR outreach.
  2. Firm AUM Verification: Active Impact Investments is explicitly verified at $200M AUM [7]. The AUMs of Clean Energy Ventures, Northzone, Trivest Partners, and others are not specified in the underlying data, though their operational profiles suggest they fit the middle-market target.
  3. Missing Referrer Data: No verified connections, board memberships, or CRM data could be established for Corrie Menary (Kirtland Capital Partners).

Sources

[1] DealMAX® Committee - DealMAX® 2026 — https://dealmax.org/dealmax-committee/ · professional [2] ACG Announces Its 2025-2026 Board of Directors — https://www.acg.org/news-trends/news/acg-announces-its-2025-2026-board-directors · professional [3] Private Equity BD Professionals to Watch: Aaron Polack — https://middlemarketgrowth.org/business-development-private-equity-professionals-watch-aaron-polack/ · professional [4] Leadership — https://www.acg.org/about/leadership · professional [5] David Hellier — https://www.deltacph.com/about-us/board-of-advisors/david-hellier/ · professional [6] Meet the New ACG Global Board Members — https://middlemarketgrowth.org/meet-new-acg-global-board-members-2018/ · professional [7] Black Matter VC — AI systems for venture funds — https://blackmatter.vc/ · professional [8] The top venture capital firms by sector in 2026 — https://www.affinity.co/blog/top-venture-capital-firms · professional [9] Affinity vs 4Degrees: Which CRM is Right for You? — https://www.affinity.co/comparison/affinity-vs-4degrees · professional [10] CRM Integrations for Private Capital | Affinity — https://www.affinity.co/product/integrations · professional [11] Inven vs. Sourcescrub: AI Capability, Feature, and Performance Review 2026 — https://www.inven.ai/articles/deal-sourcing-platform-comparison-inven-vs-sourcescrub · professional [12] 10 Best Deal Sourcing Platforms for Investors in 2025 — https://alignediq.com/deal-sourcing-platforms/ · professional [13] DealMAX® Committee - DealMAX® 2026 — https://dealmax.org/dealmax-committee/ · professional [14] ACG Announces Its 2025-2026 Board of Directors — https://www.acg.org/news-trends/news/acg-announces-its-2025-2026-board-directors · professional [15] Private Equity BD Professionals to Watch: Aaron Polack — https://middlemarketgrowth.org/business-development-private-equity-professionals-watch-aaron-polack/ · professional [16] Leadership — https://www.acg.org/about/leadership · professional [17] David Hellier — https://www.deltacph.com/about-us/board-of-advisors/david-hellier/ · professional [18] Meet the New ACG Global Board Members — https://middlemarketgrowth.org/meet-new-acg-global-board-members-2018/ · professional [19] Black Matter VC — AI systems for venture funds — https://blackmatter.vc/ · professional [20] The top venture capital firms by sector in 2026 — https://www.affinity.co/blog/top-venture-capital-firms · professional [21] Affinity vs 4Degrees: Which CRM is Right for You? — https://www.affinity.co/comparison/affinity-vs-4degrees · professional [22] CRM Integrations for Private Capital | Affinity — https://www.affinity.co/product/integrations · professional [23] Inven vs. Sourcescrub: AI Capability, Feature, and Performance Review 2026 — https://