At aixeos, we are among the very few teams specialized exclusively in AI-powered value creation for private equity and SMEs. We’ve consolidated all our research, insights, benchmarks, and best practices into one comprehensive document.
If you want to save dozens of hours of research, understand the future of value creation, and learn exactly how AI can increase enterprise value, accelerate ROI, and create a defensible competitive edge, this white paper is for you.
What You’ll Learn in This White Paper
✔ Why financial engineering can no longer carry the value creation plan
Discover why the old value creation playbook is no longer effective and why operational excellence has become the defining driver of returns in the current PE landscape.
✔ How operational value creation became the industry’s strongest return lever
Understand why operational value creation has become the key driver of performance — with 78% of PE investors expecting operational improvements to increase in importance.
✔ Why AI is emerging as the most powerful source of EBITDA expansion
See how AI is becoming the key multiplier for operational value creation and why the future of value creation will be built on AI-powered levers.
✔ Real examples from Vista, Hg, Apollo, and other leading PE firms
Learn how top-tier PE funds are integrating AI into their value creation playbooks and explore tangible real-world examples of how they do it.
✔ A curated list of high-impact AI use cases for PE and mid-market operators
Explore the use cases already creating measurable financial outcomes — from customer support automation and AI-powered content engines to rapid prototyping with vibe coding and much more.
✔ Deep dives into two high-ROI use cases
Gain insight into how two of the highest-impact use cases work in practice — and what measurable results they delivered.
✔ Key recommendations for building AI-powered companies
Learn best practices for unlocking value with AI in any company so you can avoid common pitfalls and save money, effort, and time.
✔ A look into our methodology for AI-powered value creation
Understand the structured, repeatable approach we use to turn AI into a measurable and scalable value creation engine across SMEs and PE-backed companies.
✔ 499€ worth of value — included for free
At the end of the white paper, you’ll receive one of our solutions valued at 499€ at no cost — make sure to download it.
Frequently Asked Questions We Answer in This Whitepaper
1. What are the highest-impact AI use cases for value creation in private equity?
From our research and experience, the AI use cases that most consistently deliver high-impact value creation and measurable EBITDA uplift across portfolio companies include:
- Customer support automation (AI agents resolving routine tickets, CRM actions, and service workflows)
- AI-powered content engines (scalable, consistent content for sales, marketing, and product)
- Rapid prototyping & Vibe coding (AI-assisted UI drafts, workflow logic, and faster product iteration)
- AI knowledge assistants (internal copilots that summarize, search, and automate internal knowledge tasks)
- Workflow automation for manual processes (automated document handling, data extraction, contract intelligence)
Across these use cases, private equity firms and mid-market companies typically see meaningful gains in revenue performance, operational efficiency, margin improvement, and execution speed — making AI one of the most powerful levers for modern value creation and stronger valuation outcomes.
2. Which private equity firms already use AI for value creation?
Leading PE funds like Vista Equity Partners, Hg, and Apollo Global Management are already deploying AI at scale across their portfolios:
- Vista uses AI agents for product development, sales optimization, customer success automation, and coding productivity.
- Hg applies AI to refactor codebases, automate prospecting, and improve customer analytics for prioritization.
- Apollo built a central AI Center of Excellence to share best practices and target high-ROI applications.
These firms demonstrate that AI is no longer experimental — it is a core competitive lever for funds and SMEs.
3. What are real examples of AI-powered value creation in private equity portfolios?
The whitepaper highlights several concrete examples:
- Cengage used AI to cut content production costs by 40%, raise development efficiency by 10%, and automate lead generation by 15–20%.
- Shutterfly introduced an AI auto-fill feature that generated $5M in new revenue in the first year and increased developer productivity by 22%.
- Gainsight automated renewals and CRM workflows at scale with AI agents, reducing support costs without adding headcount.
- LogicMonitor achieved approximately $2M in annual savings per customer through predictive issue detection powered by AI.
These cases show that AI can improve commercial performance, reduce costs, accelerate innovation, and strengthen customer-facing operations.
4. Where does AI create the biggest impact in value creation?
Previously, AI was mainly seen as a cost-cutting tool — but real-world results show that its impact is far more multidimensional. AI not only reduces costs, it also drives revenue growth, strengthens the commercial engine, and improves the overall business model. It enhances pricing, forecasting, and customer acquisition, improves operational execution, and upgrades the way products and services are created. In other words, AI supports value creation across every layer of the business, from commercial performance to operations to strategic positioning. This makes it one of the most powerful levers for both EBITDA impact and a stronger exit narrative.
5. What is the most important value creation lever in private equity today?
Operational value creation has become the number one driver of returns in private equity. Research from Simon-Kucher shows that operational improvements now account for 33% of total equity-story strength — nearly double buy-and-build strategies and far above financial engineering, which contributes only 8%.
At the same time, AI has become a powerful multiplier on top of these operational levers. When operational excellence is combined with AI-driven efficiency, automation, pricing, and growth initiatives, the impact compounds — making AI-enabled operational value creation the most reliable and scalable lever for driving EBITDA uplift and stronger exit multiples today.
6. What is the future of value creation in private equity?
The future of value creation in private equity is operational and AI-driven. Based on current market developments, AI-enabled value creation will evolve in three phases:
1. Incremental Improvement
The first phase focuses on quick wins — productivity gains, workflow automation, and cost efficiencies. Most companies operate here today, using AI mainly to streamline manual processes and reduce operational friction.
2. Business Transformation
In this phase, AI becomes embedded into core value drivers such as pricing, sales, forecasting, operations, and product development. Instead of isolated use cases, AI begins to reshape how the business runs end-to-end, unlocking step-change improvements in margin, speed, and commercial performance.
3. Business Building
The final phase uses AI to create entirely new value pools. Companies leverage their data to launch new products, new revenue streams, or even new business models. This is where AI becomes a growth engine — not just an efficiency tool.
We expect this phase to reach broader maturity within the next 2–3 years.
Learn more in our full AI value creation whitepaper for private equity.
