Altss vs PitchBook vs Preqin vs Dakota vs FINTRX: Which LP Database Wins in 2026?

Fundraising in 2026 is not a volume problem. It is a conversion problem.

Capital is still deploying, but it is deploying selectively, unevenly, and with higher scrutiny on fit, timing, and credibility. Allocators are slower to commit, faster to dismiss, and increasingly intolerant of generic outreach. The result is a bifurcated market: well-established managers continue to attract capital efficiently, while Fund I–II teams face friction not because capital is absent, but because access has become more conditional.

For emerging managers, lean IR teams, and cross-border funds, this shift has changed what "a good LP database" actually means. Coverage alone is no longer sufficient. Lists do not close funds. Conversion does.

This article compares five platforms—Altss, PitchBook, Preqin, Dakota, and FINTRX—based on how they perform against modern fundraising workflows in 2026: research, benchmarking, execution, and conversion.

Raising a Fund I or Fund II? Read the tactical guide: Best Database to Use While Raising Fund I VC in 2025 →

TL;DR

PitchBook remains the benchmark for private-market deal intelligence and company research. It is essential for market context, competitive analysis, and diligence—but it is not designed around fundraising execution or real-time LP activity.

Preqin, following its acquisition by BlackRock, remains strongest in institutional benchmarking, historical allocator behavior, and structured private-markets datasets. Its center of gravity is analysis, not outreach conversion.

Dakota is purpose-built for U.S. institutional fundraising execution, especially for teams running Salesforce-first IR workflows and relying on curated allocator coverage. At $15,500 per year, it provides strong value for domestic institutional targeting.

FINTRX functions best as a family office research layer—useful for profile depth and qualification, particularly in the U.S.—but often supplemented with tools that provide timing and routing signals.

Altss is designed for allocator signal intelligence and conversion: outreach timing, decision-maker routing, private-wealth visibility, relationship context, and execution-ready workflows.

If your priority is market research, PitchBook (and often Preqin) is foundational. If your priority is U.S. institutional execution inside Salesforce, Dakota is hard to ignore. If your priority is family office research, FINTRX is worth evaluating. If your priority is fundraising velocity—timing, routing, warm paths, and global private-wealth reach—Altss is built for that job.

The Fundraising Reality in 2026: Why Conversion Matters More Than Coverage

Before comparing tools, it is important to understand what has practically changed. The market entering 2026 is structurally different from even two years ago, and these differences have direct implications for which tools actually help.

Capital concentration has raised the bar

Allocators are committing to fewer managers per vintage. Re-ups and brand familiarity dominate institutional flows. The fundraising environment that troughed in 2025 has not fully recovered—it has restructured. Capital is available, but it flows through narrower channels.

This does not eliminate opportunity for emerging managers—but it raises the standard for relevance. In previous cycles, a strong thesis and reasonable credentials could generate meetings through volume. In 2026, that approach produces diminishing returns.

In this environment, expanding a list rarely improves outcomes. What improves outcomes is contacting the right allocator at the right moment, and routing the message to the person who can actually move it forward. The difference between a meeting and silence is increasingly determined by whether you reached the right person at the right time with the right framing—not whether your list was comprehensive.

Private wealth plays a larger role in first-fund outcomes

For Fund I–II managers, family offices, wealth intermediaries, and strategic LPs increasingly define early closes. The institutional fundraising drought that extended through 2024 and 2025 pushed emerging managers toward private wealth out of necessity. What began as adaptation has become strategy.

Family offices now represent a structurally larger share of early-fund LP bases. Their decision cycles are shorter—a family office can move from first meeting to commitment in weeks, while institutions often take quarters. But their expectations are higher. A generic pitch is filtered quickly. A mistimed one is ignored entirely.

The implication is straightforward: identifying who invests is no longer enough. You must identify who is actively deploying, under what conditions, and who controls the decision. Understanding the allocator decision chain—who influences the check beyond the named contact—matters as much as identifying the firm.

This shift has practical consequences for tool selection. Platforms built around institutional coverage and historical analysis are less useful when the LPs who actually close first funds are family offices moving on different timelines with different decision structures.

Direct investing reshapes LP behavior

Many allocators now operate hybrid models—sometimes LPs, sometimes co-investors, sometimes direct buyers. The same family office may decline a fund commitment while actively pursuing direct opportunities in parallel. A multifamily office may be overallocated to venture funds but actively seeking co-investment rights in specific sectors.

That variability means fundraising success increasingly depends on contextual understanding rather than static classification. A database that tells you a family office "invests in venture capital" provides less actionable intelligence than one that tells you they paused fund commitments six months ago but have been active in direct climate-tech deals.

The rise of direct investing also changes what LPs want from managers. A GP who can offer co-investment opportunities, deal flow visibility, or portfolio company access may find more receptive audiences than one offering only fund exposure. Understanding which allocators are building direct programs—and what their parameters are—creates targeting advantages that generic lists cannot provide.

Timing and routing have become first-order variables

Across modern fundraising campaigns, failures most often stem from stale or misrouted contacts, outdated mandate assumptions, and outreach that ignores where an allocator is in their decision cycle.

A database that does not surface change—role changes, liquidity events, strategy shifts—creates blind spots that lists alone cannot fix. The CIO who was your target six months ago may have left. The family office that seemed dormant may have just closed a liquidity event. The institutional LP that declined your last fund may have received a new allocation mandate.

These dynamics are invisible in static databases. They are visible in systems designed to detect and surface change. The practical question for 2026 is not "how many LPs can I access?" but "how many LPs can I reach at the right moment with relevant context?"

The denominator effect has reshaped institutional behavior

Institutional allocators spent much of 2023-2025 managing denominator effect pressures—public market declines that pushed private market allocations above target, creating constraints on new commitments even when capital was technically available. While public markets have recovered, the behavioral patterns established during that period persist.

Institutions have become more selective, more process-driven, and more reliant on existing relationships. For emerging managers, this means institutional capital is harder to access in Fund I and Fund II, even as it remains theoretically available. The managers who do access institutional capital early tend to have pre-existing relationships, warm introductions, or differentiated positioning that bypasses standard intake processes.

This reality reinforces the importance of private wealth for early funds—and the importance of tools that provide depth and timing in that segment rather than breadth in segments that are structurally difficult to access.

PitchBook: The Private-Markets Research Benchmark

PitchBook remains one of the most comprehensive platforms for private-markets research. It is widely used by PE and VC deal teams, corporate development groups, consultants, and analysts. The platform serves more than 100,000 clients worldwide and is recognized as the leading source of private capital market intelligence for deal-focused workflows.

Where PitchBook wins in 2026

Deal and company intelligence. PitchBook excels at mapping companies, financing histories, valuations, and competitive landscapes across private and public markets. If you need to understand a company's cap table, financing trajectory, or competitive positioning, PitchBook is often the starting point.

Market context and research depth. Its datasets and research reports—produced by more than 60 analysts—help managers frame narratives, support theses, and understand category dynamics. For fundraising conversations, this context often improves credibility even if it does not drive outreach directly. A GP who can articulate how their thesis fits within broader market trends, supported by data, presents differently than one who cannot.

Deal team workflows. For teams whose primary use case is sourcing, diligence, and competitive analysis, PitchBook is often non-negotiable. The Excel plugin and API integrations make it valuable for teams needing seamless workflow integration and automated reporting.

Where PitchBook is weaker for fundraising execution

PitchBook's LP data was built primarily for research workflows, not outreach velocity. Common limitations for IR teams include update cycles aligned with research cadence rather than allocator activity, limited visibility into live deployment windows, and inconsistent contact routing depth depending on public disclosure.

PitchBook answers what exists extremely well. It was not built to answer "who should I contact this quarter, and why now?" The platform can tell you that a family office has invested in fintech historically. It is less equipped to tell you that the same family office just hired a new CIO with a deep-tech background who is actively reshaping the portfolio.

For IR teams, this distinction matters. PitchBook is often part of the stack—providing market context that informs positioning and narrative—but it is rarely the primary tool for LP targeting and outreach execution.

Pricing: PitchBook costs $20,000-30,000+ per user annually, requires lengthy contracts, and has a learning curve that reflects its depth.

Best for: Deal teams and research-heavy workflows. Managers who need market mapping and competitive intelligence alongside fundraising. Corporate development professionals and consultants.

Preqin: Institutional Benchmarking in the BlackRock Era

Preqin's defining structural change entering 2026 is its acquisition by BlackRock. The platform now complements BlackRock's Aladdin technology platform, positioning it closer to institutional analytics and portfolio-level contexts over time. What this integration means practically for fundraising workflows remains to be seen, but Preqin's core strengths and limitations are well-established.

Where Preqin wins in 2026

Benchmarking and historical analysis. Preqin remains strong for understanding allocator behavior over time: commitment histories, performance benchmarks, peer comparisons, and institutional allocation patterns. For managers preparing for institutional conversations—particularly re-up discussions or consultant-driven processes—this historical context is valuable.

Structured private-markets datasets. Preqin serves more than 200,000 professionals globally and has pioneered rigorous methods of collecting private data for over 20 years. For later-stage funds navigating consultant-driven processes or institutional re-ups, Preqin provides a familiar analytical foundation that LPs and their advisors often share.

Investor sentiment tracking. Preqin's proprietary surveys measure sentiment across asset classes, providing macro context for understanding allocation trends. This is useful for positioning and narrative development, even if it does not directly drive targeting.

Where Preqin is weaker for conversion

Preqin's focus remains analytical rather than operational. It places less emphasis on real-time allocator activity, continuous routing as roles change, and outreach-ready decision-maker validation. The platform was built for institutional analysis, not fundraising execution.

For first-time or early-stage managers, these gaps are meaningful. First funds are rarely closed by benchmarking sophistication alone; they are closed through relevance, timing, and trust. A Fund I manager who can recite a pension fund's historical allocation patterns but cannot identify who currently controls emerging manager decisions—or when that person is actively reviewing new commitments—has research without actionability.

The BlackRock integration may eventually change this calculus. If Preqin incorporates real-time data capabilities or expands its private wealth coverage, it could become more relevant for execution workflows. For 2026, however, the platform remains primarily a research and benchmarking tool best suited for later-stage institutional contexts.

Best for: Institutional benchmarking and reporting contexts. Later-stage funds with established institutional LP bases. Consultant-driven processes.

Related reading: Altss vs Preqin: Full Comparison →

Dakota: U.S. Institutional Execution and Salesforce-First Workflows

Dakota has carved out a clear position by designing for fundraising operators rather than analysts. It is optimized for U.S. institutional IR execution and positions itself as "the only database built by fundraisers for fundraisers."

Where Dakota wins in 2026

Curated U.S. institutional coverage. Public pensions, endowments, foundations, and consultants are organized for practical fundraising use. For teams whose LP base is primarily domestic institutions, this focus is an advantage rather than a limitation.

Salesforce-native workflows. Teams running their entire IR operation inside Salesforce often find Dakota easier to operationalize than broader research platforms. Dakota's Salesforce sync offers contact syncing, list management, allocator record updates, and compliance-friendly CRM workflows with 100% feature parity.

Execution-oriented design. The platform is structured around day-to-day fundraising work: lists, contacts, tracking, and pipeline consistency. The platform updates 2,000+ transactions per month, keeping data current for active users.

Expanded coverage. Beyond LP data, Dakota now includes GP data, private company intelligence, public company data, and comprehensive M&A activity. International coverage has expanded to include the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Nordic region, Latin America, and Oceania.

Allocator programming. Weekly allocator webinars and programming help teams stay connected to the U.S. institutional landscape through event-driven engagement.

Where Dakota is weaker

Dakota is not designed to be a global private-wealth discovery engine. While international coverage has expanded, the platform's depth remains strongest in U.S. institutions. Teams raising internationally or relying heavily on family offices often complement Dakota with tools built for those segments.

For Fund I managers specifically, Dakota's institutional focus can create a mismatch similar to Preqin's. First funds rarely close on institutional capital—they close on family offices, wealth intermediaries, and strategic LPs. Dakota's strengths become more relevant for Fund III and beyond.

Pricing: $15,500 per year for one user, $1,000 per additional user. Free trial available.

Best for: U.S.-focused institutional fundraising. Salesforce-first IR teams. Teams with established institutional relationships seeking operational efficiency.

FINTRX: Family Office Data with a Research Orientation

FINTRX is commonly evaluated by teams seeking family office discovery and profile depth, particularly in the U.S. The platform positions itself as an AI-powered private wealth intelligence platform.

Where FINTRX wins in 2026

Qualification and research. FINTRX supports filtering, segmentation, and basic relationship mapping for teams building FO lists and prioritizing targets. The platform includes 4,400+ family offices and 24,000+ decision-maker contacts with filters across AUM, sector, region, and other criteria.

CRM integrations. Direct integration with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot, and other platforms makes FINTRX accessible for teams that need data flowing into existing systems.

U.S. coverage depth. FINTRX's hybrid model—automation plus research team—keeps the U.S. dataset polished. For teams focused on domestic family offices with existing networks, this provides useful context.

Where FINTRX is weaker for conversion

Research depth does not automatically translate into outreach effectiveness. Common limitations include limited visibility into when a family office is active, less emphasis on routing accuracy as roles and influence shift, and static profiles that age quickly in a fast-moving private-wealth environment.

Coverage outside the U.S. thins out, particularly across continental Europe, Asia, and the Middle East where significant private wealth now resides. For teams with global LP targets, this creates blind spots.

As a result, FINTRX is often used as a research layer rather than an execution anchor. Teams use it to understand which family offices exist and what their stated preferences are, then layer on signal-driven tools for timing and routing when moving to active outreach.

FINTRX on G2

Best for: Family office research and qualification. Teams with existing networks seeking structured FO context. U.S.-focused private wealth targeting.

Related reading: Altss vs FINTRX: Full Comparison →

Altss: The OSINT-Native LP Intelligence Platform Built for Conversion

Altss is built around a different organizing principle.

Most legacy platforms optimize for coverage and history. Altss optimizes for change and timing.

The core question Altss is designed to answer is not "who exists," but: Who is active now, who can decide, and what makes this outreach relevant today?

Private wealth depth aligned to Fund I–II reality

Altss prioritizes private wealth and family offices because they dominate early-fund outcomes. 9,000+ verified family offices globally, with profiles structured for outbound qualification—not just archival reference. This includes decision-maker identification, investment focus and sector DNA, ticket size and geography, allocation cadence, and relationship context.

This coverage extends beyond North America to include Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America—addressing the global distribution of private wealth that legacy databases often miss. Asia has emerged as the second-largest wealth region and the fastest-growing globally. A database with thin coverage outside North America creates blind spots where significant capital now resides.

The depth matters because family offices dominate the LP mix for Fund I and Fund II managers. An institution often takes quarters to move from first meeting to commitment. A family office can move in weeks. For emerging managers, this velocity difference is significant—but only if you can identify which family offices are actively deploying right now.

Real-time allocator signals

Altss uses OSINT pipelines to surface signals that materially affect responsiveness: role changes, liquidity events, mandate shifts, strategy pivots, and disclosed activity across public filings and registrations, organizational updates, job transitions, investment announcements, and media activity. These signals allow teams to align LP outreach with the allocator's decision cycle rather than working against it.

The practical difference is measurable. Reaching a family office two weeks after a liquidity event—when they have fresh capital to deploy—produces different results than reaching them six months later when capital is already committed. Reaching a family office during a CIO transition produces silence. Reaching them three months after the new CIO is settled produces meetings.

These timing dynamics are invisible in static databases. They are visible in systems designed to detect and surface change.

Relationship and influence context

Decision-making in private capital is rarely linear. Advisors, partners, family members, and portfolio executives often influence outcomes. The person with the title may not control the decision. The person who controls the decision may not have the title.

Altss maps these networks—co-investments, advisor and board roles, alumni overlap, former employer connections, previous fund commitments, and cross-fund syndication patterns—so teams can approach allocators through credible paths rather than cold abstraction.

The GP who can identify that their advisor once worked with the family office's CIO, or that a portfolio company founder has a board relationship with the principal, starts conversations from a different position than the GP sending cold outreach to a generic inbox.

Outreach-ready decision-maker routing

Routing accuracy is treated as a first-class requirement. In a stricter deliverability environment, stale contacts do more than fail—they actively harm sender credibility. A bounced email is not just an inconvenience—it signals to allocators that your research is shallow.

Contacts are deliverability-tested and periodically revalidated. For teams running lean sender infrastructure, this is not a minor detail—it determines whether outreach reaches anyone at all.

What's new in 2026

Two friction points consistently slow fundraising teams: translating intelligence into specific, non-generic outreach, and giving LPs a structured way to evaluate a manager once interest exists.

Altss addresses both through:

LP-GP Connect — a structured discovery layer that works in both directions. For LPs, it provides a way to evaluate managers by mandate, strategy, geography, and fund size without relying on cold inbound or existing networks. For GPs, it creates visibility with allocators who are actively looking—not just passively receiving outreach.

This addresses a recurring Fund I problem: once an LP is identified, what do you give them that is worth reviewing? A deck in a crowded inbox competes with dozens of others. LP-GP Connect provides structured context that helps allocators evaluate fit before the first call, shortening the gap between identification and engagement.

AI-assisted outreach drafts — not generic templates. Altss drafts outreach based on three layers of context:

First, your fund materials. Your deck, thesis, track record, portfolio, and positioning are ingested so drafts reflect your actual strategy—not placeholder language. Your tone of voice is preserved. If your materials are direct and technical, the drafts are direct and technical. If your approach is relationship-first, the drafts reflect that.

Second, LP intelligence. Every draft incorporates what Altss knows about the target: the firm's mandate, sector focus, recent activity, check size, geographic preferences, and portfolio composition. The draft articulates why this specific LP is a fit—not why LPs in general might be interested.

Third, decision-maker context. The person receiving the email matters as much as the firm. Their role, tenure, background, and recent signals (job change, conference attendance, public commentary) inform how the message is framed. A new CIO building a portfolio receives different outreach than a tenured principal maintaining one.

Drafts are also structured around deliverability. Email providers increasingly filter based on patterns that signal mass outreach: generic openings, over-templated structure, and formatting that triggers spam detection. Altss drafts follow best practices from leading email providers to maximize inbox placement—because outreach that lands in spam is outreach that never happened.

The result is a draft that a GP can send with minor edits, not a starting point that requires rewriting. For lean teams without dedicated IR support, this compresses the gap between intelligence and action.

Startup dataset — launched in 2026, this helps emerging managers align thesis narratives with live market activity and demonstrate sourcing advantage with evidence, not adjectives. For LPs evaluating whether a GP actually has differentiated deal flow, this provides supporting intelligence.

The broader shift in 2026 is clear: platforms that win are the ones that shorten the path from target → meeting → evaluation → commitment.

Pricing

$12,000 per year for family office coverage. $15,500 per year for full LP coverage.

See full pricing: Altss Pricing →

What Users Say About Altss

Altss receives consistently strong feedback on G2 and SourceForge.

A SourceForge reviewer described it as a "great family office database" and highlighted how easy it was to find relevant FO investors when seeking capital for a startup.

On G2, an LP described Altss as "the only LP database we actually use," emphasizing the real-time nature of updates and unusually high accuracy of contact information.

Another reviewer called it "the most detailed family offices database for personalized outreach," citing the ability to craft deeply tailored emails based on FO-specific insights.

These reviews consistently point to the same themes: freshness, organization, depth, and practical usability for real fundraising workflows—not just research.

Altss on G2

Altss on SourceForge

Which Platform Wins in 2026?

There is no universal winner—only fit by workflow and fund stage. The question is not which platform is objectively best, but which platform matches your specific workflow, LP base, and fundraising stage.

Fund I–II

Outcomes are driven by private wealth, timing, and routing. Capital concentration among established managers means institutional capital is increasingly difficult to access for emerging managers. The LP mix that actually closes first funds is heavily weighted toward private wealth.

Common stack:

• Primary: Altss (conversion, private wealth, signals)
• Supplementary: PitchBook or Preqin (market context)

Tools optimized for institutional workflows create friction rather than velocity at this stage. A Fund I manager spending significant time on Preqin benchmarking or Dakota institutional lists is often misallocating effort relative to where their capital will actually come from.

Fund III–IV

Institutional access improves as track record develops; private wealth remains relevant for expansion. This is the transition period where institutional capital becomes more accessible, but family office relationships built in earlier funds remain valuable.

A blended approach often works best:

• Altss for private wealth expansion and new LP discovery
• Dakota for U.S. institutional execution
• Preqin for benchmarking and consultant contexts

At this stage, the foundation of the raise often includes both re-ups from earlier LPs and new institutional relationships. Tools shift toward supporting both relationship maintenance and disciplined expansion.

Fund V+

Re-ups and institutional maintenance dominate. The majority of capital often comes from existing relationships, and the tools shift toward relationship management rather than discovery.

• Preqin and Dakota become more central for institutional workflows
• PitchBook remains core for research and market context
• Altss remains valuable for private-wealth expansion and geographic diversification

Even at later stages, new LP discovery matters for portfolio construction and geographic expansion. But the primary workflow shifts from conversion-focused outreach to relationship-centered maintenance.

Deal teams and market research

PitchBook remains non-negotiable regardless of fund stage. If your workflow depends on deal research, company intelligence, or market mapping, PitchBook is foundational. It is not an either/or decision with fundraising tools—it serves a different function.

FAQ

What is Altss?

Altss is an OSINT-native allocator intelligence platform designed for fundraising conversion: timing, decision-maker routing, relationship context, and execution.

How many family offices does Altss cover?

9,000+ verified family offices globally with decision-maker mapping and investment focus profiles.

Does Altss include institutional LPs?

Yes. Altss includes institutional LP coverage as part of its full LP dataset.

How does Altss collect data?

Through OSINT signals including public filings, registrations, organizational updates, job transitions, news signals, and disclosed activity.

Are contacts verified?

Contacts are deliverability-tested and periodically revalidated to reduce bounces and stale routing.

Does Altss integrate with CRMs?

Altss does not provide CRM integrations, API feeds, or CSV export. Data remains within the platform.

Does Altss map relationships and decision influence?

Yes. Altss includes relationship context designed to help teams find warm paths and understand influence patterns inside an allocator decision chain.

What is Altss pricing?

$12,000 per year for family office coverage. $15,500 per year for full LP coverage.

What changed most from 2025 to 2026?

Fundraising success increasingly depends on freshness, routing accuracy, and contextual relevance—not list size. The BlackRock acquisition of Preqin reshaped the institutional data landscape, while family offices continued to dominate Fund I–II outcomes. Conversion has become the primary constraint, not coverage.

Do I still need PitchBook?

If you rely on deal research or market mapping, often yes. PitchBook remains the research benchmark—but it was not built for LP outreach execution. Most sophisticated fundraising operations use multiple tools for different purposes.

Is Preqin useful for early funds?

It can support context and credibility, but early outcomes are more often driven by execution and timing than benchmarking depth. Preqin becomes more relevant for Fund III and beyond.

When does Dakota make sense?

For U.S. institutional, Salesforce-first IR workflows. Dakota provides strong value for teams whose LP base is primarily domestic institutions and who operate entirely inside Salesforce.

When does FINTRX make sense?

As a family office research layer, particularly when paired with tools that support timing and conversion. FINTRX is useful for qualification and prioritization, especially for teams with existing networks.

How does Altss compare to Preqin?

Preqin emphasizes institutional benchmarking and historical analysis; Altss emphasizes signal detection, family office depth, and outreach timing. For Fund I–II managers, Altss is typically the primary tool; Preqin becomes more relevant for Fund III+. See: Altss vs Preqin

How does Altss compare to FINTRX?

Both cover family offices. FINTRX emphasizes research orientation with stronger U.S. coverage; Altss emphasizes signal detection, global coverage, and outreach timing. Many teams use FINTRX for qualification and Altss for execution. See: Altss vs FINTRX

Why do IR teams choose Altss in 2026?

Because fundraising increasingly requires freshness, verified decision-maker routing, and global visibility—not static lists updated on slower cycles. With family offices making multiple direct investments per year and moving faster than institutional programs, timing-based intelligence has become essential.

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