How Altss sources and verifies private markets data
Altss is built on open-source intelligence infrastructure — not survey submissions or quarterly analyst calls. Every LP, GP, and person in the platform is sourced through documented OSINT pipelines, verified continuously, and validated by a specialized research team.
The OSINT-first approach
Legacy private markets databases (Preqin, PitchBook, FINTRX) were built on 2000s-era methodology: analysts call firms, firms submit data, databases batch-update quarterly. That model has structural problems in 2026 — data goes stale between updates, firms self-report inconsistently, and the timing of information matches the cadence of calls, not the cadence of the market.
Altss was built differently. Our data infrastructure is open-source intelligence first — pipelines that continuously monitor public signals, regulatory filings, and verified sources. Human research validates OSINT output where precision matters. The result is data that's both more current and more auditable than survey-based databases.
Our data sources
Regulatory filings
Form ADV — investment adviser registrations. Form D — Regulation D private placement filings. Form PF — private fund adviser reporting. 13F — institutional holdings above $100M. Regulation A filings, state-level securities filings, public pension disclosures, sovereign wealth annual reports, public endowment reports.
Public disclosures and meeting records
US public pension investment committee meeting minutes across 1,400+ plans. Sovereign wealth fund transparency reports (NBIM, NZ Super, Future Fund, AIMCo). University endowment annual reports. Private foundation allocation disclosures. Public company filings disclosing private markets exposure.
Trade press and specialized publications
Institutional press — Pensions & Investments, Institutional Investor, With Intelligence, Private Equity International, and major regional press. Industry research and conference content. Published commentary and panel discussions.
Infrastructure and domain intelligence
Domain registration data for new fund launches and firm formations. SSL and hosting signals for infrastructure changes. Public-facing technology signals for product and platform launches.
Professional network intelligence
Structured professional data on role transitions, tenure, and career history. Industry conference speaker and attendee intelligence. Published thought leadership.
Multi-language coverage
Native-language OSINT monitoring in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. Critical for comprehensive MENA, APAC, LATAM, and European coverage.
The verification layer
OSINT output has one structural risk: false positives from automated pattern matching. Altss addresses this with a specialized research team.
Research leadership. Altss's research operation is led by a team with intelligence-agency-grade data validation practices.
What the research team does. Validates OSINT output where precision matters (decision-maker contact, mandate interpretation, ambiguous signals). Cross-references multi-source intelligence for consistency. Resolves conflicts between automated extraction and source data. Researches manually where OSINT signals are insufficient. Maintains a manual override layer that corrects edge cases.
Human-in-the-loop validation. For critical fields — decision-maker roles, direct contact information, mandate specifics — human validation precedes publication in the platform. Automated data surfaces with confidence flags so users can see which fields are machine-sourced vs. human-verified.
Continuous verification cycle
Contact data — 30-day cycle
Every email and role in the platform is re-verified on a rolling 30-day cycle. Bounces are removed before they reach user screens. Significantly tighter than competitor cycles — typical legacy database email verification is quarterly or never.
Entity data — continuous
New LPs and GPs enter the platform as they become publicly observable. Existing records are re-audited on a rolling basis. Mandate and strategy data updates as disclosures surface.
Signal data — continuous
Material events (CIO transitions, fund closings, policy changes, major commitments) are tracked continuously via OSINT. Typical latency from event to platform: days, not quarters.
Data quality transparency
Fields are flagged with source indicators so data is never presented with false precision:
- Disclosed — directly published by the source (regulatory filing, annual report, press release)
- Derived — calculated from public inputs using documented methodology
- OSINT-sourced — identified through signal monitoring and triangulation
- Estimated — triangulated estimate with confidence range
- Research-validated — confirmed by the Altss research team
What Altss does and doesn't do
Altss does not
Purchase data from brokers. Solicit confidential information from GPs or LPs. Accept unsolicited data submissions without validation. Scrape private-contact data outside platform terms. Aggregate data without source traceability.
Altss does
Source from public and regulatory channels only. Validate OSINT output with human research. Provide source attribution for sensitive fields. Protect dataset integrity through in-platform-only access. Respect allocator and firm privacy requests.
Privacy and data ethics
Individual profile review. Anyone represented in the Altss platform can request review of their profile. Individuals can request correction of inaccurate information or redaction of specific fields. Applies globally, not only to EU GDPR subjects.
Firm-level review. Firms, family offices, and institutions can request profile review and data correction. Altss prioritizes accuracy and respects allocator privacy norms (particularly relevant for family offices and sovereign wealth funds).
No bulk exports. In-platform-only access is partly a product choice and partly a data ethics choice. Bulk export creates downstream risks for data subjects that Altss does not enable.
Regulatory compliance. Altss complies with applicable privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, and equivalents). Data processing is documented, auditable, and limited to private markets business intelligence purposes.
Why this matters for you
If you're a GP fundraising
The accuracy of your outreach depends on the quality of Altss's research pipeline. Every bounced email is a wasted outreach and a minor reputation cost. The 30-day reverification cycle drives industry-leading deliverability.
If you're an LP evaluating emerging managers
Regulatory filing monitoring surfaces new Fund I and Fund II launches well ahead of legacy databases. Your pipeline benefits from that lead time.
If you're an IR team
Continuous signal infrastructure means your coverage universe stays current automatically — not dependent on your CRM hygiene or analyst's manual research.
Frequently asked questions
Can I audit the source for a specific data point?
How do you handle conflicting information between sources?
What's your data retention policy?
Do you publish data quality statistics?
How do you stay within regulatory compliance?
Is Altss SOC 2 certified?
Learn more about how Altss data supports your use case.
Book a demo — we'll walk through sourcing and verification for your specific coverage needs.
