September 29, 2025
CEPRES is proud to be featured in DAS INVESTMENT’s latest article spotlighting our founder & CEO, Dr. Daniel Schmidt. The piece explores his journey of how CEPRES evolved from a university research project into the trusted operating system for private markets.
This recognition underscores CEPRES’ role as a trusted voice for senior decision-makers at leading LPs and GPs, providing the clarity and insight needed to navigate an increasingly complex investment landscape.
Highlights from the Article
Dr. Daniel Smidt's Career Path and Origins of CEPRES
Dr. Daniel Schmidt began his career in academia. In the early 2000s, he led a European Commission research project focused on the risks of private equity investments. To gather reliable data, he built one of the first “trusted networks” of fund managers who shared confidential raw data under strict agreements, a concept now known as Look-Through. This initiative laid the foundation for the Center of Private Equity Research and later CEPRES.
After completing his PhD, Schmidt joined Deutsche Bank, where he rose quickly, managing international investments and building global networks. In 2011, convinced that the next great wave in investing would be driven by data and technology, he left to found CEPRES.
CEPRES: From Research Project to Market Leader
What began in academia has scaled into the global leader in private markets analytics. Today, CEPRES manages data on 18,000 funds and 180,000 transactions with volumes in the trillions. Its clients include governments, insurers, pension funds, and development organizations worldwide.
The decisive advantage of CEPRES lies in its direct access to raw cashflow data. Unlike many competitors who rely on press releases or secondary sources, CEPRES calculates returns itself, ensuring accuracy, comparability, and legally robust investment decisions.
The Role of AI
Looking to the future, Schmidt sees artificial intelligence as indispensable. AI can analyze macroeconomic relationships in seconds, insights that would take humans hours or days. This elevates AI from a simple analytical tool to an advisor that makes investment decisions more efficient and precise.
As a result, CEPRES has become one of the largest AI providers for investment decision-making, offering a complete ecosystem that spans data generation, structured calculations, and AI-powered analytics.
The Future of Private Markets
Schmidt predicts a new era of democratization in private markets:
Within the next decade, private investors will hold portfolios resembling those of today’s major endowments, with up to 50% allocated to illiquid assets such as real estate
Governments will increasingly direct capital flows into strategic projects like infrastructure, venture capital, and the Mittelstand
The new Eltif regulation will make private market investments more accessible for a wider range of investors
With 80–90% of global enterprises unlisted, the majority of value creation happens in private markets. Schmidt sees this space as the true future of investing.
Core Convictions
The article also reveals Dr. Schmidt’s deeper beliefs, drawn from more than two decades in private markets:
Shortage of skilled professionals: There simply aren’t enough people to deploy the enormous volumes of capital intelligently; AI is therefore indispensable to scale decision-making
Technology as a driver: Far from being a technology romantic, Dr. Schmidt grounds his vision in 22 years of industry experience, from academia to Deutsche Bank to founding CEPRES
A personal red thread: From his very first Excel tables as a doctoral student to today’s AI-powered platform in Munich, one theme has defined his career: data as the foundation of better investment decisions
Read the full article: Daniel Schmidt von Cepres: Der Daten-Rebell | DAS INVESTMENT
Why It Matters for LPs & GPs
As alternative investments grow in scale and importance, the need for trusted data and actionable insights becomes mission critical. CEPRES enables leading LPs and GPs to:
Gain transparency into true fund and asset performance
Ensure comparability across managers and strategies
Access AI-powered insights that inform allocation, risk, and long-term strategy
If you’re a senior decision-maker at a leading LP or GP, get in touch with CEPRES to position your portfolio for the next decade of growth.
