Coterie Capital enters AI consulting with the launch of CoterieLabs

New consultancy delivers AI-driven operational value creation in private equity-backed and founder-led businesses

31 March 2026 — Coterie Capital today announced the launch of CoterieLabs, an AI transformation consultancy that helps private equity firms and their portfolio companies identify where artificial intelligence can accelerate growth, reduce operational cost, and improve productivity.

Co-founded by Coterie Capital Managing Director Daniel Pi and CTO Christopher Cheung, CoterieLabs combines financial discipline, operational rigour, and hands-on AI product experience to give PE-backed businesses a clear, data-driven answer to the question every operating partner is now asking: where and how exactly does AI move the numbers in this business?

"Private equity firms are under mounting pressure to demonstrate operational value creation in portfolio companies. With financial engineering no longer the reliable lever it once was, the firms pulling ahead are those that can identify and execute genuine operational improvements by leveraging AI — faster than the competition. CoterieLabs was built to do exactly that." — Daniel Pi, Co-Founder, CoterieLabs

"We don't start with what AI can do. We start with what the business is losing — in real dollars, from real data. The diagnosis comes before the technology." — Christopher Cheung, Co-Founder, CoterieLabs

The Five Bearings Proprietary Framework

CoterieLabs uses a proprietary framework called the Five Bearings to map each client's business across five operational dimensions — Operations, Procurement, Revenue Integrity, Administration, and Customer Intelligence — and identify the single highest-value AI opportunity before any work begins. Each bearing is assessed against real data drawn directly from the client's own systems, not industry benchmarks or generalised assumptions. The result is a diagnosis that is specific to the business in front of them — identifying not just where AI could theoretically add value, but where it will move a measurable number in that particular operation.

For PE firms, the Five Bearings assessment can be deployed at any stage of the investment lifecycle — during due diligence to identify AI upside in a target, at acquisition to prioritise the first 100 days, mid-hold to accelerate a value creation plan that needs a new lever, or in preparation for exit to demonstrate operational maturity and maximise valuation.

Our Process

Every CoterieLabs engagement is structured as three independent decisions, each with its own business case and an explicit exit option — no multi-year commitment required.

It begins with an AI Opportunity Assessment: three to five days of analysis drawing on data extracted directly from a client's operational systems, producing a prioritised roadmap of three to five quantified AI opportunities with conservative, expected, and stretch return scenarios.

From there, CoterieLabs runs a 90-day Pilot on the single highest-return opportunity, measured against a baseline established before work begins.

Full implementation of the remaining roadmap follows only once the Pilot has proven itself, with each use case assigned an internal client champion.

AI Air Cover

For clients who have completed implementation, CoterieLabs offers AI Air Cover: an ongoing service providing monthly system monitoring, quarterly strategic alignment sessions, and annual reassessments — ensuring AI systems don't drift, degrade, or fall into disuse as the business evolves.

Initial Industry Focus

CoterieLabs will initially focus on four sectors: Trades Services, Distribution and Logistics, Professional Services, and Financial Services — each chosen for the scale of operational inefficiency that AI is uniquely positioned to resolve, and each well represented in Australian private equity portfolios.

Take the example of a last mile delivery company. Route planners today work off historical averages and manual scheduling, resulting in drivers covering more ground than necessary while delivery windows are missed and customers are left waiting. Failed deliveries and redelivery attempts cascade through the operation unpredictably, destroying margin and eroding customer trust. Vehicle utilisation, driver performance, and compliance data sit in separate systems with no unified operational view.

CoterieLabs targets exactly this environment: consolidating fragmented data into a single picture, optimising route planning in real time, reducing failed deliveries, and giving operations managers the visibility to make live decisions rather than post-mortems.

The Founders

Daniel Pi is the Founder and Managing Director of Coterie Capital, where he works with entrepreneurs, founders, and family offices across Australia and Asia to accelerate growth through M&A, capital raising, and strategic advisory. With over 20 years of investment and financial markets experience across the Asia-Pacific region, he has led complex transactions spanning Technology, Agriculture, FMCG, Basic Materials, Building Materials, Chemicals, Media, and Tourism & Leisure.

Christopher Cheung has spent two decades across finance and technology, most recently designing and shipping AI-powered products — from intelligent automation tools to production applications built on large language models. Previously, he was founding CTO/COO Hong Kong's first regulated virtual currency fund — and led RWA tokenisation on the HKMA's e-HKD Pilot Programme.

About CoterieLabs

CoterieLabs is an AI transformation consultancy. It helps business leaders identify where AI fits in their operations and implement it in a way that delivers measurable results. The firm's Five Bearings framework and diagnosis-first methodology are designed to produce accountable outcomes with no client dependency on ongoing support.

Website: coterielabs.com.au | Email: contact@coterielabs.com.au

About Coterie Capital

Coterie Capital is a specialist corporate advisory firm dedicated to providing strategic advice to entrepreneurs, companies and family offices across Australia and Asia. The firm advises on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and strategic transactions across a broad range of industries including Technology, Agriculture, FMCG, Basic Materials, Media, and Tourism & Leisure.

Website: coteriecapital.com.au