In private equity, accessing the data room quickly can make or break a potential deal. Before a firm can begin due diligence on a target company, a signed NDA must be in place. Every day that agreement sits in a negotiation queue is a day a faster-moving competitor might get there first.
That’s the real cost of a slow NDA process: not just wasted hours, but deals lost to firms that move quicker. In a market where 9 of 10 top PEI-ranked firms globally trust Ontra to handle their routine contracts, the competitive bar for speed and consistency has never been higher. Ontra’s AI-powered negotiation solutions address the industry’s need for NDA automation. See how.
What does NDA automation mean for private equity?
NDA automation uses AI-powered technology and structured workflows to replace manual NDA workflows. For private equity and investment banking firms, that means moving away from a process that relies on busy internal lawyers, junior investment professionals, or expensive outside counsel to manually review, mark up, and track each confidentiality agreement.
Instead, automation handles intake, applies the firm’s negotiation playbook, surfaces AI-assisted redlines, and routes the agreement to a qualified reviewer — all within a defined, repeatable workflow. The result: faster NDA turnaround, more consistent terms, and legal teams freed up to focus on the work that actually moves deals forward.
How end-to-end NDA automation works
Understanding the mechanics matters. Here’s how Ontra’s contract negotiation solution handles an NDA from start to finish:
- Intake: A customer forwards an incoming NDA to a dedicated inbox. Ontra’s AI automatically detects key terms upon receipt of the document and sends an email confirmation. No manual sorting or routing required.
- AI-assisted redlining: Ontra’s AI analyzes the agreement against the firm’s digital playbook and surfaces suggested markups based on precedent and preferred positions, eliminating the need to start each contract negotiation from scratch.
- Playbook alignment: The customer’s digital playbook — encoding preferred, fallback, and final positions for each key clause — automatically guides every negotiation round. The customer’s preferences are synced digitally across teams, creating a single source of truth.
- Legal review: A vetted member of Ontra’s global Legal Network reviews the AI-assisted markup, applies professional judgment, and returns a first markup to the counterparty within 24 hours.
- Execution: Customers and third parties can swiftly complete NDAs through DocuSign.
- Data capture: Once finalized, Ontra’s AI automatically summarizes key contract terms and captures structured data, turning the customer’s contracts into searchable precedent for future negotiations.
The entire process runs without requiring a fund manager’s internal lawyers to manage each round of comments. Firms get faster NDAs, better data, and legal teams that can stay focused on complex transactions.
5 signs it’s time to automate private equity NDAs
1. NDAs consume too much time
In-house lawyers and deal professionals should be able to dedicate their time to strategic tasks that advance the firm’s business goals. Yet these professionals often find that manual NDA negotiations eat into the time they need for higher-value work.
Ontra and Wakefield Research surveyed over 400 professionals across private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure. We found that 65% of respondents spent 6 or more hours on NDAs each week. Seventeen percent spent 10 or more hours per week on NDAs — time that could go toward sourcing, diligence, and deal execution. Worst yet, when asked whether the firm’s NDA process negatively impacted their ability to close a deal in the previous year, 58% agreed, including 23% who strongly agreed.
2. Non-legal professionals negotiate NDAs
Private fund managers and investment banks may have junior investment professionals or other team members negotiate NDAs and other routine agreements. Given these professionals’ lack of legal education and experience, there’s inherent risk in relying on them to negotiate contracts on behalf of the firm. Non-legal professionals might delay the contract turnaround time with unnecessary negotiations, agree to off-market or inconsistent terms across agreements, or — in the worst-case scenario — damage a potential business relationship before it gets off the ground.
3. The firm relies on expensive outside counsel
Too many private equity firms and investment banking still outsource NDAs and other repetitive agreements to their traditional law firms. Typically, the firm assigns this work to junior associates who manually handle the agreements, which can lead to inconsistencies, long contract turnaround times, and a high price tag.
4. The firm’s deal volume rises
Private equity deal activity rebounded in 2025. And according to Pitchbook’s Q1 U.S. PE Breakdown, Q1 2026 closed with 2,415 announced and estimated transactions, up 4.8% QoQ and 6.2% YoY. While aggregate value fell, the data shows the number of deals picking up. In which case, firms that continue to rely on manual workflows risk falling behind the market. Firms that need to evaluate more deals have a competitive advantage if they can complete NDAs within days rather than weeks.
5. The firm lacks a negotiation playbook
Without an NDA negotiation playbook defining the firm’s preferred and fallback terms, teams might agree to inconsistent or off-market positions. A lack of a contract playbook can lead to drawn-out negotiations and result in more complex compliance efforts. When a firm’s NDAs create a jigsaw of obligations, legal and compliance teams may have a harder time tracking requirements and enforcing each agreement.
Benefit from streamlined & optimized contract negotiations
In recent years, legal outsourcing has evolved into legal automation because of advances in AI and LLMs. Now, leading private fund managers and investment banks are focused on adopting AI solutions with or without an outsourcing component. Some invest in a comprehensive solution with independent legal professionals, such as Ontra’s Legal Network. Others adopt and leverage AI tools in-house to speed up contract turnaround times, no matter who handles negotiations.
Ontra’s AI-powered private markets technology platform offers negotiation solutions purpose-built for private fund managers, asset managers, and investment banks. We’ve combined the power of LLMs with industry expertise and a global network of legal professionals to provide an end-to-end contract negotiation solution.
With Ontra’s AI-powered contract negotiation solution, firms benefit from:
- Accelerated negotiations: Use AI-enabled workflow tools to negotiate from a position of strength and move contracts forward faster.
- High-quality, consistent terms: Leverage digital playbooks and precedent to ensure the same negotiation approach every time.
- Lower costs: Finalize agreements with fewer internal resources, less external spending, and predictable expenses.
- Increased transparency: Never question where a contract stands with insights into negotiation statuses, contract trends, and key terms.
- A scalable end-to-end solution: As contract volumes rise, confidently delegate repetitive, low-risk legal agreements.
An added benefit: structured contract data
Negotiation assistance alone doesn’t solve all the issues surrounding high-volume NDA management. Ontra’s AI-powered negotiation solutions give firms access to structured data from their agreements. They can analyze data and pull actionable insights from the contracts that used to simply sit in folders and drives.
GCs, CCOs, and investment professionals can easily explore contract provisions like non-solicitation clauses, standstills, and contract duration to both facilitate compliance and determine whether the terms they typically agree to are changing over time.
Ready for NDA automation?
The firms that win in today’s deal environment aren’t necessarily the ones with the most capital — they’re the ones that move quickly and confidently. Slow NDAs create bottlenecks at the very first step of the deal process, costing firms data room access, diligence time, and ultimately, deals.
If you’re ready to speed up negotiations, achieve more consistent contract terms, and lower costs, schedule a Contract Automation demo with Ontra today.
