Better valuations with complex waterfalls and tracebacks

Better valuations with complex waterfalls and tracebacks

Authors

Q Chen, Patricia Vargas

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Read time: 

1 minute

Published date: 

April 2, 2026

Multi-entity waterfalls and Discounted Cash Flow tracebacks provide the granular clarity required for institutional PE reporting.

We’re introducing two new Portfolio Valuations features enhancing the transparency of valuation outputs and streamline the process of modeling and presenting allocations to internal stakeholders and LPs.

Connect every entity in your deal structure

PE firms often manage investment capital by creating multi-entity layers between LPs and operating companies. Historically, allocating total economic interest across these holdcos and AIVs required elaborate Excel workbooks and days of reconciliation. 

Our latest update to Portfolio Valuations introduced a multi-entity waterfall engine that can allocate proceeds across the most complex deal structures, based on both the ownership information from the cap table and additional rules and criteria from supporting operating agreements. Our waterfall also aggregates a firm's total economic interest across parallel entity paths. 

Multi-entity waterfall

This ensures your NAV and fund accounting calculations remain accurate, even as your deal structures grow in complexity.

Audit your Discounted Cash Flow with tracebacks

Traditionally, valuation assumptions have been a black box that creates friction during internal reviews and with auditors. We introduced a new traceback feature for our Discounted Cash Flow methodology to give your internal stakeholders greater confidence in every output. With tracebacks, you can hover over any calculated figure to see the specific inputs—including Discount Rates and Terminal Value—that drove the result. It creates a transparent, audit-ready record for this critical valuation step.

DCF Screenshot

Q Chen
Author: Q Chen
Q is Director of Product Marketing at Carta with more than 15 years of product marketing experience, including six years in fintech. Q specializes in aligning customer needs with the solutions Carta builds to deliver clear, meaningful value.
Patricia Vargas
Author: Patricia Vargas