Silverlight Research
Institutional expert network founded in 2017 by a former Morgan Stanley investment manager, operating with a fully distributed workforce. Serves the world's largest PE funds, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds with a 97% engagement success rate and 65% client referral rate.
- Institutional expertise
- 97% success rate
- Global distributed coverage
- Morgan Stanley pedigree
- Experts
- 25K+Positioning confidence
- Employees
- 50+Partially unverifiable confidence
- Per-call pricing for expert consultations
- Per-callVerified confidence
Services
- Expert Calls
- Curated Research
- Bespoke Projects
Buyer fit
Best for
- Boutique PE Firms
- Hedge Funds
- Senior Expert Access
When not ideal
- Need self-service platform
- Want AI-driven matching
- Require large expert database
- High-volume call programs
Key strengths Verified confidence
- Founded by former Morgan Stanley investment manager — authentic institutional understanding
- 97% engagement success rate demonstrates reliable expert delivery
- 65% of new clients from referrals indicates strong satisfaction
- Fully distributed model across 3 continents provides 24/7 coverage with lean overhead
- Institutional client base including world's largest PE funds, hedge funds, and SWFs
- 61% expert acceptance rate shows well-curated engagement approach
Watch-outs Inference confidence
- Smaller company (~50 employees) limits capacity for very high-volume engagements
- Fully distributed workforce may reduce team cohesion compared to office-based networks
- Limited technology platform compared to AI-native competitors
- Expert database (25K+) is smaller than industry leaders
- Less brand recognition than established players like GLG or AlphaSights
- Greystone branch launch/drop in 2025 suggests strategic experimentation
Deep dive
1OverviewVerified confidence
Silverlight Research is a London-based institutional expert network founded in November 2017 by a former Morgan Stanley investment manager. The company operates with a distinctive fully distributed workforce model — all staff work part-time and remotely across key regions including EMEA (Portugal, Turkey, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia), the Americas (New York, Colombia), and Asia (Singapore, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Philippines).
Despite its lean structure, Silverlight serves some of the world's largest private equity funds, hedge funds, long-only funds, sovereign wealth funds, and Fortune 500 corporations. The company maintains a 97% engagement success rate and a 61% expert acceptance rate. Perhaps most notably, 65% of new clients come from existing referrals — suggesting strong satisfaction among institutional buyers.
Silverlight manages end-to-end expert sourcing, screening, compliance, scheduling, and documentation for time-bound practitioner consultations aligned with institutional research workflows. In April 2025, the company briefly launched 'Greystone expert network' as a separate branch under the same corporate entity.
2HistoryVerified confidence
Silverlight Research was founded in November 2017 by a former Morgan Stanley investment manager who recognized an opportunity to build an expert network with an institutional investor's perspective. The founder's investment management background shaped Silverlight's approach — the company speaks the language of its institutional clients and understands the compliance, speed, and quality requirements of buy-side research.
The company adopted a fully distributed workforce model from inception, avoiding the overhead of traditional office-based operations. This allows Silverlight to maintain competitive pricing while deploying research and operations staff across global time zones.
- 2017 (November)Founded in London by a former Morgan Stanley investment manager
- 2018-2022Grew distributed team across EMEA, Americas, and Asia; built institutional client base
- 2023-2024Expanded to serve world's largest PE funds, hedge funds, SWFs, and Fortune 500 corporations
- 2025 (April)Briefly launched Greystone expert network as a separate branch
3Services in detailPositioning confidence
- Expert Consultations
- Time-bound practitioner consultations aligned with institutional research workflows. Silverlight manages end-to-end sourcing, screening, compliance, scheduling, and documentation. Serves PE funds, hedge funds, long-only funds, SWFs, and corporate strategy teams.
- Curated Expert Research
- Bespoke research projects leveraging Silverlight's database-backed expert network for targeted industry analysis and due diligence support.
- Global Distributed Coverage
- Geographically diversified research and operations spanning EMEA (London, Portugal, Turkey, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia), Americas (New York, Colombia), and Asia (Singapore, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Philippines), enabling round-the-clock expert sourcing.
4AI & platformPositioning confidence
Silverlight operates as a database-backed expert network with manual curation and relationship-driven matching. The company's distributed model leverages technology for remote coordination and global coverage rather than AI-driven expert discovery.
- Database-backed expert matching with manual curation
- Distributed operations platform spanning 3 continents
- End-to-end workflow management for institutional clients
- Compliance documentation and audit trail
5CompliancePositioning confidence
Silverlight's compliance approach is shaped by its founder's institutional investment management background. The company manages expert screening, compliance documentation, and audit trails to meet the requirements of its buy-side institutional clients.
- Institutional-grade compliance designed for buy-side clients
- Founder's Morgan Stanley background ensures investment management perspective
- Expert screening and conflict-of-interest management
- Complete documentation for compliance and audit purposes
- MNPI policies tailored for hedge fund and PE environments
6Client fitInference confidence
Silverlight is designed for institutional investors and corporate strategy teams who value a research-oriented expert network that understands buy-side workflows. The distributed model provides global coverage with competitive pricing. Less suited for clients needing a self-service technology platform.
- Hedge funds conducting investment research and due diligence
- PE funds needing expert access for portfolio evaluation
- Sovereign wealth funds seeking independent practitioner insights
- Fortune 500 corporations conducting strategic research
- Long-only asset managers needing industry expert consultations
7Notable factsVerified confidence
- Founded by a former Morgan Stanley investment manager in November 2017
- Fully distributed workforce — all staff work part-time and remotely
- 97% engagement success rate across institutional client engagements
- 65% of new clients come from existing client referrals
- 61% expert acceptance rate
- Clients include world's largest PE funds, hedge funds, SWFs, and Fortune 500 corporations
- Operations span EMEA, Americas, and Asia across 10+ countries
- Briefly launched Greystone expert network as a separate branch in April 2025
8Source notes & methodology
- Silverlight Research official website (silverlightresearch.com) — company overview and services
- LinkedIn — company profile, team structure, and founding information
- The Org — organizational structure and founding story
- RocketReach — company profile and contact information
- INEX ONE Expert Network Directory — Silverlight Research profile
- PitchBook — company profile and service breakdown
9Data confidence ratings
Each data point in this profile is graded for source confidence. Here's what each badge means:
- Verified confidence
- Confirmed by official company disclosures, regulatory filings, or multiple independent sources.
- Positioning confidence
- Based on company marketing claims or self-reported data that could not be independently verified.
- Inference confidence
- Estimated or inferred from indirect evidence, third-party aggregators, or industry context.
- Partially unverifiable confidence
- Some aspects verified but full claim cannot be independently confirmed (e.g., private company financials from third-party estimates).
This profile's ratings
| Founded | Verified confidence |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Verified confidence |
| Expert count | Positioning confidence |
| Employee count | Partially unverifiable confidence |
| Pricing model | Verified confidence |
| Services | Verified confidence |
| Compliance | Positioning confidence |
| Overview | Verified confidence |
| History | Verified confidence |
| Services in detail | Positioning confidence |
| AI & platform | Positioning confidence |
| Compliance (detailed) | Positioning confidence |
| Client fit | Inference confidence |
| Strengths | Verified confidence |
| Caveats | Inference confidence |
| Notable facts | Verified confidence |
10How we researched this
This profile was researched and written by the ExpertNetworks.net editorial team using a multi-source methodology:
- Primary sources: Company website, press releases, SEC/regulatory filings, and official announcements
- Third-party verification: Industry reports (Integrity Research, Inex One), news coverage (TechCrunch, Bloomberg, FT), and data aggregators (PitchBook, Tracxn, Crunchbase)
- Cross-referencing: Claims were checked against multiple independent sources where possible; single-source claims are flagged
- Confidence grading: Each data point is rated as Verified, Positioning (company-claimed), or Inference (estimated from indirect evidence)
We do not accept payment from any expert network for inclusion or favorable coverage. If you spot an error, contact us with the correction and source.
Last fact-checked:
Industries served
- Private Equity
- Hedge Funds
- Asset Management
- Sovereign Wealth Funds
- Consulting
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