Case Studies /
Qila Fortress Fund I LLC, under Qila Capital, was built on deep experience across hospitality, healthcare, commercial real estate, and capital raising. Before Qila, one of the fund managers was an executive at a medical real estate fund managing approximately $60 million in assets.
That experience also exposed a recurring problem: KYC, Blue Sky filings, investor technology, securities counsel, accounting, and administration were handled by separate providers. When Qila Capital launched Qila Fortress Fund I, they chose Avestor to bring those functions together.
As one of the fund managers put it, the “one-stop solution” was the number one seller for the team.
Since joining Avestor, Qila Capital has used the platform to support multiple hospitality offerings, from hotel equity opportunities to the Hotel Cash Flow Fund, a mezzanine debt fund. For the sponsors, the value is in having a more standardized and automated operating foundation around those investments, reducing the time spent on administrative work and allowing the team to focus more on investor conversations, capital raising, and other revenue-generating activities.
Before Qila Capital, one of its fund managers had already spent years in asset management, including serving as an executive vice president for a medical real estate fund managing approximately $60 million in assets. Hospitality became the next focus because of its cash-flow potential and the operational depth of the business.
That operating component matters to him. He does not view hotels as passive real estate, but as active businesses that require disciplined underwriting and hands-on management.
“It’s important for a person to become a strong operator before they start raising capital from investors.”
That philosophy shaped Qila Fortress Fund I LLC from the outset. The partners had already built experience operating hotels before the team began raising outside capital, giving the fund a foundation rooted in real operating performance rather than investment theory alone.
The sponsors already knew the operational reality of running a fund.
The problem was not finding service providers. It was having to coordinate and pay separately for so many of them.
“Before this, we had to work with different providers for different services.”
KYC was handled by one company. Blue Sky filings by another. The investor portal had its own technology provider. Securities counsel was separate, as were fund accounting and administration.
On paper, every function had an owner. But in practice, the fund manager still had to connect the pieces, manage the handoffs, and absorb the cost of multiple providers. Over time, those separate fees and workflows added unnecessary overhead around the fund.
That fragmentation carried two costs: money and management time.
Every hour spent coordinating administration was an hour not spent underwriting opportunities, speaking with investors, or raising capital.
So, when the team began launching Qila Fortress Fund I LLC and building out Qila Capital’s hospitality strategy, they weren’t trying to fix a failed system. They had the opportunity to avoid recreating the same fragmented model altogether and began looking for a more integrated way to run the fund.
And that search led them to Avestor.
For one of Qila’s fund managers, the criteria were simple: find a more integrated way to run the fund without recreating the same multi-provider setup he had dealt with before.
After evaluating Avestor and trying the platform, one factor stood out:
“One-stop solution. That was the number one seller for us.”
With Avestor, Qila could bring the legal, administrative, technology, accounting, and investor-management infrastructure around the fund into one system.
That changed the setup in several practical ways.
Instead of creating a new PPM and standalone legal structure for every individual deal, Avestor’s Customizable Fund® model allows managers to establish the core fund framework once and add multiple deals under the same umbrella using deal-specific addenda. For Qila, that created a structure capable of supporting different hospitality opportunities as the investment strategy evolved.
Avestor also gives fund managers access to attorneys and a team that helps them build the fund from the ground up, navigate setup, and work through their first deal. Beyond the infrastructure itself, managers can participate in weekly Mastermind and Deal Makers sessions to pressure-test opportunities with other fund managers, exchange feedback, and build relationships within the Avestor community.
For Qila, the appeal was not any one feature in isolation. It was having the pieces that normally sit across separate providers brought together around one fund.
That gave Qila Capital a more unified foundation to launch Qila Fortress Fund I LLC and begin putting the structure into practice.
Qila’s first deal on Avestor was an equity opportunity involving the Aloft Hotel at San Antonio Airport. It gave the team a real transaction to work through as they learned how to use the platform in practice.
But before converting that opportunity into an investment, Qila changed course. Instead of moving forward with a product tied to a single hotel, the team developed a new offering collateralized by three hotels.
“It allowed us to experiment and learn Avestor.”
One of Qila’s fund managers was candid that there was a learning curve. Rather than treat the first setup as fixed, Qila used the process to understand the platform, refine the offering, and adapt the structure as the fund evolved.
That progression continued as Qila expanded the types of hospitality opportunities it could pursue. The team later launched the Hotel Cash Flow Fund, a mezzanine debt fund, while continuing to work on new hotel equity opportunities.
For Qila, implementation was not just about getting one fund live. It was about learning the system, refining how they used it, and then scaling into larger offerings with the infrastructure already in place.
One of the clearest benefits has been operational. More standardized and automated fund processes have reduced the amount of management time spent on administrative work, allowing the team to focus more heavily on investor conversations, capital raising, and other revenue-generating activities.
As Qila’s hospitality strategy has evolved, that more integrated operating foundation has remained in place across its offerings.
The result is more of the team’s time directed toward investors, opportunities, and continued growth rather than administrative coordination.
For Qila Capital, the next phase is about refining what already works and expanding deliberately.
One of the fund’s sponsors said the team plans to continue improving its investment products, strengthening the investor experience, and growing at a measured pace. Qila is also working toward launching a healthcare-focused fund, extending into an area where the team already has deep operating experience.
“We want to continue offering better products to our investors and continue growing.”
With its hospitality strategy gaining momentum and larger opportunities already in progress, Qila’s focus is not simply on raising more capital. It is on building a stronger investment business around experienced operators, compelling opportunities, and infrastructure that can support the next stage of growth.
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