- Advent International, one of the largest global private equity investors, announced that it completed fundraising for the $2 billion Advent Global Technology fund
Advent International — one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors — recently announced that it completed fundraising for Advent Global Technology, which is a technology-focused companion fund to its flagship Global Private Equity (GPE) program. Advent Tech had exceeded its $1.6 billion target and reached its hard cap of $2 billion after six months in the market.
The debut of the new fund closely follows the completion of raising funds for Advent’s ninth global private equity fund GPE IX at the hard cap of $17.5 billion, bringing the firm’s total capital raised in 2019 to $19.5 billion.
With the formation of Advent Tech, Advent also opened an office in Palo Alto, California. And the firm also expanded its technology investment team by more than 50% in recent months with the addition of seven professionals, including the previously announced appointment of Bryan Taylor as global head of the team. The new recruits are going to bring the total number of technology professionals to 20 — located in Palo Alto, New York and London — with plans to further grow the group to more than 25 people in the next 12 months. And the team will source, execute, and manage technology investments globally for both Advent Tech and GPE IX.
“Advent has a long history of technology investing, and the new fund, office and expanded team represent a deepening of our commitment to the sector,” said Bryan Taylor, a Managing Partner at Advent based in Palo Alto. “Technology is increasingly important to all industry segments, and we are excited about the benefits these developments will bring to our firm across sectors and around the globe.” Mr. Taylor, who joined Advent in February, was previously co-head of TPG Capital’s technology group, where he was instrumental in building the firm’s software investment capabilities.
Advent originally started out as a technology-focused venture capital investor in the early 1980s. And since establishing its private equity strategy in 1990, the firm has invested in technology companies with a combined enterprise value of over $14 billion worldwide. Advent Tech will continue to focus on growth-oriented companies in a variety of software and data subsectors. And it will invest primarily in North America and Europe and selectively in other global markets where Advent has an established presence.
Going forward, Advent Tech will broaden the range of transaction sizes Advent can pursue in the technology sector. And on its own, the Fund will have the flexibility to make smaller investments — from $50 million of equity—in disruptive and high-growth emerging businesses. Plus it will also co-invest with GPE IX in mid-sized to large technology companies, with the two funds together able to deploy up to $2 billion or more in a transaction. The funds will consider an array of transaction types, including minority growth equity investments, public-to-private transactions, control buyouts and corporate carve-outs.
“The new dedicated technology fund, combined with the scale and multisector expertise of our GPE program, allows Advent to invest broadly across the technology landscape—from smaller growth equity transactions to larger tech buyouts,” added David Mussafer, a Managing Partner at Advent in Boston. “This flexibility is vital in the technology sector, as relationships, intellectual capital and opportunities scale up and down company size.”
Advent Tech is already investing in two companies alongside GPE IX: Definitive Healthcare, which is a leading U.S. provider of data, intelligence, and analytics on the healthcare provider market, and Transaction Services Group, a global company offering business management software and integrated payment solutions to the health-and-fitness and child-care markets.
“These important strategic initiatives strengthen Advent’s technology investing capabilities, positioning us strongly for the future,” explained James Brocklebank, a Managing Partner at Advent in London. “We will be able to draw on the tech team to support our activities in other sectors globally, providing greater visibility on technology disruption, enhanced ability to apply technology-driven value creation plans in our portfolio companies and deeper access to digital and technology expertise.”
Along with setting up Advent Tech and GPE IX, Advent is currently investing its sixth private equity fund focused on buyouts and growth equity investments across Latin America. The 2015-vintage fund called LAPEF VI is capitalized at $2.1 billion.
Since launching in 1984, Advent International invested in over 345 private equity transactions in 41 countries. And as of June 30, 2019, had $54 billion in assets under management.
