Growth equity investment firm FTV Capital announced the completion of its latest growth equity fundraising with $4.05 billion in capital commitments. And spanning two complementary funds – its eighth flagship fund (FTV VIII) and a new vehicle dedicated to smaller investments FTV Ascend I, the new funding enables FTV to expand its approach to supporting high-growth companies with equity checks ranging from $20 million to $300 million while maintaining a concentrated portfolio of investments in its funds.
With these funds, FTV has raised over $10.2 billion, invested over $6.7 billion in 149 portfolio companies, and realized over $7.4 billion since the firm was founded in 1998. And FTV VIII closed oversubscribed at $3.4 billion, surpassing its target and closing well above FTV VII (its predecessor fund) – which closed at $2.35 billion in March 2022.
Ascend I closed oversubscribed at $651 million, also surpassing its target. These funds will make control and minority equity investments in companies across the enterprise and financial technology landscape, areas where the firm has deep experience and expertise built over multiple decades. FTV VIII will target investments ranging from $60 million to $300 million, partnering with management teams to accelerate growth and expansion. Ascend I will take the same approach with check sizes ranging from $20 million to $60 million.
The close of this fund follows a year of record momentum and results for FTV. Last year, the firm deployed a record $1.6 billion and generated over $1.0 billion in realizations. New investments include Arden, BillingPlatform, Kore.ai, Orbus Software, ParkHub, VALD, and Zema Global. Significant realizations include Agiloft, Docupace, Egress, and Tango Card. FTV VIII and Ascend I are also off to a strong start with two announced investments in FTV VIII, including Orbus Software and Windward, and several soon-to-be-announced investments in both funds.
With this fundraising, FTV announced the expansion of its leadership team with several promotions, including:
— Karen Derr Gilbert, who joined FTV in 1999 and became a partner in 2013, will assume an expanded leadership role as partner and chief operating officer, in which she will lead strategic initiatives to help effectively drive the firm’s growth. Gilbert has led FTV’s successful fundraising efforts and institutionalized its Global Partner Network.
— Mike Cichowski, who joined the firm in 2023 as a partner, was named co-head of FTV Ascend. Cichowski leads investments in financial technology and services.
— Alex Malvone was promoted to partner and co-head of FTV Ascend along with Cichowski. Malvone has been with FTV since 2013 and leads investments in enterprise technology and services, involving notable investments, including EBANX, LogicSource, Paddle, and RapidRatings.
— Brent Fierro was promoted to partner. Fierro has been with FTV since 2013 and leads investments in financial technology and services with involvement in notable investments, including Enfusion, Lean Solutions Group, Masttro, and Zema Global.
— Paul Cabral, chief financial officer, was promoted to partner. Since joining FTV in 2023, Cabral has had a significant impact on the firm’s financial operations and investor reporting.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as fund counsel.
KEY QUOTES:
“On behalf of the FTV partnership, I want to thank our colleagues, limited partners, portfolio companies, Global Partner Network executives and countless collaborators in our extended network for their continued support as we carry forward the mission we’ve advanced for over 26 years – partner with the most visionary entrepreneurs who are shaping global industries and help them achieve their ambitious growth objectives. Since our founding, we’ve developed a distinctive model to support management teams – combining our flexible capital, deep domain expertise, expansive Global Partner Network and value creation resources – rooted in the promise to build collaborative, long-term partnerships. Our strong results are a testament to our focus and the talented team members at FTV who relentlessly strive to be the very best champions for entrepreneurs. As growth equity plays an increasingly vital role in the innovation ecosystem, we’re thrilled to launch Ascend I alongside our flagship fund so that we can support more entrepreneurs across a broader equity check spectrum while ensuring that every FTV portfolio company benefits from the breadth and depth of our platform.”
– Brad Bernstein, managing partner at FTV Capital
“In what’s been a challenging fundraising environment for many GPs, we are grateful for the overwhelming support from existing and new limited partners for both the next vintage of our flagship fund and the debut of Ascend I. Our limited partners share our conviction in FTV’s disciplined investing approach and our strong track record across market cycles. We look forward to putting this capital to work to generate exceptional outcomes for our investors and portfolio companies alike.”
– Karen Derr Gilbert, partner and chief operating officer at FTV Capital
