New York City-based private equity firm Centana Growth Partners has announced the successful, oversubscribed close of $250 million for its inaugural fund, Centana Growth Partners Fund I. The firm provides growth equity and venture capital to companies focused in the financial services, financial technology and related enterprise software sectors.
The firm says its founding partners Eric Byunn, Ben Cukier and Steven Swain bring in specialized knowledge, deep domain experience and an extensive network with leading players and institutions in the financial services ecosystem. Cukier and Byunn were both previously partners at FTV Capital, while Swain was most recently President of Global X Management.
“There is so much hype in the financial services and fintech industry right now, but there are also real companies that are providing real services to the industry,” said Cukier. “We want to invest in the workhorses, not just the unicorns. These are companies that are powering huge and important parts of the financial services industry, and with the right capital and investment partner, could strategically expand in exciting ways.”
Centana has already led four investments, including its most recent with Folsom-Calif.-based cloud-centric insurance software provider One Inc. In August, the growth equity firm invested another $15 million in credentials-management company Jumio after purchasing the newly bankrupt company for nearly $1 million in May. In July, the PE shop with offices in NYC and Palo Alto, endowed SaaS-based enterprise performance management (CPM) software vendor Vena Solutions with $30 million. In late 2015, Centana led a $23 million investment in application lifecycle management software company Blueprint Software.
The new fund is expected to contribute between $5 million to $30 million in each portfolio company.
