Buyout-focused private equity firm Advent announced recently that it has completed a successful fundraise for its first technology fund. The long-standing firm says that it has total investor commitments up to its newest fund's cap of $2 billion following a six month effort.
According to Advent, this technology-focused fund--named Advent Global Technology--will be focused on investments in software and data sector companies primarily in the North American and European markets. The firm plans to work its latest fund's investments alongside its current flagship Global Private Equity (GPE IX) fund, which just this year raised to its $17.5 billion cap.
The launch of Advent Global Technology puts the firm in the position of joining a crowded tech-focused field; other prominent private equity firms such as Thoma Bravo, Vista Equity and Silver Lake have all carved out a specialization in technology investments.
For Advent's senior team, however, there's no worry that their firm will be able to compete with these more established technology-focused funds. Bryan Taylor, the global head of Advent's 20-professional technology team--who moved to the firm earlier this year from his position as co-head of competing buyout firm TPG Capital's technology group--states that "we have depth and strength in retail, healthcare and financial services, including payments, where technology is becoming important, and we intend to leverage these strengths in how we pursue investments."
The firm plans to allow Advent Global Technology to also pursue its own deals, with a mandate to invest as much as $50 million in "high-growth emerging businesses." In combination with GPE IX, the new technology-focused fund can invest $2 billion or more in any individual deal.
Indeed, Advent Global Technology has already closed two co-investments with the main flagship fund: an investment in U.S. health data provider Definitive Healthcare and a majority stake acquisition in enterprise software company Transaction Services Group.
While this latest fund may be new, Advent is no neophyte to technology investments: it has been investing in technology firms from its beginnings as a venture capital-focused firm in the 1980s. Since launching its private equity strategy in 1990, the firm has made a total of $14 billion in investments in technology companies (including debt).
