Profile

Francisco Partners (“FP”) is a leading technology-focused investment firm with a proven reputation for delivering exceptional returns through a distinctly flexible approach. With nearly 25 years of experience, FP has invested in or acquired more than 400 technology companies and has been repeatedly recognized for market-leading performance, making it one of the most active, long-standing and successful investors in the global technology industry. FP has approximately $45 billion in capital raised to date and $20 billion in capital available for investment.

FP has invested in over 250 founder-led businesses over the last 20 years and has a deep understanding of both the personal dynamics of these companies and the passion behind their founders. The firm has also established itself as a partner and buyer of choice for corporates as they evaluate divestitures and partnerships due to FP’s domain knowledge, operational experience, core values and equity returns. FP operates creatively and is adept at identifying opportunities in untapped markets. The firm values transparency, collaboration and an orientation to action and believes that its employees’ diversity of thought and experience makes for a stronger, outperforming team. Many of FP’s portfolio companies rank as best places to work in their local communities and demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

FP is highly focused on continuously learning and improving. That mission, along with the firm’s relentless pursuit of excellence, has driven the firm to consistently generate top returns.

www.franciscopartners.com

Awards

2023 Top Software Investors, Brian Decker

2023 Top Private Equity Firms

2023 Top 25 Healthcare Investors, Ezra Perlman, Justin Chen

2022 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, Jason Brein, Justin Chen

2022 Top 25 Private Equity Firms

2022 Top Women in Growth Equity and Private Equity, Christine Wang

2021 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, Brian Decker, Jason Brein

2019 The Top 25 Software Investors, Brain Decker

2016 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, Chris Adams

2015 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, Chris Adams

2014 Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors, My Le Nguyen

Key People

Dipanjan “DJ” Deb is the Co-Founder and CEO of FP and a visionary leader in the world of technology and finance. DJ’s perspective on technology is inspiring – he knew that technology was never going to be “just a vertical.” Instead, he foresaw its transformation into a horizontal market that would become disruptive across every sector and facet of society. With this mindset, DJ wanted FP to focus on technology sub-specialization in areas such as communications and consumer technology, healthcare IT, security and infrastructure, and education technology. The firm’s specialization in 10 total technology sub-sectors has allowed FP to flourish and generate top returns. It’s not just DJ’s strategic acumen and technology expertise that separates him from other CEOs, it’s also the remarkable culture he has built at the firm. With a relentless commitment to perfection, DJ and his team wake up every day asking themselves: “what are the 10 things we’re doing wrong/right and how can we improve?” This unyielding focus on continuous improvement has been pivotal in keeping the firm ahead of the curve. DJ’s journey is a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to shaping the future of tech-driven progress.

Ezra Perlman, Co-President of FP, joined the firm in 2003 and has been a key driver in the firm’s focus on healthcare information technology (HCIT). Ezra founded and co-leads FP’s HCIT practice, which is currently recognized as one of the most successful HCIT franchises in the industry. As a strong believer in the importance of social determinants of healthcare, Ezra concentrates on healthcare providers, especially in under-served communities. He has played a critical leadership role in an array of FP’s most complex healthcare carve-outs and strategic acquisitions, such as the firm’s successful carve-out of Watson Health from IBM, which was later rebranded into a standalone company, Merative, and the complex carve-out of bswift from CVS Health. Recognizing that most value creation is driven by portfolio management teams, Ezra focuses tirelessly on recruiting, coaching, and encouraging the strongest performing and most forward-thinking industry leaders to HCIT’s portfolio companies. Many of the CEOs and other C-suite executives in FP’s HCIT companies are repeat hires from previously exited companies. The majority of FP’s healthcare exits have been sales to strategic buyers. Ezra focuses on building long-term relationships with those buyers and understanding what sort of acquisitions and other major decisions will make FP companies most strategically relevant to corporate buyers.

Deep Shah, Co-President of FP, has been a critical leader at the firm over the last twenty years. Based in London and having been one of the first employees on the ground there, Deep has consistently demonstrated his commitment to enhancing the firm’s capabilities, fostering an environment of innovation and expansion and growing FP’s global presence. What truly distinguishes Deep is his exceptional ability to cultivate unique and constructive relationships with the CEOs of FP’s portfolio companies. With a balanced approach focused on providing support, empathy, and guidance, Deep empowers companies to flourish without intruding on their day-to-day operations. His leadership prowess and technology expertise are evident through his positions on the boards of ByBox, e2open (ETWO), GainSystems, and iconectiv, where he actively contributes to their growth and development. 

Fund Raised

In 2022, Francisco Partners announced the closing on nearly $17 billion in capital commitments between its $13.5 billion main fund, Francisco Partners VII, and its $3.3 billion Francisco Partners Agility III fund. The two funds were substantially oversubscribed and exceeded target fund sizes. Francisco Partners closed fundraising on both private equity funds with more than 160 institutional investors from 30 countries around the world. FP’s limited partners include public and corporate pension funds, foundations, endowments, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices. FP had strong support from its existing investors as well as many new prominent investors from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and the United States.

Key Investments

Merative (Carve-out acquisition in June 2022 from IBM)
Sector: Healthcare Technology

Formerly IBM Watson’s healthcare business, Merative, brings together market-leading offerings that deliver value across the global healthcare ecosystem, serving clients in life sciences, provider, imaging, health plan, employer, and government health and human services sectors. With the commitment, support and deep experience of FP, Merative executes its mission, bringing technology and expertise to clients across healthcare through industry-leading data and analytics solutions. 

New Relic (Public to private company acquired in August 2023)
Sector: Data Analytics

New Relic creates and delivers groundbreaking innovations, with a maniacal focus on delivering a leading observability platform to help customers deliver better software faster. With FP’s backing and New Relic’s unique position in this evolving industry, FP is confident New Relic will achieve their full potential and optimize observability as a private company.

Forcepoint’s G2CI business (Exited and sold to TPG Capital in July 2023)
Sector: Cybersecurity

FP acquired Forcepoint in January 2021. In July 2023, FP announced that it sold Forcepoint’s Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure (G2CI) assets to TPG Capital. Over their tenure, FP worked with Forcepoint G2CI team to build a thriving business that will now benefit from operating as its own standalone business. FP continues to own the Forcepoint Commercial business, focused on simplifying security through a Data-first SASE approach to cloud-delivered security and connectivity. 

Quest Software (Carve-out acquisition that was exited in November 2021 and sold to Clearlake Capital)
Sector: Cybersecurity

In 2016, FP carved out the Dell Software business and separated the two businesses—Quest and SonicWall—based on their products, buyers and end-markets. FP then established Quest Software as a standalone business that focused on providing global cybersecurity, data intelligence, and IT operations management software. Following the carve-out, the FP Consulting team supported the company across all operational aspects—from improving the operating discipline to recruiting a new leadership team that could help accelerate growth, drive margin improvements and pursue M&A. Ultimately, FP’s implementation of key value creation initiatives from the recruitment of a new leadership team to investing in new growth areas helped to transform the business, enhance revenue quality and reorient it around higher-growth end markets. Under FP’s ownership, Quest completed seven strategic add-ons that enabled the company to extend its leadership in the security and IT administration markets. 

Capsule Technologies (Carve-out acquisition that was exited and sold to Royal Philips in March 2021)
Sector: Healthcare Technology

Capsule Technologies was a carve-out acquisition from Qualcomm, Inc. This opportunity was created through a proprietary dialogue where FP highlighted its ability to efficiently execute a complex carveout. FP closed the original acquisition in February 2019 and sold the business to Royal Philips in March 2021. Prior to FP’s investment, the business had spent several years in decline but with FP’s implementation of key value creation initiatives (outlined below), it led to strong revenue growth for Capsule while also generating significant EBITDA despite reinvestment in the business. FP’s operating executives (FP Consulting) were also instrumental in the carve-out from Qualcomm and standing up the Company with its own finance, HR, legal, and IT functions. 

Corporate Responsibility

FP believes that not only is it possible to do good while doing well—it’s imperative.

Investing Sustainably: FP strives to drive industry-best returns for its investors while also investing responsibly. FP’s investing sustainably principles includes:

• FP oversees its ESG strategy with a dedicated Head of ESG and ESG Committee comprised of senior FP leaders.
• FP embeds ESG factors into our investment process to help identify risk and opportunity without sacrificing expected investment returns.
• FP monitors and engages with its portfolio companies on ESG topics to create additional value.
• FP identifies and invests opportunistically in companies that deliver positive outcomes for people, communities and society as a whole.
• FP continues to improve reporting to its investors and stakeholders to ensure transparency and accountability.

Focusing on Diversity & Inclusion: FP is committed to honoring a diversity of backgrounds and thought in building a firm that recruits, develops, and retains exceptional professionals. FP believes that different perspectives are essential to its and its portfolio companies’ success and growth, and FP seeks to cultivate an inclusive environment where individuals feel heard, respected, and valued. FP believes that an increased level of diversity in perspectives across the firm will drive greater outcomes for our investments and ultimately higher returns for our investors. As part of FP’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, it joined the Thirty Percent Coalition (2019) and the Diligent’s Modern Leadership Initiative (2020).

Giving Back: FP is committed to the communities in which it operates operate. In 2021, FP introduced a new charitable giving and volunteer program. The initiative includes an employee match program and an annual global volunteer day for the firm, as well as smaller volunteer group activities. Each employee is also granted one day of paid leave for any volunteering activities undertaken separate of FP-organized events.