Profile

Founded in 1976, KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages approximately $471 billion in assets across growth equity, private equity, infrastructure, real estate, and credit (as of December 31, 2021).

KKR’s growth equity strategies leverage the firm’s expertise and reach, offering differentiated capital and strategic solutions to growing companies. To date, the firm has raised four dedicated growth equity funds and has made growth investments in approximately 50 companies across the Technology and Health Care sectors.

KKR offers a unique combination of resources that directly help high-growth companies scale, including deep industry expertise and pattern recognition, an extensive global presence across 21 offices on four continents, a global network of 100+ portfolio companies and myriad executive relationships, and proprietary solutions such as: KKR Capstone, which helps portfolio companies optimize operational performance; KKR Capital Markets, which provides tailored capital markets advice and helps with equity / debt financing and capital structure improvement; the KKR Global Institute, which provides expertise and analysis on emerging developments and long-term trends in geopolitics and demographics; and KKR’s Global Macro and Asset Allocation team, which works alongside deal teams to assess macro influences at the company, sector, and market levels.

www.kkr.com

Awards

2022 The Top 25 Growth Equity Firms

2022 Top Women in Growth Investing, Lauriane Requena

2021 Top 25 Growth Equity Firms

2020 Top 25 Software Investors, Dave Welsh

2019 Top 25 Software Investors, Dave Welsh

2019 Top 20 Private Debt Firms

Key People

Dave Welsh, Partner & Global Head of the KKR Tech Growth Strategy

Dave Welsh (San Francisco) joined KKR in 2016 and is the Global Head of the Technology Growth Strategy. Mr. Welsh serves on the Tech Growth Investment Committee and the Technology Growth Valuation Committee. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cherwell, Five9, ForgeRock, OneStream and ReliaQuest. He has been actively involved with investments in 1011, Cherwell, iValua, Jio, Jitterbit, KnowBe4, Lyft, o9 and Transphorm. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Welsh was a Partner with Adams Street Partners, where he focused on tech growth equity investments. Earlier in his career he was an executive vice president of corporate development and strategy at McAfee, Inc., a General Partner at Partech Ventures and vice president of corporate development at Portal Software. He holds a B.A., cum laude, from UCLA and a JD, order of the coif, from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law Schools. Mr. Welsh also is active in the non-profit sector, serving on the Board of SEO Scholars SF and the Special Olympics of Northern California & Nevada, as well as being the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Athenian School.

Ali Satvat, Partner & Global Head of KKR Health Care Strategic Growth

Ali Satvat (Menlo Park) joined KKR in 2012, co-leads the Health Care industry team within KKR’s Americas Private Equity platform and serves as Global Head of KKR’s Health Care Strategic Growth platform. He is a member of the Investment Committee and the Portfolio Management Committee for Americas Private Equity and chairs the Investment Committee and the Portfolio Management Committee for Health Care Strategic Growth. Mr. Satvat has served on multiple public and private boards of directors, including most recently Blue Sprig Pediatrics, BridgeBio Pharma, Clarify Health Solutions, Cordis, Geode Health, Headlands Research, Impel NeuroPharma, Paige.AI, Sapphiros and Trilogy MedWaste, and has been actively involved with various historical investments such as Ajax Health, Arbor Pharmaceuticals, Coherus BioSciences, Eidos Therapeutics, Falcon Vision, GenesisCare, Gland Pharma, Panasonic Healthcare, PRA Health Sciences, Slayback Pharma, Spirox and Zeus Health. Prior to joining KKR, he was a Principal with Apax Partners, where he focused on health care private equity and growth equity investments. Previously, Mr. Satvat held various positions with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Audax Group and The Blackstone Group. He holds an A.B., magna cum laude, in History and Science from Harvard College and a M.B.A. in Health Care Management and Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Satvat previously served as a member of the board of directors of the Healthcare Private Equity Association.

Jake Heller, Partner, Head of Tech Growth, Americas

Jake Heller (New York) joined KKR in 2019 and is the Head of KKR’s Technology Growth Equity Americas. Mr. Heller currently represents KKR at Policygenius, o9 Solutions, Slice and RVshare. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Heller was at Spectrum Equity where he focused on growth investments in software, information services and internet businesses. He started his growth equity career at Symmetric Capital and also spent time as a strategic consultant at the Parthenon Group in their global private equity practice. He has served on numerous boards throughout his career including Fleet Complete, Gryphon Networks, Choice Cable, Extreme Reach, Exactbid, Tenstreet, The Expert Institute and Agilis Systems. Prior to Parthenon, Mr. Heller served four years as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy and finished his career in Naval Special Warfare as the Commander of a high-speed assault boat team. He is a decorated veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom including the Bronze Star with distinction for Valor in Combat. Mr. Heller graduated from Harvard College with honors and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Stephen Shanley, Partner, Head of Tech Growth, Europe

Stephen Shanley (London) joined KKR in 2014 and is head of KKR’s Technology Growth Equity Europe. Mr. Shanley has been involved in the firm’s investments in Leapwork, Ornikar, Feedzai, ReliaQuest, Zwift, OutSystems, KnowBe4, GetYourGuide, Darktrace, Ivalua, Trainline, ClickTale, Optimal+, and Travelopia. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Shanley was with Technology Crossover Ventures in Palo Alto, California and subsequently London. Prior to TCV, Mr. Shanley was with the technology investment banking group of Needham & Company and started his career in the transaction services group of KPMG. Mr. Shanley holds a BS and a BSC from Santa Clara University.

Funds Raised

As a firm, KKR has grown significantly over the past decade, with firm-wide assets under management growing from approximately $59 billion as of December 31, 2011 to over $471 billion as of December 31, 2021. Within its growth strategies, KKR has raised four dedicated funds to date.

Key Investments

Blue Sprig Pediatrics: Invested in October 2017
Sector: Health Care, Providers

Blue Sprig Pediatrics provides clinical services to children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. KKR partnered with an experienced management team to scale Blue Sprig Pediatrics and has grown the business into a top-five national provider and the largest provider of autism services in the Southern United States.

BridgeBio Pharma: Invested in March 2016
Sector: Health Care, Biotechnology

BridgeBio Pharma acquires, develops and commercializes breakthrough therapeutics to treat patients with genetic diseases and cancers with genetic drivers. The company has a diverse pipeline of over 30 programs ranging from early discovery to commercialization.

DarkTrace: Invested in July 2016
Sector: Technology, Cyber Security

DarkTrace is leading next-generation cyber threat defense platform that addresses network security and advanced threat detection. Dark Trace differentiates itself by utilizing machine learning to uncover threats that would bypass traditional security tools.

Headlands Research: Invested in May 2018
Sector: Health Care, Pharma Services

Headlands Research is an innovative, technology-enabled clinical trial site management company focused on radically improving the clinical trial experience for both patients and pharmaceutical sponsors. The company operates a network of over 13 sites across North America.

KnowBe4: Invested in March 2019
Sector: Technology, Cyber Security

KnowBe4 is a market leading software platform for cyber-security awareness training that enables its customers to prevent and reduce the impact of social engineering attacks by increasing employee awareness through highly relevant phishing simulations and interactive training courses.

o9 Solutions: Invested in April 2020
Sector: Technology, Enterprise Software / SaaS

o9 Solutions is a next generation cloud-based supply chain and operation planning software provider that helps enterprises digitally plan and optimize their supply and demand operational requirements within a single integrated platform.

OneStream Software: Invested in March 2019
Sector: Technology, Enterprise Software / SaaS

OneStream Software is a leading cloud-based financial consolidation, reporting and planning software platform that enables the CFO office of Fortune 500 and government customers to standardize financial performance across geographies, jurisdictions and business lines on a single financial management system. It provides for reporting across statutory requirements, and allows for global financial forecasting.

Sapphiros: Invested in July 2021
Sector: Health Care, Diagnostics

Sapphiros is a platform formed by KKR and Namal Nawana to build the next generation of diagnostic technologies. The platform has aggregated various best-in-class products, from molecular diagnostics to genomics, into a fully integrated offering to disrupt the consumer diagnostics market.

Zeus Health: Invested in September 2020
Sector: Health Care, Medical Devices

Zeus Health is a platform formed by KKR and Duke Rohlen to invest in and operate a portfolio of emerging medical device companies. The current Zeus portfolio consists of innovative assets spanning electrophysiology, endovascular technology, interventional oncology and other key areas.

Capital Responsibility

Thoughtful ESG management, measurement and reporting have been core to KKR’s business for more than a decade. In addition to investing directly in businesses that are delivering solutions to society’s biggest challenges through its dedicated KKR Global Impact Fund, KKR continuously incorporates ESG considerations across its portfolio.

KKR’s approach to ESG management is based on materiality and is integrated into the firm’s investment processes. KKR’s potential investments go through rigorous due diligence, which involves evaluating ESG-related risks and opportunities. Following investment, KKR integrates consideration of material ESG issues into how it manages companies, with a focus on de-risking and adding value.  These efforts are supported by a robust framework of internal and external resources, which include:

– A dedicated team of full-time ESG professionals who serve as a resource to KKR’s investment teams and portfolio companies.

– An extensive network of external partners, including Business for Social Responsibility, and others.

– The Sustainability Expert Advisory Council (SEAC), a group of six leading independent experts who offer valuable external insights and perspectives on sustainability topics and advise the firm on ESG strategy and initiatives.

KKR also incorporates external frameworks for managing ESG issues, wherever possible. The firm has been a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) since 2009. It also uses standards set by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) at the investment level and uses recommendations from the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to inform its climate strategy.

KKR is committed to transparent and consistent communications around its ESG efforts. The firm launched its inaugural ESG report in 2011 and has since expanded its reporting to include reports on specific topics such as climate action, as well as supplemental disclosures on ESG-focused efforts across its portfolio, all of which can be found in the resource center at kkresg.com.

KKR supports its portfolio companies’ efforts to proactively manage ESG issues, with a particular focus on climate change, diversity and inclusion and data privacy, which the firm believes generate significant risks and opportunities for companies across sectors and geographies.

CEO Reviews

Duke Rohlen, CEO, Ajax Health and Zeus Health

“I have enjoyed the opportunity to partner on a repeat basis–four times to date–with KKR, whose unmatched reputation, scale and depth of health care expertise will continue to open new doors as we collaborate to bring innovative medical devices to patients in need. In addition to being collaborative partners, KKR’s team members are students of health care, with the necessary pattern recognition, patient and long-term orientation and level of engagement to provide tangible support to help their management teams achieve our collective goals.”

Mark Blumling, CEO, Headlands Research

“KKR has been an invaluable partner for Headlands Research. Having worked with KKR since the inception of Headlands over three years ago, I have found them to be the ideal partner from a strategic, financial and personal perspective. The rigor, attention and support they provided Headlands have helped us to scale dramatically in recent years and will help us to continue to do so in the future. More importantly, they have made us a better company. I can think of no one else I would rather work with on this journey.”

Tom Shea, CEO, OneStream Software

“KKR has been an extraordinary partner for OneStream Software. The KKR team has provided great strategic advice to myself and the OneStream management team as we have worked to scale an extremely fast growing business. More importantly, KKR’s belief and passion for our business gave us the confidence to execute without hesitation during the uncertainty of the global pandemic. We are also privileged to have access to KKR’s experienced capital markets team as we navigate the increasing uncertainty in the global financial markets.”

Namal Nawana, Executive Chairman, Sapphiros 

“‘Knowing Now Moves Us.’ At Sapphiros our goal of bringing next-generation consumer diagnostics to the world is fast becoming a reality thanks to our incredible partnership with KKR. Mission alignment, deep domain knowledge and responsiveness have characterized the partnership, as the KKR team has supported our acquisition strategy and rapid scaling of transformational consumer health care technologies.”