GrowthCap is pleased to announce The Top Software Investors of 2023. In our fifth year running this awards process, the candidate pool was more robust than we have ever seen. Many of this year’s candidates received a remarkable number of substantive nominations from CEOs and other colleagues who had worked extensively with the candidate. When software became the sector of choice in growth investing many years ago, investors came flooding in, but through the test of time only the most skilled have remained on top and have even widened their competitive advantages as each year unfolded.
Capital allocation and investment judgement is one part of the equation in reviewing investors, the other is fundamental business expansion capabilities which includes strategic, tactical and operational expertise. Moreover, and most importantly, the best investors operate with high integrity and are consistent in their care of their teams, portfolio companies, other key stakeholders as well as the broader communities they impact.
We expanded the list this year in order to recognize more deserving investors than we had in the past. Ranking the awardees was particularly challenging given they all have exceptional career track records. The more important takeaway is that this group of investors, taken as a whole, represents the top tier in software investing.
Please join us in recognizing and celebrating the achievements of The Top Software Investors of 2023.
Firm: Spectrum Equity
Title: Managing Director and Co-Head
Ben Spero is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Spectrum Equity, a leading growth equity firm that specializes in partnering with internet-based software and data services companies. Ben joined Spectrum in 2001 and has been instrumental in shaping the firm’s culture and investment strategy. Ben has spearheaded the firm’s investments in online marketplaces, consumer subscriptions, and product-led growth software. Representative investments include AllTrails, Ancestry, Grubhub, Headspace Health, Lucid Software, SurveyMonkey, and The Knot Worldwide. He also has extensive experience in company building and has guided M&A, global expansion, and IPOs across the Spectrum portfolio.
Prior to joining Spectrum, he was a consultant at Bain & Company and co-founded a venture-backed startup. He is Board Chair at Destination: Home, a public private partnership to end homelessness in Santa Clara County, and is a board member at Tipping Point Community. Ben received an AB, magna cum laude, from Duke University.
“At Spectrum, we are as passionate as ever about the extraordinary potential of software to transform the way individuals and businesses connect, process, and consume information, and we’re fortunate to work alongside such wonderful founders and management teams who are dedicated to building category-leading companies.”—Ben Spero
Firm: TA Associates
Title: Managing Director
Hythem El-Nazer is a Managing Director at TA and a member of the firm’s Executive, Management, Core Investment and Portfolio Committees. With a focus on investments in enterprise software and technology-enabled companies, he also serves as co-head of TA’s North America Technology Group. Since joining TA in 2004, Hythem has sponsored more than 30 investments spanning across North America, Europe, India and the Middle East. Additionally, he has helped build over a dozen multi-billion-dollar enterprise value companies and has enabled over 300 strategic add-on acquisitions for TA portfolio companies.
Hythem currently serves on the board of directors for Advantive, Appfire, Aptean, Gamma Technologies, Idera, insightsoftware, Lumivero, MRI Software, PDI, Revalize and Sovos. Outside of TA, Hythem serves as board member and member of the executive committee of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO). He is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund, a board member of the Columbia University Business School’s Private Equity Advisory Board, Brown University’s President’s Leadership Council, Brigham and Women’s Hospital Board of Overseers and The Fessenden School. Hythem earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, an AB in economics from Brown University and a General Course degree from the London School of Economics.
“I am fortunate to partner with talented and ambitious executives who choose TA to support them in building enduring businesses. The firm’s collaborative approach to investing enables us to work closely alongside our portfolio companies’ leaders, founders and management teams. By forging these partnerships, we have been successful in accelerating growth, catalyzing innovation and building shareholder value.”—Hythem El-Nazer
Firm: Great Hill Partners
Title: Managing Director
Matt Vettel joined Great Hill Partners in 1999 and is a Managing Director at the firm, where he is responsible for investment policy, general management of the firm, and leading investments in the financial technology and software sectors. Matt is also a member of the firm’s Executive and Investment Committees. He has led investments in a variety of software companies across segments, including: MineralTree (acquired by Global Payments); Confirmation (acquired by Thomson Reuters); Chrome River (acquired by Emburse); Affinipay (acquired by TA Associates); APT (acquired by Global Payments); Secureworks (acquired by Dell); BillMatrix (acquired by Fiserv); and more. Matt currently serves as a director of Jumio, Blue Ridge, VersaPay, Paytronix, One Inc, Network Merchants, Vanco, and BlueSnap. He formerly served on the boards of AffiniPay, Chrome River Technologies, PlanSource, Freightquote.com, bswift, PayChoice, Passport Health Communications, Accelerated Payment Technologies, SterilMed, SecureWorks, BillMatrix, and SmartMail. He began his career as a software developer for Accenture and is a founding member of PureSpeech, a speech recognition software company acquired by Voice Control Systems.
Matt holds a BS in industrial engineering and management from North Dakota State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“At Great Hill, we pride ourselves on collaboration with founders and executives at industry leading software companies to help them realize their full potential. We are honored that GrowthCap has recognized our work and we look forward to continuing to grow and scale our portfolio of innovative software investments moving forward.”—Matt Vettel
Firm: Summit Partners
Title: Managing Director
Michael is a Managing Director at Summit Partners, where he focuses on growth investments in the technology sector. Over the course of his 18+ year tenure with Summit, Michael has invested in and partnered with numerous high-growth companies across the technology landscape, building deep sector expertise within several software subsectors, including e-commerce enablement, marketing automation, infrastructure and DevOps, industrial technology and supply chain. In total, Michael has led or played a significant role in 19 Summit investments, representing more than $1.0 billion in invested capital.
Michael is an active, engaged board member at several Summit portfolio companies. He currently serves on the boards of Klaviyo (NYSE: KVYO), MacStadium, Markforged (NYSE: MKFG), Mavrck and Sifted. His prior investments and directorships include Acacia Communications (NASDAQ: ACIA, later acquired by Cisco), Accedian Networks (recapitalized by Bridge Growth Partners and later acquired by Cisco), Anesthetix (acquired by TeamHealth), Clarabridge (acquired by Qualtrics), Diagnostic Hybrids (acquired by Quidel Corporation), Fermentas International (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific), Hiperos (acquired by Opus Global), Logi Analytics (acquired by Marlin Equity Partners), Mi9 Retail (acquired by General Atlantic), and Telerik (acquired by Progress Software).
Michael holds a BS in finance and international business from Georgetown University.
“As a growth investor, I’m continually inspired by the passion, innovation, and commitment of the executives and operators with whom we partner. I am proud to support the growth of our portfolio companies and work alongside visionary leaders who are working to transform the technology landscape.”—Michael Medici
Firm: Vista Equity Partners
Title: Senior Managing Director, Co-Head Endeavor Fund
René Stewart is Co-Head of Vista’s Endeavor Fund, one of the world’s largest tech buyout funds led exclusively by women. René joined Vista in 2007 and helped launch Endeavor in 2017. Today, she leads in partnership with Co-Head Rachel Arnold seeking to capture the opportunity among high-growth enterprise software companies in the lower-middle market with $10 to $30 million ARR. Since launch, Endeavor has successfully raised two funds and now manages over $2.1 billion.
René participates in Endeavor’s investment process, advises portfolio executives and manages portfolio operations strategies. She currently sits on the boards of Dispatch, Lifeloop, OfficeSpace and WorkTango. She’s also a member of Vista’s Private Equity Management Committee, the firm’s governing and decision-making body for the overall management of Vista’s private equity platform.
René partners with executives to build out roadmaps that focus on growth, market strategy, talent and customer success—helping build enduring businesses designed to scale. She and the Endeavor team place emphasis on helping companies establish inclusive workforces, unlocking their employees’ potential and accelerating their marketing leadership to drive business outcomes.
In 2023, the Endeavor team has been highly active announcing new platform investments in Benchmark Gensuite, Innovapptive, Resilinc and Gatekeeper. Despite a challenging exit environment faced by the growth investment industry, Endeavor has announced three monetization events with the partial sales of Fusion Risk Management, Tripleseat and Zapproved.
“Vista’s singular focus on enterprise software and more than two decades of investing experience is a key differentiator in helping companies reach new heights. With Vista’s Endeavor team, founders and executives who find themselves at a pivotal point in their growth trajectory gain a partner with the expertise to unlock opportunity, scale their business and sustainably grow with confidence.”—René Stewart
Firm: TA Associates
Title: Managing Director
Ashu Agrawal is a Managing Director at TA and a member of the firm’s Core Investment and Portfolio Committees. Based in TA’s Menlo Park office, he helps lead investments in enterprise software and technology-enabled companies, primarily in North America. Ashu has been a technology and software private equity investor for over 22 years, and has assisted over 25 portfolio companies, offering strategic guidance on organic growth initiatives, accretive strategic acquisitions, material divestitures, capital markets financing and recapitalizations.
Ashu currently serves on the board of directors of e-Emphasys, Edifecs, iCIMS, Idera, LeadVenture, Planview, Radiant Logic and Technosylva. Prior to joining TA in 2011, he was a Principal at Francisco Partners. Outside of TA, Ashu serves on the Board of Trustees at the Phillips Brooks School. He is also part of the Advisory Council for Entrepreneurship at Cornell University. Ashu received an MBA from the Harvard Business School, a BS in computer science and an M.Eng. in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University.
“Thank you to GrowthCap for the recognition. At TA, we believe private equity is a team sport. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to partner with many inspiring founders, management teams and employees leading amazing software companies. I am very thankful for the unwavering support of our LPs, the TA team and my family. My colleagues and I look forward to building upon TA’s fifty-five-year foundation of partnering with and scaling exceptional growth companies.”—Ashu Agrawal
Firm: TPG
Title: Partners
Tim Millikin is a Partner at TPG based in San Francisco, where he co-leads TPG’s investment activities in software & enterprise technology. He currently serves as a board director or observer for Barracuda, Elite, Catalis, Delinea, Forcepoint G2CI, and Infinidat. He has also led or been involved with many of the firm’s current and prior technology investments including Box, Ellucian, Expanse, Guardicore, McAfee, Renaissance Learning, SunGard, Tanium, and Zscaler.
Prior to joining TPG in 2007, Tim worked in the Technology M&A group at Morgan Stanley where he advised on and executed M&A transactions across the enterprise software, Internet, technology hardware, and services sectors. Tim holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA in economics from Dartmouth College.
“2023 has been a very active year for TPG’s software and enterprise technology team, marked by several new partnerships with companies that together represent more than $10 billion of enterprise value. We’re proud to partner with great teams and leaders that are at the forefront of enabling growth and change across the industries they support, from providers of mission-critical cyber solutions like Forcepoint G2CI to vertical market leaders like Elite.”-Tim Milliklin
Mike Zappert is a Partner at TPG based in San Francisco, where he leads technology investing and strategy across the TPG Growth and The Rise Fund platforms, and is actively involved with TPG Tech Adjacencies. Mike currently serves on the boards of the following TPG investments: Denodo, Everlaw, Greenhouse, MX and Onfido, and he is actively involved with TPG’s investments in Salsify and P44.
Prior to joining TPG, Mike was a Partner at Adams Street Partners, and he previously held various roles at 3i and Credit Suisse. Mike received a AB in economics with Honors and an MS in management science & engineering from Stanford University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and was a Stanford in Government Fellow to the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, UK.
“Software investing is a key area of focus for TPG and we bring decades of insights and expertise to help entrepreneurs build market-leading, next-generation businesses. As AI becomes the next big paradigm shift in the world of software enterprise technology, it’s an exciting time to be an investor in this space. We look forward to what the next decade of innovation will bring as we continue to partner with fast-growing companies who have market-leading products and are transforming their industries.”-Mike Zappert
Firm: PSG
Title: Managing Directors
Marco Ferrari is a Managing Director at PSG and has been with the firm since 2014. Marco leverages his 20 years of investment and operations experience to lead investments in software and technology companies at PSG. In his role, he helps to drive PSG’s portfolio companies’ strategic growth and identify opportunities across the software and technology landscape to expand organically and through add-on acquisitions. Since joining PSG, he has been involved in several platform deals and add-on acquisitions which have spanned various industry sectors including payments, business workflow, health engagement, HR, AI and automation solutions. Marco’s role in identifying and supporting these companies has helped to accelerate growth and expand product offerings.
Outside of his role as an investor, Marco currently serves on several portfolio company boards, including Versatile Credit, Prodoscore and Broadlume where he works with management teams on projects such as acquisition integration, hiring C-suite executives and helping to build out financial systems and processes.
Marco received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University.
“Now more than ever, software is an integral part of businesses across every sector. Since joining PSG in 2014, I have had the opportunity to work alongside entrepreneurs as they look to transform the software space—modernizing the way businesses operate. It is incredibly rewarding to support their growth and watch their businesses create lasting value in the broader business ecosystem.”—Marco Ferrari
Tom Reardon is a Managing Director at PSG and has been with the firm since 2015. In his role, he leverages his over two decades of experience in software and technology-enabled business investments to partner with portfolio company founders and management teams to help them achieve their strategic growth goals. In the eight years since Tom joined PSG, he has brought his strong operational experience to help PSG’s portfolio companies scale and realize their full potential. He has supported key investments for PSG across workplace productivity and compliance, event management, password security, AI and customer analytics through a myriad of platform deals and add-on acquisitions.
Tom currently serves on a variety of portfolio company boards, including Buxton, Bitwarden and Pathful. Tom received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University.
“I am honored to be recognized by GrowthCap among this incredible group of investors. At PSG, we strive to serve as business partners throughout the growth journey of our portfolio companies. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with these innovative leaders as they pave the way forward in the software industry.”—Tom Reardon
Firm: Silversmith Capital Partners
Title: Managing Partners
Jim Quagliaroli co-founded Silversmith Capital Partners in 2015. With 25 years of software investment experience, Jim has served on the board of directors of 25+ technology companies throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, and has helped his portfolio companies execute 100+ M&A transactions throughout North America, EMEA, and APAC.
Jim has led 14 investments for Silversmith, including the firm’s first institutional investments in Absorb Software, Apryse, GiveCampus, JETNET, Proven Optics, TMA Systems, and Validity, among many others. Jim received an AB, magna cum laude, in English & American literature from Harvard College.
“Since our founding in 2015, we have had the privilege to be partners to dozens of founders who have built exceptional, market-leading software companies. It is an honor for Silversmith to be consistently recognized as top investors by the CEOs we have been fortunate to partner with. These management teams are the ones who work relentlessly to create and lead great software companies.”—Jim Quagliaroli
Todd MacLean co-founded Silversmith Capital Partners in 2015 and focuses on building lasting partnerships with exceptional entrepreneurs within the SaaS & information services sectors. With more than 20 years investing in the information technology sector, Todd has served on the boards of 15+ growing SaaS companies and led 11 investments for the firm since its founding including, ActiveCampaign, Digital Map Products, Distrokid, Impel, Onbe, Social Sentinel, Unily, Venminder, Webflow, Worldly, and Zonos.
Prior to co-founding Silversmith, Todd spent over 15 years as a growth equity investor at Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), Accel and Summit Partners. Todd joined BCV in 2006, serving as a Managing Director upon his return to the firm in 2012 from Silicon Valley where he co-led the growth equity effort at Accel Partners. While at BCV, Todd focused on growth equity investments in the technology sector, with a particular emphasis on application SaaS and information services and led the firms’ investments in SurveyMonkey (Nasdaq: MNTV) and Wrike (acquired by Citrix). Prior to BCV, Todd worked at Summit Partners as an Associate and later Vice President, as well as in operating roles at several private companies.
Todd received an AB, cum laude, in English from Dartmouth College and an MBA with Honors from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Silversmith’s entire reason for being is to partner with amazing founders and operators—and to help them turn their visions into reality. While we work tirelessly to help in that regard, at the end of the day, it is the entrepreneurs who deserve all the credit. We are grateful for the incredibly hard work they do every day to build exceptional businesses.”—Todd MacLean
Firm: Francisco Partners
Title: Partner
Brian Decker is a Partner at Francisco Partners (“FP”) and focuses on investing in companies across the enterprise security and infrastructure software markets. Throughout his career at FP, Brian has led many software and security investments including the carve-out of Boomi from Dell, the carve-out of Forcepoint from Raytheon in 2021, and the sale of Quest Software five years after its carve-out acquisition from Dell. In 2023, Brian was critical to FP’s sale of Forcepoint’s government cybersecurity business (Forcepoint G2CI) for $2.45 billion. Brian’s team also recently led the $6.5 billion acquisition of New Relic, a leading provider of observability platforms that allows customers to deliver better software faster, to help New Relic optimize observability as a private company. Earlier this year, Brian co-led the firm’s $1.7 billion acquisition of then public company, Sumo Logic, and now supports the company’s effort to create a trusted, cloud-native, SaaS analytics platform for observability and security.
Brian has also been a supportive leader in helping to build out FP’s ESG practices at both the firm level and portfolio level. Forcepoint and Smartbear, two companies under his leadership, were awarded Austin TX Best Places to Work and Women in IT awards, respectively. Brian graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in computer engineering and holds a Master’s in electrical engineering from Cornell University.
“Francisco Partners has a long history of identifying opportunities to invest and unlock value in the enterprise security and infrastructure software markets and we are particularly focused on helping founders of innovative companies that need capital and operating guidance to help further leverage their technology to deliver even better outcomes for their customers. Our commitment as a firm is to be true partners with our portfolio companies and to provide flexible capital through both equity and debt that will enable them to achieve new levels of success. This allows us to generate consistent strong risk-adjusted returns for our limited partners.”—Brian Decker
Firm: Great Hill Partners
Title: Managing Director
Chris Busby joined Great Hill Partners in 2000 and is a Managing Director at the firm, where he is responsible for originating and executing investment opportunities in the software and technology-enabled services sectors. Chris is also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. He has led investments in companies including SecureWorks (acquired by Dell); Reward Gateway (acquired by Abry Partners and Castik Capital); PlanSource (acquired by Vista Equity Partners); Accelerated Payment Technologies (acquired by Global Payments); bswift (acquired by Aetna); Reflexis (acquired by Zebra Technologies); Vanco; BlueSnap; Fusion; eloomi; Examity, and more. Chris currently serves as a board member of Fusion Risk Management, eloomi, Examity and BigChange.
Chris holds a BA in political science and history from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began his career as an Analyst in JPMorgan’s investment banking division.
“I am fortunate to have the opportunity to invest in dynamic and exciting software companies that are led by talented management teams. We are proud of our work supporting entrepreneurs and are excited to continue using our resources and network to help our portfolio companies grow and scale.”—Chris Busby
Firm: Summit Partners
Title: Managing Director
Len Ferrington is a Managing Director at Summit Partners, where he focuses on growth investments in the technology sector. Over his 17+ years with Summit, Len has invested in and partnered with numerous high growth companies across the technology landscape, building deep expertise across numerous technology subsectors including cybersecurity, B2B software, collaboration and human capital software, tech-enabled education and communications technology.
Len is an active, engaged board member at several Summit portfolio companies. He currently serves as a board director at Keeper Security, Ruffalo Noel Levitz, StackAdapt and Ylopo, and he is active in the firm’s investment in QAD. Len’s prior board and investment experience includes Access Information Management (acquired by Berkshire Partners), Aeryon Labs (acquired by FLIR Systems), Ascentis (acquired by UKG), Heald College (acquired by Corinthian Colleges), Redzone Software (acquired by QAD), Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR), Teaching Strategies (acquired by KKR), Trident University International (acquired by Perdoceo Education Corporation) and Ubiquiti (NYSE: UI, formerly Ubiquiti Networks). In total, Len has led or played a significant role in 14 Summit investments representing more than $1.8 billion in invested capital.
Len holds a BS in accounting from the Leventhal School of Accounting at the University of Southern California.
“Over the course of my career, it’s been exciting to see the meaningful impact that software-enabled technology has had in driving digital transformation across numerous industries. It’s been a privilege to partner with and work alongside some of the visionary executives who are leading these growth companies and creating innovative products that that are changing the way people live, work and interact.”—Len Ferrington
Firm: Norwest
Title: Managing Partner and Co-Head Equity Growth
Jon joined Norwest in 2009 and brings more than 25 years of investment experience to his role as Managing Partner and Co-Head of the Growth Equity team. Jon is one of three managing partners responsible for the firm, which has $12.5 billion in capital under management. Jon is focused on investing across a wide range of sectors, with a particular interest in information services, software, internet, and consumer companies. Jon is an active board member at Avetta, Ebbo, Vuori, WineAccess, and YipitData.
His software investments include 1010data (acquired by Advance), Avetta, Banyan Software, Classy (acquired by GoFundMe), Cority (recapitalized by Thoma Bravo), Ebbo, Galvanize (acquired by Diligent), GeoComply, Infutor, SpryPoint, The Rainmaker Group (acquired by RealPage), The Retail Equation (acquired by Appriss), TurnitIn (acquired by Advance) and YipitData.
“Since 2009, Norwest’s Growth Equity team has been focused on partnering with capital-efficient businesses that demonstrate exceptional growth potential. I’ve had the opportunity to lead many of the firm’s investments across the software and data ecosystem, including market-leading businesses that specialize in compliance technology, vertical SaaS, and information services. I look forward to continuing our work with entrepreneurs and management teams as we help their companies achieve their full potential.”—Jon Kossow
Firm: TA Associates
Title: Managing Director
Mike Libert is a Managing Director based in TA’s Boston office, where he focuses on investments in software companies. Leveraging over a decade of experience as a cross-border investor, Mike partners with the founders and management teams of TA’s technology portfolio to accelerate organic growth, execute strategic acquisitions and unlock value-creation opportunities. During his tenure at TA, Mike has led or co-sponsored investments in 14 platform software companies, originated or enabled more than 200 add-on acquisitions, and executed five public-to-private transitions.
Mike currently serves on the board of directors of Advantive, Appfire, Aptean, Fortra, Gamma Technologies, Idera, insightsoftware, Kofax, Lumivero, MRI Software, Netwrix, Precisely and Revalize. Prior to TA, Mike worked at Bain & Company and Nintex, a former TA portfolio company. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AB in economics from Harvard College.
“At TA, we pride ourselves on the deep industry expertise, global network and decades of experience that we can offer our portfolio companies to help scale growth and improve performance. It is an honor to be recognized by GrowthCap for our commitment to generating value that inspires innovation and empowers leading technology companies to achieve their full potential.”—Mike Libert
Firm: Sageview Capital
Title: Partner
Jeff Klemens is a Partner at Sageview Capital, a growth equity firm that backs industry-defining innovators to build enduring software and tech-enabled businesses. In his role, Jeff is responsible for helping lead the firm’s investment ideation, sourcing efforts, transaction activity, and post-investment value creation. Jeff joined Sageview in 2006 as a Principal, and during his time has focused on software and tech-enabled businesses in compliance, e-commerce, security, and infrastructure sectors. Jeff has been heavily involved in ten investments at Sageview, including the firm’s three highest returning investments. Jeff’s current investments include Anitian, Elastic Path, Elemental Machines, Ezoic, MetricStream, and Pax8. His prior investments include Avalara, GoPro, Reflexis, Alfresco, and Rapid RTC.
Before joining Sageview, Jeff was an Associate at SPO Partners & Co. He started his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in the Industrial and Financial Sponsors groups of the Investment Banking Division. Jeff graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in 2001 with a B.S. in business administration and was awarded the Order of the Torch, which recognizes 12 graduating seniors for outstanding leadership, academic achievement, service and mentorship, and contributions to the USC community.
“Our strategy is to partner with ambitious entrepreneurs with exceptional products and help them scale to industry leaders. We look to collaborate with our companies on a customized approach, leveraging our decades of industry experience, operational expertise, and network to create meaningful value.”—Jeff Klemens.
Firm: B Capital
Title: General Partner and Head of Enterprise Investing
Rashmi Gopinath is a General Partner and Head of Enterprise Investing at B Capital where she leads the firm’s global enterprise software practice and focuses on investments in cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, devops, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. She brings over two decades of experience investing and operating in enterprise technologies. She led B Capital’s investments in companies such as DataRobot, FalconX, Clari, Pendo, 6sense, OwnBackup, Innovaccer, Phenom People, Synack, Yalo, Labelbox, Zesty, Perimeter81 (acq. by CHKP) among others.
Rashmi was previously a Managing Director at M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, where she led investments globally in enterprise software and sat on several boards including Synack, Innovaccer, Frame (acq. by NTNX), Contrast Security, Incorta, among others.
Prior to M12, Rashmi was an Investment Director with Intel Capital where she was involved in the firm’s investments in startups including MongoDB (Nasdaq: MDB), ForeScout (Nasdaq: FSCT), Maginatics (acq. by EMC), BlueData (acq. by HPE), among others. Rashmi held operating roles at high-growth startups such as BlueData (acq. by HPE) and Couchbase (Nasdaq: BASE), where she led global business development, product, and marketing roles. She began her career in engineering and product roles at Oracle and GE Healthcare. She earned an MBA from Northwestern University, and a BS in electrical engineering from University of Mumbai in India.
“At B Capital, we’re focused on partnering with best-in-class global startups that are truly shaping the future of how we work and live. I am humbled and fortunate to work alongside exceptional entrepreneurs that are pioneering transformational technology innovation to build category leading companies.”—Rashmi Gopinath
Firm: Insight Partners
Title: Managing Directors
Jon Rosenbaum is a Managing Director at Insight Partners. He focuses on investments in vertical and horizontal application software and is responsible for executing transactions and assisting in portfolio management post-close. He has also specialized in sourcing and executing M&A—a key strength of Jon’s and an asset to Insight’s portfolio companies as they continue to scale. Since joining Insight in 2014, Jon has been directly involved in sourcing and leading notable deals such as nCino (IPO), DocuSign (IPO), Frontline Education (acquired by Thoma Bravo) and Cloudcraze (acquired by Salesforce).
Outside of his deal work at Insight, Jon is responsible for Insight’s analyst training program. He personally onboards and trains new Insight analysts on sourcing and SaaS company analysis, which is no small feat as Insight continues growing to provide the best operational and capital support to its portfolio and the broader tech ecosystem.
“Insight’s scale represents an extraordinary point of leverage to help find and win new deals, and truly impact the operations of our portfolio companies. As an individual investor at Insight, I enjoy the task of bringing a ‘small firm’ feel to founders and management teams. But I also enjoy the ability to deploy outsized resources that come with an adaptable, scale platform.”—Jon Rosenbaum
Matt Gatto joined Insight Partners as an Investment Analyst in 2010, working his way up to Managing Director. He focuses on investments in high-growth software and SaaS businesses across infrastructure, healthcare, and enterprise applications, and also has experience with leveraged buyouts. During his time at Insight, Matt has worked with companies such as AirWatch (acquired by VMWare), Darktrace (IPO), Shopify (IPO), Tenable (IPO), SonarSource, CentralReach and Workato, and works with a number of other notable infrastructure and software/SaaS companies in the firm’s portfolio.
Matt’s career experience prior to Insight includes online advertising optimization at Verizon Information Services, debt restructuring and issuance at Deutsche Bank Asia, and electronic communications risk management at Merrill Lynch. He graduated with high honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and a BS in economics from the Wharton School.
“Having spent 13 years at Insight Partners, I’ve seen software and broader tech evolve rapidly. One thing remains constant: Insight’s commitment to finding, backing, and scaling what we believe are the best software companies globally. It’s an honor to work with talented colleagues and inspiring portfolio leaders every day.”—Matt Gatto
Firm: JMI Equity
Title: General Partner
Brian is a General Partner at JMI Equity, focusing on enterprise software. He is currently a director of Eptura, Greenlight Guru, Intradiem, and Swiftly, and is a board observer at CompanyCam and Visting Media. He was previously a director of a number of JMI investments prior to their successful exits, including Arena Solutions, BigMachines, EMS Software, and PowerPlan.
Brian leads both minority and majority investments, collaborating with management teams to define and achieve market-leading growth strategies. Prior to joining JMI in 2008, Brian was a Senior Associate at Vista Equity Partners, where he executed enterprise software transactions and assisted portfolio companies with growth initiatives, strategy, acquisitions, and operational improvement. He also worked with software and services companies as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University with his BA in economics and computer science and MS in management of information systems. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“Having the opportunity to work with so many innovative software founders and entrepreneurs is an honor. It is incredibly rewarding to collaborate with our portfolio companies and my colleagues at JMI to achieve long-term, sustainable growth.”—Brian Hersman
Firm: JMI Equity
Title: General Partner
David has 17 years of experience helping to build leading software companies. David joined JMI in 2006 and is one of the eight investing General Partners at the firm. He is currently a director of Bloomerang, Businessolver, Employee Navigator, RainFocus, ServiceTrade, Unanet, and Vantaca. In addition to supporting JMI’s current portfolio companies and firm management, he also helps to identify and assess potential investment opportunities in high-growth software companies. Prior to joining JMI in 2006, David was an Associate at Cascadia Capital and an Analyst at Houlihan Lokey. David graduated from Goizueta Business School at Emory University with a BBA in finance and accounting.
“It’s an honor to partner with such talented founders, entrepreneurs, and executive leaders to build long-term, trusted relationships within the software investing industry. It’s a privilege and an inspiration to work alongside such brilliant, committed, and innovative teammates.”—David Greenberg
Firm: Volition Capital
Title: Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Sean is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Volition Capital where he co-leads the software investment team. Sean’s current board directorships and investments include Assent, Automatiq, Black Kite, Cohora, Creatio, GRAX, Hackajob, Millions, One Day, TraceLink, and Zenarate. His past board directorships and investments include JazzHR (acquired by K1), Visual IQ (acquired by Nielsen), GlobalTranz (acquired by The Jordan Company), iPipeline (acquired by Thoma Bravo), G5 Search Marketing (acquired by Peak Equity), Ping Identity (PING), GeoLearning (acquired by SumTotal), Velocify (acquired by Ellie Mae) and EnterpriseDB (acquired by Peak Equity). Prior to co-founding Volition Capital in 2010, Sean was an investor at Fidelity Ventures and Summit Partners. Sean holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“Being acknowledged alongside the industry’s top software investors is a testament to Volition’s mission to partner with founders and companies that are fundamentally transforming multiple technology sectors. Being recognized as one of GrowthCap’s Top Software Investors is an honor that I share with the entire Volition Capital team whose hard work makes our success as a leading growth-equity firm possible every day.”—Sean Cantwell
Firm: TCV
Title: General Partner
John joined TCV’s investment team in 2012 and helped to open the firm’s London office. He focuses on investments in the consumer, fintech and enterprise software sectors. In addition to his investment activities, John is also a member of TCV’s Executive Committee, which oversees the general management of the firm and its funds. John’s software investments include Relex, Mambu, Miro, Celonis, Redis Labs, and Perfecto.
John has over 20 years of investment experience, and was previously an investor at Summit Partners, where he focused on investments across software, internet, and financial technology. He received his MBA from the Harvard Business School and graduated with a BA in economics from Harvard College.
“It is a privilege to be able to work in a team of software investment specialists at TCV with multiple decades of specialism and experience. We feel tremendously fortunate to be able to partner with and support world class visionary founders, CEOs and management teams from across the world. Each of which reflect an ethos of excellence and humility as they look to build the next generation of blue chip technology companies.”—John Doran
Firm: Thoma Bravo
Title: Partner
Hudson Smith is a Partner at leading software investment firm Thoma Bravo, where he co-leads the Discover team, the firm’s mid-market buyout platform. Hudson is well-regarded among his colleagues and the portfolio companies he works with as an engaging, supportive team member and is recognized for his laser-focus and consistent ability to think outside the box. He has a particular focus on investing in the governance, risk and compliance spaces and maintains a thoughtful, sharp eye on ESG concerns when selecting the companies he chooses to invest in.
Hudson has been instrumental in some of the firm’s most innovative transactions to date. Recently, he led Thoma Bravo’s $1.3 billion take-private of Magnet Forensics which Thoma Bravo combined with portfolio company Grayshift, creating a leader in digital forensics. Hudson also led the $1.9 billion sale of Pathwire to Sinch following two and half years of ownership, during which Thoma Bravo supported significant growth initiatives, including two highly strategic add-ons. Hudson was elected as an independent director on Sinch’s Board, a position he holds today. He is an active board member at eight additional companies.
Hudson earned his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and he graduated magna cum laude with a BS in business administration from Washington and Lee University.
“It’s a privilege to leverage Thoma Bravo’s extensive strategic and operational capabilities to help drive growth and innovation across our portfolio. I’m excited for the opportunities ahead as we continue to look to invest in outstanding software companies around the world.”—Hudson Smith
Firm: Guidepost Growth Equity
Title: General Partner
Gene Nogi is a General Partner at Guidepost Growth Equity where he leads the firm’s investing efforts in the infrastructure software and tech-enabled services with FinTech and EdTech vertical focus. He currently sits on the boards of directors for ActiveViam, ClassWallet, Innovative Solutions, Intellum, and Shibumi. He formerly served on the board for Traction on Demand (acquired by Salesforce) and Network to Code.
Previously, Gene was a General Partner with Symmetric Capital, a Boston-based growth equity firm. He began his investing career at Summit Partners, where he focused on software and tech-enabled services. Gene holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and received a BA in economics, cum laude, from Amherst College.
“At Guidepost, we are focused on partnering with bootstrapped, entrepreneur-led enterprise software and technology-enabled businesses demonstrating significant organic, profitable growth and typically $10-$50 million of revenue scale. We build trusted minority or slight majority partnerships with our management teams through impactful strategic, financial, and operational assistance entirely at this stage of growth. The expertise of our Value Creation Group (“VCG”) is a key differentiator in this part of the market, where Guidepost’s relationships with executives in our core industry groups provides crucial functional assistance in the areas that are often underdeveloped for growth stage companies and that are required to build to $100M+ of revenue scale.”—Gene Nogi
Firm: JMI Equity
Title: General Partner
Larry has been part of the JMI team since 2010. He is a General Partner and is responsible for sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities as well as providing strategic and operational support to portfolio companies. Larry is currently a director of Apptegy, Bloomerang, ChurnZero, Incident IQ, RainFocus, and Raptor Technologies. Prior to joining JMI, Larry was an Analyst in the multi-industries group in the investment banking division at Merrill Lynch & Co. Larry graduated from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in economics.
“At JMI, it’s an honor to be able to collaborate with world-class software founders and management teams to help them grow, see around corners, and build incredibly valuable businesses. I’m grateful to my JMI colleagues and the executives I’ve partnered with for making this work fun and rewarding, day in and day out.”—Larry Contrella
Firm: Bregal Sagemount
Title: Partner and Co-Founder
Pavan Tripathi is a Partner and Co-Founder at Bregal Sagemount. Prior to Bregal Sagemount, Pavan was an investment banker and private equity investor at Goldman Sachs & Co. Most recently, he was a member of the growth equity team in Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division. Pavan graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles with a BS in electrical engineering and a BA in economics and received an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
“Sagemount’s uniquely flexible platform allows us to work with inspiring entrepreneurs and executives across majority equity, minority equity, and credit investments. We approach each prospective and current portfolio company with the goal of being true partners in accelerating growth and building value for all stakeholders through our robust Growth Factors program. Throughout the ups and downs of an investment lifecycle, we are fortunate to have built meaningful, lifelong relationships with our executives.”—Pavan Tripathi
Firm: Blackstone Growth
Title: Principal
Nicolas Dupuis is a Principal at Blackstone Growth, focused on enterprise software investments in Europe. Nicolas is based out of London and has more than 10 years of experience working with and investing in leading enterprise software companies globally. As an active and value-add investor, Blackstone Growth partners closely with founders and management teams to help accelerate organic growth.
Since joining Blackstone in 2020, Nicolas has originated or led five investments into Relex, ISN, Celonis, SonarSource and Epidemic Sound. He has also played a key role in driving portfolio company growth through M&A, including supporting the execution of four add-on acquisitions. Prior to Blackstone, Nicolas focused on growth equity investments at Apax Partners, where he helped lead investments into Signavio (acquired by SAP), Solita as well as two add-on acquisitions. Prior to Apax, Nicolas started his career in Goldman Sachs’ investment-banking division.
Nicolas graduated from the London School of Economics, with a first-class B.Sc. degree in mathematics and economics.
“At Blackstone Growth, our mission is to partner with exceptional entrepreneurs. We’ve had the privilege of collaborating with visionary founders and CEOs who have successfully built disruptive, mission-critical, and capital-efficient software businesses. By leveraging the extensive Blackstone ecosystem and portfolio, coupled with our significant sector expertise and technology-first operating resources, we are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs maximize their success.”—Nicolas Dupuis
Firm: H.I.G. Growth Partners
Title: Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Growth
Ross Hiatt is a Managing Director and the Head of H.I.G. Growth, the growth stage technology-focused investment group within H.I.G. Capital. As fund head, he has responsibility for all of the day-to-day activities of H.I.G. Growth.
Ross has over two decades of investing and finance experience, with expertise across consumer internet, fintech, SaaS and enterprise technology. Before joining H.I.G., he was a senior member of the technology investment team at TPG Capital and was responsible for all aspects of investment sourcing, execution, and oversight. Before TPG, Ross spent ten years at Goldman Sachs where he worked with some of the world’s leading technology companies. Ross began his career in the high yield and leveraged finance group at J.P. Morgan.
Ross differentiates himself from other investors through his impressive history of successful investments and IPOs. With his extensive knowledge and experience in operations, digital technology, and overall business expertise, Ross empowers portfolio companies to make transformative change.
Ross is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors at ProsperOps, Bluum and WorkSuite. Prior investment and board experience includes Calm.com, Dream11, Goal.com, Age of Learning (ABCmouse) and Pray.
Ross earned a BBA from The University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, both with honors.
“We’re honored to partner with great software and technology companies, and are grateful to GrowthCap for this recognition. We remain committed to identifying and supporting innovative software companies that have the potential to disrupt industries and drive meaningful growth.”—Ross Hiatt
Firm: WestCap
Title: Partner, Co-Head of Investments
Daphne is a Partner and the Co-Head of Investments at WestCap where she shapes the firm’s vision, investment process and strategy. During her time at the firm, she has refined the investment process for how WestCap evaluates investments that facilitates sound decision-making as one unified team. She has also played a key role in developing five-point operating plans to help portfolio company founders and leaders plan for and navigate the current economic environment and changing market conditions.
Of WestCap’s 38 total portfolio companies, Daphne has overseen the commitments to more than half of these investments. As a result, she has helped WestCap successfully close its $2.2B 2021 Vintage fund and has most recently led the firm’s investments in companies across cybersecurity, prop tech and fintech.
Prior to WestCap, Daphne was the Co-Head of the Private Equity Funds and Co-Investment Group in the Americas for GIC, a leading global investment firm established to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. Additionally, she held a role as a Principal at The Blackstone Group’s Private Equity division and started her career in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs.
“At WestCap, we’re a close team of seasoned entrepreneurs and company builders who know what it takes to navigate the most critical stages of growth. Our focus is tech-enabled, asset-light marketplaces and the network-affected businesses that support them. We are honored to partner closely with our founders and management teams to build generational companies together.”—Daphne Tong
Firm: Bain Capital Ventures
Title: Partner
Merritt Hummer is a Partner at Bain Capital Ventures where she leads the firm’s investing efforts in high growth B2B SaaS and marketplace companies. Beyond her role as a deal lead, she serves as co-head of the growth practice at BCV. Merritt has played an important leadership role in the firm by hiring, training, and mentoring multiple classes of associates and principals on the team.
Merritt has established herself as a leading growth investor in the US and Europe. Merritt led BCV’s investments in Apollo.io, Pleo, Socure, Material Bank, and Ankorstore, among others. She also contributed to flagship deals such as Mirakl and GoCardless as a diligence partner. Since joining the firm in 2018, Merritt has led or contributed to more than a dozen growth deals.
Merritt began her career as a consultant at Bain & Company where she conducted due diligence on behalf of private investment firms in Bain’s Private Equity Group. She graduated from Princeton University with a BS in engineering cum laude, and from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar.
“This job does not feel like a job to me. I am grateful to my colleagues at Bain Capital with whom I learn and grow in our continuous pursuit of excellent companies, and I am in awe of our founders for their resilience, creativity, and passion.”—Merritt Hummer
Firm: Catalyst Investors
Title: Managing Partner
Tyler joined Catalyst in 2000 and has been a Partner since 2006. He leads portfolio investments and currently has a focus on vertical SaaS, HR tech, and sustainability. Tyler currently serves on the boards of ChowNow, Datavail (as Chair), RepTrak, Rivet and Weave Communications (NYSE: WEAV). He previously served on numerous boards of Catalyst portfolio companies, including Ascentis, BrightFarms, Conductor, EDB, and Mindbody. He is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and helps manage the firm.
Prior to joining Catalyst (way back when), Tyler worked in TMT leveraged finance at TD Securities. Tyler graduated with a B.A. from Middlebury College, cum laude, where he majored in economics. He is also a CFA Charter holder.
“Catalyst and I have been investing growth equity in SaaS companies since 2000—well before either ‘growth equity’ or ‘SaaS’ were commonly used terms. Twenty-four years later, my job is still a blast, as I get to invest and work with really talented entrepreneurs solving really interesting business problems. Every day I try to leverage Catalyst’s accumulated experience to help our management teams build great and valuable companies.”—Tyler Newton
Firm: Gryphon Investors
Title: Partner and Co-Head of Software
Jon Cheek is a Partner and Co-Head of Gryphon Investors’ Software Group. Jon joined Gryphon in 2019 to launch and build out its Software Group, along with Gryphon Operating Partner Carl Theobald. Gryphon has invested in five application software companies in field service management, ERP, Governance Risk & Compliance (GRC), financial technology, and education technology. In early 2020, Jon led Gryphon’s majority investment in FieldRoutes, a SaaS provider to the pest control market. With Gryphon’s support, FieldRoutes organically doubled its recurring revenue over two years by launching a payments offering, expanding to adjacent verticals, and augmenting the sales and marketing team. The company was sold to ServiceTitan in early 2022.
Jon currently serves on the boards of Meazure Learning, Ncontracts, RegEd, and Rootstock. Prior to joining Gryphon, Jon was a Principal at Serent Capital, where he led eight platform investments in software and technology-enabled services companies. Earlier, Jon was an Associate at Vector Capital and a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. He holds a BS, management science & engineering, from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
“Gryphon has a long heritage of delivering consistent value creation by supporting and enabling our portfolio companies and their management teams with exceptional operational expertise. It has been energizing and rewarding to both identify and work closely with our innovative portfolio companies on a variety of strategic and operating initiatives and to build Gryphon’s reputation as a preferred software investor for middle market companies.”—Jon Cheek
Firm: Centana Growth Partners
Title: Partner and Co-Founder
Eric Byunn co-founded Centana Growth in 2015 and is one of its Partners. Before founding Centana Growth, Eric spent over 20 years in growth equity and technology. Eric currently serves on the boards of Athennian, Beacon, Jumio, Operto, SheerID, SpyCloud, Teikametrics and Vena. He previously led investments in companies including Cloudmark (acquired by Proofpoint), Coremetrics (acquired by IBM), Covario (acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network), Ease, GMI (acquired by WPP), KVS (acquired by Veritas), MarketShare Partners (acquired by Neustar), One, Inc., PSS Systems (acquired by IBM), Sentieo (acquired by AlphaSense), Sourcecode/K2, Varicent (acquired by IBM) and Vindicia (acquired by Amdocs).
Eric was previously a Partner at FTV Capital, where he led investments in enterprise technology. Prior to FTV, Eric served as Director of Online Services at myCFO, a startup wealth management firm. He held several positions at Netscape/AOL, including management of Netscape’s Personal Finance Channel and product management for the Netscape Navigator browser. He also has worked at Microsoft and McKinsey & Company.
He received an AB, summa cum laude, in economics with an additional focus in computer science from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. Eric is also a CFA Charterholder.
“At Centana Growth Partners, we collaborate through a focused approach, strategically relevant network, and sector/stage-specific expertise from decades of experience investing in enterprise software, fintech, and financial services. It is immensely rewarding to work every day with amazing, dedicated founders and management teams pursuing innovation across the financial services ecosystem.”—Eric Byunn
Firm: One Peak
Title: Co-Founders and Managing Partners
David is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of One Peak, and focuses on investing in the technology sector. His investment and board experience at One Peak includes Ardoq, Brightflag, Coople, Cymulate, DataGuard, Deepki, DocPlanner, EMnify, HighQ, Hygraph, Infermedica, IP Fabric, Keepit, Lucca, Neo4j, Orgvue, PandaDoc, Quentic, and Spryker.
Prior to One Peak, David was a senior investment professional at growth equity fund Summit Partners in London where he was responsible for technology investments across Europe and Israel, with a focus on software and communications technology. He also led growth investments at Morgan Stanley Principal Investments in Europe and Israel. He started his career in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group at Morgan Stanley in London and São Paulo. David enjoys sports, travelling, and arts. He was also a trustee of Age UK Tower Hamlet, the UK’s largest charity for the elderly.
David speaks English, German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. He holds a Master’s degree in economics and business administration from University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
“At One Peak, we are ultimately in the business of investing in exceptional founders, and we work alongside them with the same passion and dedication as they do. From hiring the best talent to accelerating top line growth and driving global expansion, we’re committed to helping founders build best-in-class software businesses. Thank you for this recognition.”—David Klein
Humbert is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of One Peak, and focuses on investing in the technology sector. His investment and board experience at One Peak includes Ardoq, Brightflag, Coople, Cymulate, DataGuard, Deepki, DocPlanner, EMnify, HighQ, Hygraph, Infermedica, IP Fabric, Keepit, Lucca, Neo4j, Orgvue, PandaDoc, Quentic, and Spryker.
Prior to One Peak, Humbert was an Investment Director at AnaCap Financial Partners. He also led growth investments at Morgan Stanley Principal Investments in Europe and Israel. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Humbert worked at ABN AMRO and Umicore.
Humbert speaks English, Dutch, and French. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in industrial relations from the London School of Economics, United Kingdom, and a Master’s degree in general management from Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Belgium.
“At One Peak, our investment philosophy is simple. We back the most ambitious founders and support them with our sector expertise, global network, and value creation platform to build global category leaders. We are pleased to be recognized as a partner of choice for the most innovative software companies.”—Humbert de Liedekerke Beaufort
Firm: Rubicon Technology Partners
Title: Partner
Alex Kleiner joined Rubicon Technology Partners (“Rubicon”) in 2017 and has been a key leader in the firm’s evolution and growth, helping to accelerate the firm’s transactional velocity and operational value creation, particularly through add-on acquisitions.
Over the past six years, Alex has led 23 transactions across five platform companies in a wide array of industry verticals spanning healthcare, higher education, energy, and government technology, making Rubicon one of the most active investors in the enterprise software sector. Leveraging Rubicon’s highly collaborative, partnership-driven framework, Alex has led the firm’s investments in ABOUT Healthcare (2 subsequent add-on acquisitions), Vision Government Solutions (5 subsequent add-on acquisitions), EverTrue (4 subsequent add-on acquisitions), and Aline (2 subsequent add-on acquisitions), in each case partnering with the founders and management teams to build the market-leading enterprise software business in their respective sectors.
Most notably, he led Rubicon’s investment in Uplight where Rubicon partnered with the company to complete five strategic acquisitions, invest in cutting edge product development, and enhance the company’s go-to-market capabilities, all contributing to significant growth acceleration and a $1.5 billion exit to a consortium led by Schneider Electric, securing a strong return for Rubicon’s investors.
Alex holds a BA in history, cum laude, from Yale University and an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School.
“At Rubicon we partner with founders to build great enterprise software businesses that lead their markets. Rubicon was built as a culture-first firm and it’s a pleasure to collaborate with so many incredible executives who comprise our broader Rubicon community. We look forward to working with the next generation of enterprise software leaders in the years to come.”—Alex Kleiner
Firm: Brighton Park Capital
Title: Partner
Kevin Magan is a Partner at Brighton Park Capital focusing on software and technology-enabled services. Kevin supports Brighton Park’s portfolio of leading software and enterprise technology businesses—including RocketReach, OPSWAT and HTEC Group—currently serving as a director or observer for each. He also led Brighton Park’s investment in NuORDER, which was acquired in 2021 by Lightspeed Commerce (NYSE: LSPD) for $425 million.
Prior to joining Brighton Park Capital, Kevin was a Vice President at Great Hill Partners, a growth-stage private equity firm focused on the technology space. While at Great Hill, Kevin was involved in multiple investments across software, internet, and business services, including TodayTix, IntApp (Nasdaq: INTA), Bombas and Custom Ink. Kevin began his career in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications group at Barclays.
Kevin received an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a BS in finance.
“At Brighton Park, we’ve had the privilege to partner with some of the best founders in the world who are driving innovation across the enterprise software ecosystem. We aim to bring our purpose-built, value-add capabilities to help our founders and management teams as they continue to raise the bar for lasting innovation.”—Kevin Magan
Firm: Battery Ventures
Title: General Partner
As a General Partner at Battery, Morad focuses on growth and private-equity investments in the software sector. He is active in the firm’s investment activities in North America and Europe. Based in the firm’s Boston office, Morad works closely with Battery’s London team.
Currently, he is involved with Battery’s investments in 1WorldSync (a platform company including CNET Content Solutions, LANSA PIM, Simplus, Snap36, and Swogo); Clubessential Holdings (composed of BlueGolf, Clubessential, ClubReady, Exerp, foreUP, Innovatise, PrestoSports, The Assistant Company, and Vermont Systems); Craftview (composed of es2000, Gilde Software, KS21, Moser, OS Datensysteme and WinWorker); CrunchTime! (composed of discoverlink and Zenput); Forterro (composed of 123Insight, Abas Software, BPSC, Clip Industrie, Infocube, Jeeves, myfactory, Orderwise, Proconcept, Silog and Sylob); MadCap; Shiftmove (formerly Avrios/Vimcar); Smartling; Tech Soft 3D (composed of Ceetron AS, Redway3d and Visual Kinematics); VertiGIS (composed of AED-SICAD, Dynamic Design Group, EDP, Geocom Group, KMS, Latitude Geographics, Mapcom Systems and SynerGIS); and Vita Mojo.
He was also involved with CAMBRIO (acquired by Sandvik); IHS (acquired by Sabre); Mendix (acquired by Siemens); Neolane (acquired by Adobe); Olo (NYSE: OLO); SingleHop (acquired by INAP); and Vero Software (acquired by Hexagon).
Before Battery, Morad worked in the technology investment banking practice at RBC Capital Markets, where he focused on M&A, equity and debt financings. Morad graduated with a BBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Forbes Business Council, where he contributes regular thought leadership. Morad is often quoted on topics related to technology and business in publications such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Mergers & Acquisitions, and others.
“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to build an investing career in software. This industry represents not just a unique combination of market innovation and scalability, but an incredible global network of immensely talented entrepreneurs and management teams. I feel privileged to be recognized alongside these software leaders and look forward to continuing to build value and relationships across the industry in the years to come.”—Morad Elhafed
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Copyright: GrowthCap’s Top Software Investors of 2023 publication is copyrighted material, produced and published by GrowthCap, LLC. For information pertaining to content permissions, please refer to GrowthCap’s award usage regulations.
Disclaimer: The data provided in this publication is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice, endorsement, nor recommendation. GrowthCap believes the information in this publication to be accurate but does not verify its accuracy independently and does not warrant or guarantee that it is accurate or complete. GrowthCap has no obligation to provide any updates or changes to the information. No investment decisions should be made using this information.
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