GrowthCap is pleased to announce The Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors of 2021. Our eighth year running this awards process, we are astounded by the dramatic increase in capital and talent dedicated to the growth investing asset class since the first cohort of awardees was selected in 2014. This was our most competitive year since inception with hundreds of nominations submitted in support of some of today’s best growth investors. The nominees were truly impressive; each demonstrating notable business intellect and judgment, consistent work ethic, high emotional intelligence and a determination to push through the most challenging situations.
We received substantive feedback on nominees from their colleagues, peers, portfolio company CEOs and others who have witnessed their investment skill and performance. Needless to say, it was extremely challenging to make selections given the large pool of high caliber candidates. Ultimately, awardees were selected based on the depth of their deal experience, demonstrated ability to help the companies they invest in, collaborative work style, and progression towards firm and industry leadership roles, among other attributes. Please join us in recognizing and celebrating the achievements of the Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors of 2021.
Firm: Insight Partners
Title: Managing Director
Rachel Geller joined Insight in 2008. She helps lead investments in high growth software and internet companies, with a focus on application software and marketplaces. Prior to joining the investment team, Rachel started her career at Insight as part of the firm’s ScaleUp engine, Insight Onsite, where she scaled and led the strategy and M&A team.
Rachel has helped evaluate hundreds of potential Insight investments, and has provided investment, growth and M&A support for more than 50 portfolio companies, including next-gen legal platform LawVu and HR and employee benefits platform Employment Hero most recently. She also counts Conga, Qualtrics (acquired by SAP), HealthcareSource (acquired by Francisco Partners), Kinnser (acquired by Mediware), eVestment (acquired by NASDAQ), and HauteLook (acquired by Nordstrom) among her investments.
Prior to joining Insight, Rachel worked as a strategy consultant and product marketer at American Express. Rachel’s background sets her distinctly apart in the investment ecosystem, and the CEOs of her investment companies value her hands-on practical experience and sage advice in scaling a software company. Rachel graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with a BS in Economics.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity that Insight has given me to partner with incredible founders and CEOs who are changing the world. Through our work, we are able to provide the world’s most innovative software companies with the tools they need to grow, including the best thought leadership, scale-up expertise, and a community of tech leaders within software investing. The tenacity and creativity of the teams that I work with inspire me on a daily basis, and it’s a privilege to support the growth of the next generation of enduring technology companies.”— Rachel Geller
Firm: Francisco Partners
Title: Partner
Brian Decker is a Partner at Francisco Partners. His focus is on investing in companies across the enterprise security and infrastructure software markets. Throughout his career at Francisco Partners, Brian has led many software and security investments including the firm’s recent carve-out of Boomi from Dell, its carve-out of Forcepoint from Raytheon in 2020 as well as its recent sale of Quest Software five years after its acquisition from Dell. Brian currently serves on the board of directors of BeyondTrust, Boomi, Perforce, Forcepoint, Quest, Smartbear, and SonicWALL. He formerly served on the board of directors of Grass Valley, Healthland, K2, Plex Systems, Sectigo, and Watchguard.
Prior to joining Francisco Partners in 2008, Brian was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company where he focused on engagements in the semiconductor, telecommunications and hardware sectors. Earlier in his career, he worked at Mindspeed Technologies and Skyworks Solutions in a variety of product and strategic marketing roles. Brian graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Computer Engineering and holds a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
“At Francisco Partners, we have a deep passion for technology and the companies in which we invest. Through our sub-sector specializations, I’ve had the chance to carve out a focus on the infrastructure software and enterprise security sectors, and we’ve had an exciting opportunity to directly support the growth of our companies in these markets.”—Brian Decker
Firm: TA Associates
Title: Managing Director
Ethan Liebermann is a Managing Director based in TA’s Boston office, where he helps lead healthcare investments. Ethan’s investment experience spans a number of healthcare sectors, including life sciences, healthcare IT, providers, payer services and specialty benefit managers. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of InHealth MD Alliance and RLDatix, and formerly served on the boards of Aldevron, CCRM, MedRisk and SoftWriters. He was an active investor in eviCore healthcare (formerly MedSolutions). Ethan has also played a critical role in driving growth at a number of TA portfolio companies, helping to source and execute acquisitions and build talented management and governance teams by identifying and recruiting numerous senior executives and independent board directors.
Prior to joining TA in 2007, Ethan worked in the Global Healthcare Corporate and Investment Banking Group at Banc of America Securities. Ethan holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received a BA degree in Economics and Biology from the University of Pennsylvania.
“At TA, our long-term partnership approach, domain experience, and strategic resources allow us the unique opportunity to both collaborate on customized strategies for growth and help companies execute on their vision. Partnering with passionate, forward-thinking management teams and companies as they navigate their growth journey is a tremendous privilege.”—Ethan Liebermann
Firm: Blackstone Growth
Title: Managing Directors
Brian Dunlap is a Managing Director and focuses on Software & Enterprise Technology investing at Blackstone Growth. Mr. Dunlap is based in San Francisco. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2019, Mr. Dunlap was a member of TPG’s Software & Enterprise Technology investment team spanning both TPG Growth and TPG Capital, leading minority growth and buyout investments in horizontal and vertical market software, EdTech, FinTech, HCIT and Cybersecurity. Additionally, Mr. Dunlap served as Head of Technology for TPG RISE, which was co-founded alongside Bono and Jeff Skoll.
Prior to TPG, Mr. Dunlap worked at JMI Equity, a software specialist investment firm, where he focused exclusively on investments in SaaS and cybersecurity. Prior to JMI, Mr. Dunlap worked at General Atlantic in New York, focusing on growth equity investments in enterprise software, consumer internet, and financial technology. Half Peruvian and fluent in Portuguese, Mr. Dunlap moved from New York to São Paulo in 2010 as an early member of GA’s Latin America investment team, and executed technology investments in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Peru. Prior to General Atlantic, Mr. Dunlap worked in M&A at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Mr. Dunlap received a BA in Public Policy from Stanford University, an MA in International Policy Studies from the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Mr. Dunlap serves on the Impact Investing Advisory Board for Echoing Green, a leading non-profit providing seed funding to social enterprises worldwide.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by GrowthCap this year alongside many friends and investors I respect highly. I believe that BXG is bringing an exciting new approach to growth equity at scale and am grateful to our portfolio companies that placed their trust in Blackstone as a partner.” – Brian Dunlap
Ramzi Ramsey is a Managing Director in Blackstone’s Growth Equity Business and is based in San Francisco, where he focuses on the Technology and Financial Services sectors. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Ramsey was a Partner at SoftBank’s Vision Fund where he led investment activity in the enterprise software sector in North America. Prior to SoftBank, Mr. Ramsey was an investor at TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures) and began his investing career at TA Associates. In 2019 and 2020, he was recognized as a Top 40 under 40 growth equity investor by GrowthCap.
Mr. Ramsey has been a board member or investor in companies including Attentive Mobile, Automation Anywhere, Avvo, Financial Software Systems, Ion Trading, Nerdy (fka: Varsity Tutors), OneTrust, Qualtrics, Rover, SeatGeek, Wall Street Systems, and Zillow. Mr. Ramsey holds a BS with Honors from Carnegie Mellon University and completed his MBA from Harvard Business School.
“I’m deeply grateful to work alongside world-class founders and executives to build long-term relationships in such a fun and dynamic category of investing. At Blackstone Growth, we believe we can uniquely bring the global scale and resources of the largest private equity firm in the world to companies earlier in their journey.” — Ramzi Ramsey
Firm: Thomas H. Lee Partners
Title: Managing Director
Megan is a Managing Director at Thomas H. Lee Partners (“THL”). Since joining THL in 2008, Megan has played a leading role in developing the firm’s healthcare vertical—overseeing THL’s efforts across pharma services, home-based care, medtech services, and consumer healthcare.
Prior to THL, she spent two years in investment banking at Credit Suisse.
Megan is currently a director of Adare Pharma Solutions, Agiliti Health, Inc., Autism Home Care Holdings, Inc., Healthcare Staffing Services, Hospice Care, and Senior Home Care Holdings, Inc. She also serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Friends of Excel Academy, a network of charter schools serving the greater Boston area. Megan holds a BA in Political Economy, cum laude, from Georgetown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“The past two years have been unprecedented in many ways and I’m proud of what our team at THL has been able to accomplish. We’ve worked closely with companies and management teams that are trying to advance our healthcare system and make a difference during these challenging times. I’m very fortunate to work in a sector that has the ability to help improve patient outcomes.”–Megan Preiner
Firm: TPG
Title: Managing Director
Arun Agarwal is a Managing Director with TPG and Business Unit Partner of TPG Tech Adjacencies (TTAD), a vehicle established by TPG in 2018 to provide flexible capital solutions to the technology industry. Arun currently serves on the boards of FreedomPay and PresenceLearning and has led several investments for the firm including Course Hero, Kajabi, Toast (NYSE: TOST), and Zenoti. Prior to joining TPG, he was a Co-Founder and CEO at Infinio, a datacenter software business. Before that, he served as a Senior Manager at Endeca Technologies (acquired by Oracle), and as an investor at various venture capital firms. Arun received his BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“TPG Tech Adjacencies was developed organically out of our technology practice after witnessing the significant value creation occurring in private markets as a result of tech companies staying private for longer. Having been on the other side as an entrepreneur and founder of a software business myself, it’s incredibly rewarding to partner with inspiring founders and CEOs who have already achieved great success. Leveraging our deep sector knowledge and the power of the TPG ecosystem, we’re fortunate to be in a position to help these leaders reach their next levels of growth.”—Arun Agarwal
Firm: Thoma Bravo
Title: Principal
Carl Press is a Principal at Thoma Bravo, one of the most successful software investment firms in the world with more than $91 billion in AUM. He co-leads the firm’s $1.1 billion Explore Fund, which focuses on high-growth software franchises in the middle-market. Since joining the firm in 2015, Carl has served on the board of directors of 11 companies and is currently a board member of Applitools, Foundation Software and Exostar.
Prior to Thoma Bravo, Carl was a technology investor at HighBar Partners, was in the Special Situations group at Oaktree Capital Management and was an investment banker at UBS. He graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a BS in electrical engineering and earned an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Palmer Scholar.
“It’s never been a more exciting time to invest in high-growth technology companies, particularly in the mid-market. Every year we have the pleasure of meeting dozens of category leading software businesses that are led by talented, ambitious, like-minded executives, many of whom are founders. Establishing a strong partnership with these executives is one of the most challenging parts of the job and is also one of the most rewarding.”–Carl Press
Firm: TPG
Title: Principal
Art Heidrich is based in San Francisco, where he helps lead and support TPG’s investment activities in software and enterprise technology across its private equity platforms. Art currently serves on the boards of Boomi, Digital.ai, Sauce Labs, WellSky, and Wind River, and has been involved with investments in Advent Software, C3 AI, Checkmarx, Eze Software, IMS Health, RefleXion Medical, Sonatype, SunGard Data Systems, and Vertafore.
Prior to joining TPG in 2011, Art worked in the technology investment banking group at Morgan Stanley, where he advised on and executed M&A and corporate finance transactions. He received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a BA in Economics from Stanford University
“I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with great management teams that are shaping and advancing industries through technology, and to work with great investors and colleagues at TPG. We aspire to support management teams and growth strategies that establish and expand market leadership, bringing the right combination of flexible capital and expertise to help our companies scale and achieve enduring success. I’m proud of the innovation and resilience we’ve seen from our companies over the past few years and look forward to the opportunities ahead.”— Art Heidrich
Firm: Battery Ventures
Title: General Partner
As a general partner at Battery, Morad focuses on growth and private-equity investments in the software sector across North America and Europe. In 2021 he realized exits in restaurant-software firm Olo (NYSE: OLO), which went public, and the acquisition of CAD/CAM platform-software company CAMBRIO by Sweden’s Sandvik. In addition, Morad’s investment Clubessential Holdings, a company that makes membership and club management software, announced a significant growth investment by Silver Lake. In the past he has been involved with Vero Software (acquired by Hexagon), Mendix (acquired by Siemens), Neolane (acquired by Adobe), IHS/Trust (acquired by Sabre) and SingleHop (acquired by Internap).
Morad is also involved with Battery’s investments in 1WorldSync, Clubessential Holdings, Craftview, CrunchTime!, Forterro, Smartling, TechSoft3D and VertiGIS. Cumulatively, these platform companies have completed more than 40 add-on acquisitions. Morad graduated with a BBA from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Forbes Business Council and a regular Forbes contributor. He is also often quoted in publications such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Mergers & Acquisitions, and others.
“I love backing great leaders and helping them scale their companies in novel ways, wherever they are—from businesses in Bend, OR to Cincinnati, OH to Mittelstand software companies in Goch and Munich in Germany.”—Morad Elhafed
Firm: Sapphire Ventures
Title: Partners
Rajeev Dham joined Sapphire Ventures in 2013, bringing with him broad technology investing experience. Rajeev’s investment focus is split between SaaS businesses as well as category-defining innovators in financial technology and healthcare. Since joining Sapphire, Rajeev has been involved in 20+ investments and dozens of boards. Rajeev has led investments in and supports the boards of ActivTrak, Adverity, Catchpoint, Chargebee, Gorgias, Highspot, LeanData, Outreach, OwnBackup, Pendo, Podium, Reltio, and SWORD Health. Rajeev’s previous investments at Sapphire include Alteryx (NYSE: AYX), Cloudhealth (acquired by VMWare), Krux (acquired by Salesforce), Livongo (NASDAQ: LVGO) and Monday.com (NASDAQ: MNDY).
Rajeev also led the firm’s investments in 6sense, Attentive, Braze (NASDAQ: BRZE), FalconX, Gem, Moveworks, Segment (acquired by Twilio), TaxBit and Wise (STO: WISE). In addition, he worked on investments in CircleCI, Clari, Looker (acquired by Google), Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), Square (NYSE: SQ), Localytics (acquired by Upland Software), Punchh, PubNub, amongst others. His work has been recognized by GrowthGap, which named him a Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investor of 2020.
Previously, Rajeev worked for Silver Lake, a technology-focused private equity firm, where he evaluated middle-market and growth equity investments across the software and internet sectors. Prior to his private equity career, Rajeev worked for the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs. He also spent time during business school working with Amazon’s corporate development group. Rajeev holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Southern California, where he graduated magna cum laude.
“I’m energized and motivated by visionary teams building unique and innovative B2B SaaS businesses, as well as category-defining fintech and digital health companies. These areas present tremendous opportunity for emerging technologies to challenge the status quo and drive value to businesses and end-users alike. At Sapphire, we deeply believe it’s our responsibility to be true partners along the growth journey of our portfolio companies. We do this by sharing best practices, as well as facilitating critical business and talent introductions. I’m honored to be recognized by GrowthCap yet again for being a Top 40 Under 40 Investor.”—Rajeev Dham
Kevin Diestel joined Sapphire in 2012 and focuses his time primarily on innovative consumer businesses and vertical software applications. He looks for large spaces, clear value propositions, and great teams to execute behind them. Kevin has sat on the boards of over a dozen companies in his career. He currently holds a board seat (either director and observer) at Convercent, Culture Amp, Current, Degreed, GitGuardian, and Sun Basket. He also led the firm’s investment BetterUp, and worked on investments in AvidXchange, Cazoo and Yapily.
Kevin previously worked on Sapphire’s investments in 23andMe (NASDAQ: ME), Fitbit (NYSE: FIT), Inkling (acquired by Marlin Equity Partners), Integral Ad Science (NASDAQ: IAS), Jibe (acquired by iCIMS), Kaltura (NASDAQ: KLTR), Socrata (acquired by Tyler Technologies), and Vendavo (acquired by Francisco Partners).
Before joining Sapphire Ventures in 2012, he worked at Shamrock Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles-based growth private equity firm, where he evaluated investments in the media, entertainment and communications sectors. Prior to his private equity career, Kevin worked at Merrill Lynch in its investment banking division in Los Angeles. Kevin holds an MBA from Stanford University and received the Ernest C. Arbuckle Award for contributing most to the fulfillment of the goals and integrity of the school. He received a bachelor’s in business economics and graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Sapphire is very much a global venture firm, with a presence across the U.S., Europe and Israel. I’ve built my career as an investor in the Silicon Valley, and am now excited to share that experience with the European startup ecosystem. After being in London and part of the European investment team for a year now, I’ve come to appreciate the influx of innovation and the strength of the entrepreneurial spirit in the market. I’m particularly excited by emerging trends in fintech, supply chain and logistics, HR tech and consumer tech companies coming out of the region, and I am looking forward to partnering with CEOs who have a deep passion to change their respective industries on a generational scale.”—Kevin Diestel
Firm: Insight Partners
Title: Managing Director
Matt joined Insight in 2010 as an investment analyst, working his way up to a Managing Director on the firm’s investment team. During his 11 years at Insight, Matt has focused on high-growth SaaS and software businesses with strong, differentiated products. At Insight, Matt has worked on or sourced deals such as Shopify, Checkmarx, and Tenable. Both Shopify and Tenable have gone public and Checkmarx was sold at a $1.15 billion valuation. In 2021, Matt has helped lead notable investments such as Latin American e-commerce platform Nuvemshop, operations experience management platform parcelLab, and cloud commerce platform CommerceTools.
Prior to Insight, Matt worked in online advertising optimization at Verizon Information Services, debt restructuring and issuance at Deutsche Bank Asia, and electronic communications risk management at Merrill Lynch. Matt 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.
“Insight is laser-focused on identifying, investing in, and supporting software ScaleUps globally. We strive to serve as true partners to our portfolio, bringing resources beyond capital itself. It’s truly a privilege to have the opportunity to partner with driven entrepreneurs who seek to make an impact on the world and to in turn make a little impact along the way.”—Matt Gatto
Firm: Francisco Partners
Title: Partner
Jason Brein is a Partner at Francisco Partners. Jason’s primary focus is on investing across growing application software and education technology companies. This past year, Jason led investments in companies such as BARBRI, Nearpod, VitalSource, Follett School Solutions and MyFitnessPal. Jason currently serves on the board of directors of BARBRI, Civitas Learning, Discovery Education, Follett School Solutions, MyFitnessPal, Renaissance, Verifone, and VitalSource. Jason formerly served on the board of directors of Capsilon, Corsair, CoverMyMeds, Metaswitch Networks, myON, NMI, and Paymetric.
Prior to joining Francisco Partners in 2012, Jason worked at Elevation Partners, a technology-focused private equity fund in Silicon Valley. Before Elevation, Jason was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Jason graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Public and International Affairs. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
“Francisco Partners has long been an active growth investor in the education technology market, and the importance of this sector to the future of the education system has never been more clear. We are focused on partnering with innovative ed tech founders and management teams at companies that leverage technology to deliver personalized learning and drive cost efficiencies. With the infusion of technology into education only continuing to accelerate, we are excited about the opportunities ahead within this market.”—Jason Brein
Firm: Baird Capital
Title: Partner
Joanna joined Baird Capital in 2014 and was named Partner in 2021. Joanna focuses on being an active and value-added investor on the Technology & Services team, proactively leveraging Baird Capital’s deep sector knowledge, investment experience and global network of resources to help build exceptional companies.
Joanna led investments in and serves as a board member of Circonus, ChurnZero and SourceDay. She is a past board member or board observer of Appcast, Autobooks, Datica, Hireology, HouseCall Pro, NowSecure, Sittercity and Startwire. Joanna currently serves as Treasurer of The Boulevard of Chicago and Guild Board Member of The Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Before Baird Capital, Joanna worked in Baird’s Investment Banking, Business Development and Equity Research departments. Joanna earned her undergraduate degree from Indiana University and holds an MBA from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
“Investing often feels like a dream job–I get to work alongside visionary and dedicated management teams while also collaborating with brilliant minds in the VC industry. The diversity of the work is energizing; we are always looking forward, even when we pause to learn from a few bumps in the road.”—Joanna Arras
Firm: Great Hill Partners
Title: Managing Director
Drew Loucks is a Managing Director at Great Hill Partners, where he leads, originates and manages investments in technology companies across sectors, including internet infrastructure, software, HR technology, security, mobile and business services. Drew believes in building strong relationships with the CEOs and management teams of the companies he works with to help them execute on their growth strategies.
Since joining the firm in 2010, Drew has spearheaded investments in and now sits on the board of Auvik Networks (a provider of cloud-based network management software), BigChange (a mobile workforce management technology company), Varicent (a provider of sales performance management software), EnterpriseDB (an open source-based data management platform), Examity (an online test proctoring solution), Mission (a provider in the Amazon Web Services Partner Network), and Evolve IP (a provider of cloud services). He also shepherded investments in, sat on the boards of, and helped negotiate the sales of several companies, including: Ascenty (data and telecommunications, acquired by Digital Realty), Symmetry (cloud services, acquired by Secure-24), Latisys (hybrid cloud hosting and data, acquired by Zayo), Reflexis (workforce management, acquired by Zebra Technologies) and Reward Gateway (employee engagement, acquired by ABRY and Castik).
Drew began his career in the private equity industry in 2006 at Tudor Investment Corporation, where he was an Associate. He earned a BA from Bowdoin College in economics and government and earned an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.
“As we build and scale the next generation of leading technology companies at Great Hill, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to build long-term relationships with some of the smartest and most innovative entrepreneurs and management teams. My colleagues and I take great pride in helping our portfolio companies work toward their bold visions and capitalize on their tremendous market opportunities.”—Drew Loucks
Firm: Silversmith Capital Partners
Title: General Partners
Brian Peterson joined Silversmith Capital Partners in 2015. At Silversmith, Brian focuses on investments across the firm’s two core verticals, Healthcare IT & Services and SaaS & Information Services. His investment experience at Silversmith includes Centauri Health Solutions, Iodine Software, LifeStance Health (Nasdaq: LFST), Market Access Transformation (MAT), Net Health, Nordic Consulting, and Sound Physicians.
Prior to Silversmith, Brian was a Vice President at Sterling Partners and an Associate at Metalmark Capital. Brian began his career as an Analyst in Lazard’s Healthcare group. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and received his MBA with honors as a Palmer Scholar from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.
“At Silversmith, we focus on doing just a few things really well, including partnering with exceptional entrepreneurs of rapidly growing, capital efficient companies. I’ve been fortunate to work with many of our Healthcare IT and Services companies and am proud of Silversmith’s ability to find under-the-radar businesses and entrepreneurs and work tirelessly to support them as they accelerate their growth.” – Brian Peterson
Sri Rao joined Silversmith Capital Partners in 2015. At Silversmith, Sri focuses on investments in SaaS & Information Services, including sales, marketing, customer service and ecommerce related technology companies. His investment experience at Silversmith includes investments in ActiveCampaign, Appfire, Constructor.io, DistroKid, Impact, Microblink, PDFTron Systems, Validity and Webflow.
Prior to Silversmith, Sri was Senior Director of Advertising Products at Salesforce where he served in various roles to create and scale the Salesforce Marketing Cloud business unit after joining Salesforce through its acquisition of Buddy Media. Prior to Buddy Media, Sri was an Associate at TA Associates and an Analyst with Jefferies Technology Investment Banking group. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BS from The Wharton School and a BAS from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
“Silversmith was founded to partner with and support growing, profitable founder-led healthcare and technology companies. We understand that simply providing capital is not unique, but our partnership approach to working with entrepreneurs is a meaningful differentiator to the founders we work with. I am honored to have had the opportunity to partner with some of the most talented technology entrepreneurs as they scale and grow the businesses they have built.” – Sri Rao
Firm: Catalyst Investors
Title: Partner
Susan joined NYC-based growth equity firm Catalyst Investors in 2009 and has since become the firm’s first female partner. She is responsible for leading investments in software and business services companies. In addition, she serves on boards of portfolio companies, usually as one of the more active board members, with a particular focus on C-level team building and advising on strategic growth initiatives. Susan currently serves on the boards of Catalyst portfolio companies Datavail, eSUB, Envoy Global and LinkSquares (as a board observer) and previously served on the boards of Ascentis, Alert Solutions, MINDBODY (as a board observer), and WeddingWire (as a board observer).
Prior to joining Catalyst in 2009, Susan served as an Analyst at CIT Group where she was responsible for performing due diligence and credit analysis for various senior secured debt transactions within CIT’s Communications, Media & Entertainment Group. Susan graduated from Georgetown University, cum laude, with a BS in Business Administration.
“Since our inception, the mission at Catalyst Investors has been to partner with entrepreneurs to build great growth companies. In parallel with that, the firm fosters growth from within, empowering young investors to dive into sectors of interest to pursue investment opportunities. Because of the support of the team around me, I have been able to partner with truly inspiring management teams to help grow and scale their businesses.”—Susan Bihler
Firm: FTV Capital
Title: Partners
Kyle Griswold is a partner at FTV Capital where he leads investments across the firm’s sector focus areas: financial services, payments and transaction processing, and enterprise technology. His current portfolio companies include Centaur, Edgewater Markets, Egress, Paddle, RapidRatings, ReliaQuest, Sysnet, True Potential and Vortx. Select successful exits for Griswold include APEX Fund Services, Aspire Financial Services, CardConnect, Cashstar, ETF Securities, Fleet One, IndexIQ, ReliaQuest, Strata Fund Solutions, Swan Global Investments, True Potential, Velocity Shares and WorldFirst.
Since joining FTV in 2007, Kyle has led or been a part of the deal team for 22 transactions, deployed over $740 million in capital and been involved in 13 successful exits. In 2020, GrowthCap recognized Kyle as a Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investor. At FTV, he has developed a keen understanding of the business models, market opportunities and challenges, regulatory frameworks, and other characteristics enabling him to provide his portfolio CEOs with strategic insight and operational know-how. Kyle has been instrumental in guiding companies through exit planning and execution, leading to strong returns. Prior to FTV, he was an investment banking associate with Berkshire Capital Securities. He received a BA in economics and mathematics from Trinity College and is a CFA charterholder.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to partner with highly driven and talented founders and entrepreneurs to help them execute on their ambitious visions for success. It’s exciting to invest in some of the most dynamic companies across financial and enterprise technology, and I’m humbled to be recognized by GrowthCap alongside a group of such gifted investors.”–Kyle Griswold
Rob Anderson is a partner at FTV Capital where he leads investments in financial technology and payments. His current investments and board seats include Derivative Path, Docupace, EBANX, LoanPro, Neon One, Plate IQ, Tango Card and Vagaro. His successful exits and IPOs include Enfusion, InvestCloud and VPay. Rob has demonstrated superior investment excellence, generating compelling returns for limited partners as a leading sector-focused dealmaker within the growth equity space. He has led 14 investments at FTV, totaling nearly $1 billion in capital deployed, and his ability to find emerging fintech, payments and software companies to grow and scale has contributed to FTV’s record results.
Prior to joining FTV in 2010, Rob was an investment banking associate within the financial institutions group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations and capital raising transactions for fintech and payments companies. Rob received a BA in economics and a certificate of finance from Princeton University.
“It is immensely rewarding to partner with industry-leading founders that have, and continue to, define the fintech landscape. At FTV, we know that building great companies is all about the people and that creating strong partnerships with our portfolio companies, built on mutual trust and collaboration, is just as important as our monetary investment. I’m honored to be recognized by GrowthCap as part of this year’s 40 Under 40 list.”–Rob Anderson
Firm: Spectrum Equity
Title: Managing Director
John joined Spectrum Equity in 2009 as an Associate. Now a Managing Director, John has completed a wide range of growth investments ranging from minority investments to full buyouts. He has been most active in the education technology, consumer internet, online marketplace, and SMB software sectors. John worked on Spectrum’s investments in Ancestry (acquired by Blackstone), ExamSoft (acquired by Turnitin), Finalsite (acquired by Bridge Growth Partners), GoodRx (IPO) and Grubhub (IPO). He currently works with DataCamp, Headspace Health, Jimdo, Kajabi, Otter.ai, PresenceLearning, Prezi and Teachers Pay Teachers.
John graduated from Georgetown University with a BA in Political Economy. He began his career as an Analyst within Credit Suisse’s media and telecommunications group in New York City.
“At Spectrum Equity, we are singularly focused on partnering with founders and entrepreneurs who are looking for growth capital expertise to accelerate growth and scale their internet-enabled software and information services companies. Over the past 12 years, I’ve had the privilege of working with world-class entrepreneurs who lead companies that are defining the categories in which they operate. I look forward to continuing to play a strategic role in helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals.”–John Connolly
Firm: Mainsail Partners
Title: Partner
Vinay is a Partner at Mainsail Partners. He has spent fifteen years investing in fast growing, founder-owned software companies. Vinay has an understanding of the issues facing bootstrapped software entrepreneurs, and has developed significant specialization in vertical SaaS and financial technology. While at Mainsail, Vinay has worked on more than ten investments in founder-owned software companies and currently sits on the board of JobNimbus, PlanHub, Fullbay, GTreasury and Nexus Systems.
Vinay graduated from Bowdoin College with an AB in Economics and International Relations and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Vinay started his career at Deloitte Consulting and prior to Mainsail, worked at Summit Partners in the firm’s Boston and London offices.
“At Mainsail, we are singularly focused on partnering with founders of bootstrapped software companies with the goal of helping them to achieve faster growth, with less risk. In our experience, bootstrapped entrepreneurs are unique and have had to overcome a specific set of challenges to be successful. We have built our team and strategy with the intention of helping founders overcome these challenges and further their growth. Our dedicated team of operating professionals work alongside management teams, focused on the areas we consider to be most critical to success: talent, sales, marketing, product, engineering, customer success and financial management. We take great pride in working with bootstrapped software entrepreneurs striving to build enduring software companies, and we make sure to have fun along the way, which is more important now, than ever before.”—Vinay Kashyap
Firm: JMI Equity
Title: General Partner
Larry joined JMI in 2010 and focuses on investments in B2B software businesses. He has completed 13 investments and successfully exited six during his time at JMI. He is currently a Board Director at Bloomerang, ChurnZero, Higher Logic, Incident IQ, RainFocus, and Raptor Technologies. He is also involved in the firm’s investments in Benevity and Level Access. His experience includes several other notable investments, such as automotiveMastermind (acquired by IHS Markit), DoubleVerify (acquired by Providence Equity Partners), and Schoology (acquired by PowerSchool).
Larry graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics. Prior to JMI, he began his career as an analyst in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch & Co.
“JMI’s focus on high-growth software companies has afforded us with opportunities to partner with true innovators to help scale their businesses and solve complex issues for their customers. It is a privilege to collaborate with such passionate founders and management teams every day and I’m honored to have been named to this list.”–Larry Contrella
Firm: PSG
Title: Managing Directors
Matt Stone has been with PSG since 2015. Since joining the firm, Matt has led strategic investments in middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies to help them navigate and capitalize on transformational growth. He has executed on over 13 new platforms while at PSG and more recently led investments in Assembly, a leading eCommerce software, content and data platform, and NextGlass, a leading provider of software, content and experiences in the alcohol beverage industry. He currently serves on the boards of five PSG portfolio companies: Assembly, Foreground, Lumaverse Technologies, Netsurion and Next Glass.
Previously, he was a Vice President with Monitor Clipper Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm, where he focused on investments in the technology-enabled services, consumer and healthcare services sectors. Prior to that, Matt was an Associate at Metalmark Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, and an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch’s New York office, working in the telecommunications and media group. Matt received a Bachelor of Science in Commerce from the University of Virginia.
“At PSG, we work in concert with our portfolio companies and aim to be a true extension of their teams. It’s certainly an exciting time to be a partner to high-growth software businesses and I look forward to continuing to work alongside my colleagues at PSG and our talented portfolio company leaders to unlock new opportunities for growth.”—Matt Stone
John Marquis has been with PSG since its inception. He leverages over 10 years of financial and operational leadership experience to help portfolio company founders and management teams develop and activate their growth strategies. To date, he has led a number of deals for the firm, including PSG’s growth investment in Quilt, a provider of inventory management and payment solutions to customers with high SKU complexity. He currently serves on the boards of eight PSG portfolio companies: Copysmith, Dental Intelligence, EverCommerce, LogicMonitor, Meal Ticket, NXTsoft, Quilt and Sovereign Sportsman Solutions.
Previously, he worked in investment banking at Needham & Company, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions in the software market. John also previously held positions at Citigroup and Jane Street Capital. John received a Bachelor of Science from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.
“It is a privilege to work alongside leading entrepreneurs and operators, leveraging PSG’s resources to assist in transforming sectors of the economy with technology. It is an extremely exciting time to be a tech investor, and I look forward to partnering with the next phase of innovative companies in the future.”—John Marquis
Firm: Guidepost Growth Equity
Title: General Partner
Chris joined Guidepost Growth Equity in 2015. At Guidepost, Chris focuses on investments in Application Software and Data Services. He is currently a Board Director or Observer at Atheneum, Elements Global Services, Lucid, Mineral, Tractive, and WP Engine, and formerly served as a Board Director at Spoonflower (acquired by Shutterfly) and Board Observer at Leapfrog (acquired by Dentsu). Prior to Guidepost, Chris was a Vice President at Great Hill Partners and an Analyst in Citigroup’s Consumer & Retail Investment Banking group. Chris earned a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
“I love working with entrepreneurs of high growth, disruptive technology companies. At Guidepost, we take a highly collaborative approach with our management teams, playing an active role on the Board, including helping to recruit additional members of the senior leadership team, building a public company-caliber independent Board, expanding geographically and vertically, augmenting sales and marketing and product development strategies, identifying acquisition targets, and helping with other growth initiatives.”–Chris Cavanagh
Firm: Kayne Partners
Title: Managing Partner
Leon Chen is a Managing Partner of Kayne Anderson’s growth private equity activities. He has played a leading role in building a team of 18 people with a focus on diversity with the team being over 50% female or minority. He is primarily responsible for identifying and analyzing investment opportunities, monitoring of portfolio companies, and deal execution. Leon is a member of Kayne Partners Investment Committee and he is also a member of Kayne Anderson’s diversity, equity, and inclusion council. His areas of investment focus include software and tech-enabled businesses across media and telecom, business services, supply chain & logistics, and healthcare.
He has been involved in the successful sale of numerous Kayne Partners companies to both financial sponsors including HGGC, Vista Equity and BV Investment Partners, and strategics such as AT&T and Cisco. Leon has served in a Board Director or Board Observer capacity for the following companies: 4C Insights, Cloudbreak Health, Consero, Decisiv, Dejero, Elevate, Fully Managed, Natural Partners Fullscript, rfXcel, Starmount, and You.i. He has been deeply involved in building out the firm’s presence within Canada having led five of Kayne Partners nine Canadian investments. Leon graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a BBA in Finance.
“Kayne Partners has a strong track record of helping management teams transform their business into market leaders. Working with these entrepreneurs to expand their market footprint and develop break-through technology has been a great privilege for me and my colleagues.”—Leon Chen
Firm: Norwest
Title: Partner
Ran joined Norwest in 2011. As a partner on the growth equity team, Ran focuses on growth equity investments across a wide range of sectors including technology, business services, and consumer. Ran has been involved with Norwest’s gainful exits in 1010data (acquired by Advance), Envisage (sold to Vector Solutions), Galvanize (acquired by Diligent), Kendra Scott (recapitalized by Berkshire Partners), Rainmaker (divisions acquired by RealPage and Cendyn) and The Retail Equation (acquired by Appriss). He has helped drive the firm’s compliance technology and data-driven investing strategies and currently sits on the board of Absencesoft, Cority, Infutor, Supplier.io and YipitData. He is also a board observer at Vector Solutions.
Before joining Norwest, Ran was an analyst at Union Square Advisors, a technology investment banking firm, as well as a quantitative analyst in the Asset Backed Securities group at Citigroup. Ran holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University. Ran is also a CFA charterholder.
“At Norwest, our mission is to help founders and management teams scale world class businesses. I am blessed to have the opportunity over the past decade to partner with so many talented individuals, while simultaneously driving value and impact. This recognition is truly humbling and above all a reflection of the fantastic teams and leaders that I am privileged to work with every day.”—Ran Ding
Firm: Vista Equity Partners
Title: Senior Vice President
Steven White joined Vista Equity Partners (Vista) in 2014 and is a member of the private equity Flagship team where he oversees investments in large, high growth enterprise software companies. Steven has established himself as a prolific dealmaker, having led some the Firm’s most noteworthy public to private, carve out and transformational acquisitions. He has a keen awareness for helping to identify, build and unlock value for Vista portfolio companies and is a trusted counselor to the founders and CEOs of those companies he works with from diligence through deal through exit.
Steven’s current and prior investments include Allvue Systems, Aptean, EagleView, Finastra, SecureLink, TIBCO and Vertafore. Apart from deal making, Steven helps lead the Firm’s recruitment efforts and identifying the next generation of dealmakers. Prior to joining Vista, he worked in the Technology group at TPG Capital. Prior to that, Steven worked at Moelis & Company.
“At Vista, I am so fortunate to work with amazingly talented people, from our investment teams and our administrative staff to our Operational MDs and Vista Consulting Group partners. Most of all, it is an honor to work with such visionary management teams, who not only embrace cultures of change for the betterment of their own software companies, but also for the sake of improving our economy and the world around us.”–Steven White
Firm: TA Associates
Title: Principal
Clara Jackson is a Principal in TA’s Boston office, where she focuses on investments in financial services and technology in North America, with an emphasis on fintech, investment management, wealth management and insurance services. Clara has more than 15 years of experience investing in and working with leading financial services and technology companies, helping them identify and prioritize key strategic growth levers and driving those initiatives to fruition.
Clara serves on the Board of Directors of Caprock, AffiniPay and Financial Information Technologies (Fintech); is a Board Observer of Russell Investments; previously served on the board of Orion Advisor Solutions; and was actively involved in TA’s investment in Rectangle Health. Prior to joining TA, Clara was an Associate at TPG Growth and an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Clara holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and received a BS degree in Economics, summa cum laude, from Vanderbilt University.
“Partnering with driven and passionate management teams is the most rewarding part of my role as an investor. Our collective goal is to accelerate platform growth and create market leading enterprises with enduring competitive advantage.”–Clara Jackson
Firm: Great Hill Partners
Title: Principal
Craig Byrnes is a Principal at Great Hill Partners, where he originates, evaluates and manages investments in companies across sectors, including healthcare technology, software, and technology-enabled services. He is passionate about working with companies to execute on their growth strategies, lower costs and improve patient outcomes while creating value for shareholders and other stakeholders. Over the course of his career of over a decade in private equity, Craig has helped lead five investments and three exits.
Craig helped spearhead Great Hill Partners’ investment in IVX Health (a provider of outpatient infusion centers) and currently serves as a Board Observer. He also helped lead the firm’s investments in several other companies, of which he is also board member and observer, including RxBenefits (a pharmacy benefits optimizer), Vatica Health (provider of risk adjustment and clinical quality solutions) and Quantum Health (a consumer healthcare navigation and care coordination company). Previously, he helped lead Great Hill’s investment in, sat on the board of, and led the sale of Qualifacts (an electronic health records provider) to Warburg Pincus. He also sits on the Board of Advisors at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
Before he joined Great Hill Partners in 2013, Craig worked as an Associate at Frontenac Company, a Chicago-based middle market private equity firm. He began his career as an Analyst at J.P. Morgan and later, a derivatives trader at DRW Trading Group. He earned a BA from Duke University in Economics and Psychology and earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is a CFA charterholder.
“As an investor at Great Hill, I have the opportunity to collaborate closely with world-class executives and entrepreneurs to help them accelerate and execute their strategic plans and position their businesses for long-term success. It is incredibly rewarding to work with truly innovative companies to create even greater value for all of their key stakeholders.”—Craig Byrnes
Firm: Spectrum Equity
Title: Principal
Parag joined Spectrum Equity in 2012 as an Associate. Now a Principal, Parag is most active in the enterprise software, financial technology, education & certification and sales enablement sectors. He has been involved in Spectrum’s investments in BATS Global Markets (acquired by CBOE), RainKing (acquired by DiscoverOrg/ZoomInfo) and Verafin (acquired by Nasdaq). He currently serves on the boards of Bitly, Digital Marketing Institute, Offensive Security, Origami Risk, Our Family Wizard and Quantile.
Parag graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Mathematics and Economics. He began his career as an Analyst with J.P. Morgan’s Restructuring Group in New York City.
“Spectrum Equity’s focus on internet-enabled software and information services companies has enabled us to invest in an incredibly dynamic category, providing innovation across all parts of the economy. I’ve been fortunate to partner with exceptional management teams and work together to build category-defining companies, creating innovative products and producing real efficiencies for their customers at scale.”—Parag Khandelwal
Firm: Vista Equity Partners
Title: Senior Vice President
Nick Prickel joined Vista Equity Partners (Vista) in 2012 and is a member of the private equity Flagship team where he oversees investments in large-cap, high growth software companies. Nick has been an active dealmaker at Vista, building relationships and partnering with management teams of high growth, mission critical software companies. Currently, he helps lead Vista’s partnerships with Applause, Gainsight, iCIMS, Jamf, KnowBe4, Lucid, SmartBear and Solera. In particular, he played a key role in Vista’s acquisition of Gainsight and in Vista’s second ever IPO of Jamf, both during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also previously has spent time with Vista’s investments in Aderant, Advanced, Aptean, BigMachines, Granicus and Social Solutions.
From 2015-2016, Nick worked directly for the management team at Aptean as Director of Strategic Operations, where he led their sourcing and integration of 7 add-on acquisitions. Since 2020, Nick has held the role of Staffer, where he has managed the staffing and personnel development of the 60+ analyst, associates and senior associates on the private equity team.
Prior to joining Vista, Nick worked at Rothschild in New York as an investment banking analyst.
“It is an honor to work alongside a group of highly talented investors at a firm which continues to evolve, both in how Vista invests behind high growth companies as well as in the development of the next generation of investors. I’m privileged to partner with incredibly innovative leaders across our portfolio who share Vista’s passion for the transformative power of technology.”—Nick Prickel
Firm: Warburg Pincus
Title: Principal
Angel Pu, based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2013 and focuses on growth investments in the Technology sector. She helps to lead the firm’s efforts in financial technology (FinTech) and technology supporting supply chain and logistics companies. Angel is currently involved with investments in Beacon Platform, BlueGrace, Cargomatic, Clearwater Analytics, Conexiom, Samsara and Softeon. She is the lead Warburg Pincus investment professional on the Boards of Beacon Platform and Softeon.
She was previously involved with Coyote Logistics (sold to UPS), MercuryGate (sold to Summit Partners), ACAMS (sold to Becker Professional Education), FacilitySource (sold to CBRE) and ConstructConnect (sold to Roper Technologies). Angel is an active mentor within Warburg Pincus, both formally as she leads the Technology Group’s new hire training program, and also informally as a mentor to a variety of junior investment professionals to advance their careers. Angel is on the steering committee for the Women@Warburg employee network.
Prior to Warburg Pincus, Angel was an Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Goldman Sachs. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and a Master’s degree in Business from Stanford University.
“I have been a part of the Warburg family since 2013 and feel like I “grew up” there. I’m proud of our culture, our team, our companies and our world class leaders. Our philosophy of building sustainable and enduring businesses is not just advertising, but reflected in our 50+ year track record and also how we behave every day. We partner with great CEOs and entrepreneurs with big dreams. Ultimately, I think this industry is a people-driven industry. We pride ourselves in being good partners and I’m grateful to get to play my part.”—Angel Pu
Firm: Battery Ventures
Title: Partner
Zack helps lead Battery’s growing industrial-technology practice, backing later-stage, buyout investments in the U.S. and Europe. Zack joined Battery in 2013 as a vice president and was promoted to partner in 2020. Zack is currently involved with a number of Battery’s acquisitive industrial-technology platforms, including AnalytiChem, Axiometrix Solutions, ifp Institut für Produktqualität (ifp), Noise & Vibration Technologies (NVT), Physical Property Testing (PPT), Process Sensing Technologies (PST) and SPT Life Sciences. Zack has worked on more than 15 add-on acquisitions within this portfolio across the U.S. and Europe.Zack graduated from Tufts University with a BS in economics. He also holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
“I am excited by the trajectory of Battery’s growing, industrial-technology investment practice, which builds on our firm’s deep domain expertise, an extensive industry network and a passion for partnering with exceptional businesses across North America and Europe. We believe in the power of great brands, forward-thinking R&D investment and strategic M&A to grow companies. It is my great pleasure to partner with CEOs to build and execute on a strategy to drive lasting value at their companies.”—Zack Smotherman
Firm: OMERS Growth Equity
Title: Director
Warda joined OMERS Growth Equity (the growth arm of OMERS, a CAD$115B pension plan) in 2019. Warda co-leads the software vertical alongside the Global Head of Growth Equity; she primarily focuses on investments in companies in application, infrastructure, workflow automation, and data/analytics software. Warda has led investments in firms such as Coveo, TouchBistro, PandaDoc, Gitlab, Clio, Phenom and Celigo. She is currently a Board Observer for three Growth Equity portfolio companies.
Previously, Warda worked in public market investing at CPP Investments, where she managed a $500M public markets portfolio. She has also worked at Point72 Asset Management, Bain & Company and Deutsche Bank. Warda approaches investing with a global lens having worked in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong and Germany. She holds a BESc in Mechanical Engineering and HBA in Business Administration from Western University and the Richard Ivey School of Business, respectively. Warda also holds an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of Oxford and is a Kauffman Fellow.
“I’m thrilled to be recognized by GrowthCap. I feel privileged to spend each day working alongside visionary founders and management teams that are diverse in their thoughts, focused in their execution, boundless in their vision and global in their mindset.”—Warda Shaheen
Firm: JMI Equity
Title: Principal
Sureel joined JMI in 2010 and focuses on investments in B2B software businesses, spending most of his time in digital health, life sciences, legal, and human capital management technologies. He has completed 11 investments and successfully exited three during his time at JMI.
He is currently a Board Director at Jvion and Practice Ignition and actively involved with JMI’s investments in Clio, Jane Software, OpenSesame, PointClickCare, SafetyChain, and Yello. His experience includes several other notable investments, such as Adaptive Insights (acquired by Workday), Capsule Tech (acquired by Qualcomm), and Halogen Software (IPO; TSX: HGN, Acquired by Saba Software).
Sureel graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Economics and Human Biology and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Prior to JMI, he began his career as a Business Analyst with McKinsey & Company.
“At JMI, we work closely with our CEO partners and their leadership teams to help identify and prioritize growth opportunities, unlock software-specific best practices, and scale their businesses over time into industry-leading technology companies. There’s no exactitude to any one company’s growth trajectory, and we take pride in our flexible approach to each unique partnership. I’m honored to be included on this list alongside such a strong group of growth investors, many of whom I’ve been lucky to get to know and collaborate with over the past several years.”—Sureel Sheth
Firm: Bain Capital Tech Opportunities
Title: Partner
Scott joined Bain Capital Tech Opportunities in 2019. He co-leads the team’s investments across application software and information services, most notably focusing on vertical SaaS, SMB as a platform and B2B marketplace investments. Scott’s investment experience at Bain Capital represents a wide range of minority and majority growth investments including Buildertrend, Hudl, Mixpanel and When I Work. Scott is known for rolling up his sleeves alongside portfolio company executives to help them see around corners, game plan scenarios and quickly jump on compelling new opportunities. He is also characterized as loyal, genuine and deeply committed to helping executives and their businesses reach their goals.
Prior to Bain Capital, Scott was a senior investment professional with TCV where he invested in Avetta, CCC Information Services, Legalzoom, Siteminder and Xero. Scott graduated from Santa Clara University, earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and started his career in technology investment banking with BofA Merrill Lynch.
“I’m incredibly fortunate to be a part of the Bain Capital Tech Opportunities team. We launched this fund in 2019 with the vision of leveraging our global platform and resources to partner with category leading software companies and invest behind exceptional management teams for growth. I continue to be inspired by the teams we have the opportunity to support.” – Scott Kirk
Firm: Institutional Venture Partners
Title: Partner
Cack joined IVP in 2019. She primarily focuses on investing in growth stage technology companies. Cack led IVP’s investments in CircleCI, Cribl, and Papaya Global and was actively involved in the firm’s investments in Ajaib and Paper. She currently serves as a Board Director for CircleCI and as a Board Observer for Cribl.
Cack earned her BA in history from Princeton University, where she was an All-American runner, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Post-college, she spent two years running for Nike and qualified for two USA teams. She began her professional career at Montgomery & Company where she focused on technology, media, and telecommunications banking in San Francisco. After Montgomery, she pursued a career in enterprise sales, first at Oracle then at Cloudera. Previous experience includes her role as a Partner at Accomplice and a Principal at Scale Venture Partners.
“At IVP, we exist to be the very best partners to the most consequential entrepreneurs, with the hope of playing even a small role in their journeys. We embrace being a partner to our companies, acknowledging that the time we spend daily with founders is the inspirational work. The current venture capital ecosystem hardly resembles the industry I joined in 2013, but the opportunity to indulge one’s intellectual curiosity remains. I am honored to be included.”—Cack Wilhelm
Firm: Turn/River Capital
Title: Principal
Matt is a Principal on the investment team at Turn/River Capital, a firm that offers liquidity, growth and acquisition capital for growing B2B software companies and helps them drive additional scale through optimizing marketing, pricing, sales, and renewals. Matt led the firm’s investments in and serves on the boards of Redwood Software, a leading enterprise automation platform encompassing the Redwood, ActiveBatch and JSCAPE investments, and ActiveState, the leading provider of secure open source runtimes for the enterprise. Throughout his career at Turn/River, Matt also worked with the Mailgun (sold to Thoma Bravo & Sinch), Huddle (sold to Ideagen) and Commio platforms. Prior to joining Turn/River, Matt worked in the New York and London offices of SkyBridge Capital, and at Goldman Sachs.
“At Turn/River we organize ourselves, and our thinking, to look more like a software company than a traditional investment firm. This approach gives our investment team a unique lens on value, and provides us with a compelling framework to partner with the next generation of software companies. Our expert operators partner with management teams to drive structural, and process improvements across sales, marketing, customer success and recruiting functions. As a result, we have been able to help our companies 3x the size of their revenues over the span of our investment, while also driving gains in profitability. Working side by side with such a talented group of operators has honed my investment lens, and enabled me to develop into a true strategic partner for our management teams. I could not think of a more fun way to invest!”—Matt Amico
Firm: Warburg Pincus
Title: Vice President
Julie Cheng is based in New York and joined Warburg Pincus in 2014. Julie helps lead some of the firm’s largest growth investments including current investments in Allied Universal, Duravant, Sotera, Sundyne and Visma, and former investment Service Logic. Julie was an important member of the team who developed the firm’s continuation fund structure used for the Allied Universal deal in 2019 which won “2019 Secondaries Deal of the Year” from BUYOUTS. Julie is on the steering committee for the Women@Warburg employee network and co-leads the firm’s analyst recruiting program. Julie joined Warburg Pincus directly from college, where she received a BS summa cum laude in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
“At Warburg Pincus, we can be creative and flexible in how we partner with management to build sustainable businesses at scale. I am excited to continue to collaborate with our teams to invest in growth across a wide range of companies.”—Julie Cheng
Firm: Thomas H. Lee Partners
Title: Director
Ed is a Director at Thomas H. Lee Partners (“THL”). Since joining THL in 2013, Ed has helped drive growth for the Financial Services Vertical. He is highly involved in all levels of deal execution, from deal sourcing to due diligence, to managing and ultimately exiting investments. Currently, Ed leads THL’s efforts in the Insurance Technology / Services and Wealth Technology / Services sectors, which are key areas of focus for the Financial Services team. He is also a director of AmeriLife Group, LLC, Hightower Advisors, and Insurance Technologies.
Prior to joining THL, Ed worked as a Senior Associate for Bernhard Capital Partners in Baton Rouge, LA. Ed holds a BS in Finance & Accounting, magna cum laude, from Florida State University, and an MSc. in Accounting and Finance, with Merit, from The London School of Economics.
“Beyond providing capital as an investor, I strongly believe in a long-term and partnership driven approach when working with management teams. The opportunity to partner with such talented and innovative teams that are building great companies is what makes my job so exciting.”—Ed Shahnasarian
Firm: Volition Capital
Title: Principal
Tomy joined Volition Capital in 2012. He focuses on software and internet investments in compliance, security, supply chain, and vertical applications. Tomy serves on the board of directors of Pramata and Qure4u. Other board observer roles have included Assent Compliance, Black Kite, Burst, Creatio, RTS, and Securonix. Tomy’s exited investments and board observer roles include the following companies: Connatix (Acquired by Court Square Capital Partners), Insite Software (Acquired by Episerver), and LoanLogics (Acquired by Sun Capital Partners). Tomy graduated from Harvard College with a BA in Economics.
“It is an honor to be recognized among this list of leaders and innovators for the second year in a row. At Volition Capital, our success is driven by the strong partnerships we have with our high-growth technology business founders—disrupters who are driving the industry forward with conviction. We are proud of our hands-on approach and are dedicated to helping our portfolio companies bring their dreams to fruition. I feel fortunate to be a part of the team at Volition Capital, surrounded by businesses and business leaders that are reinventing their category.”—Tomy Han
Firm: Sumeru Equity Partners
Title: Principal
Mark joined Sumeru in 2012 where he focuses on growth capital investments in high-growth software businesses. Mark’s board and investment experience across horizontal and vertical application software includes ForeFlight (Acquired), MDSL (Acquired), Azuga (Acquired), Firstup and 3Gtms. Prior to Sumeru, Mark worked in the investment banking division at Goldman Sachs focused on the Industrial sector. Mark graduated from the University of Illinois and holds BS degrees in accounting and finance, and a MS degree in accounting.
“I have a lot of admiration for the entrepreneurs, founders and management that we’ve had the privilege to partner with over the years. Growth and innovation are not easy—at Sumeru we roll up our sleeves alongside our founder and management partners to help navigate the journey to build software category leaders.”—Mark Haller
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Copyright: The Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors of 2021 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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