GrowthCap is pleased to announce The Top Private Equity Firms of 2023. This year’s nominees underwent a rigorous process to be selected. In addition to evaluating nomination submissions and the research and information we receive on each firm, we paid close attention to what each firm’s real reputation was among CEOs, LPs, and other GPs. We held conversations to discern what firm culture is like, the degree to which a firm helps its portfolio companies, overall firm growth and performance, and commitment to ESG, among other factors. And in some cases, we have known the firms and their key leaders for many years.
Founders and CEOs work tirelessly for much of their lives to build their companies and when it comes time for them to partner with a private equity firm, they deserve to know who they can trust. We received hundreds of nominations and after close examination and deliberation, and after the vast majority of firms were eliminated, the below firms were ultimately deemed to be this year’s best of the best.
The below list is comprised of the best private equity firms at scaling companies—they are growth focused. They represent various segments of the market from large cap to middle market to emerging growth and they are either multi-sector or focused on a single sector such as software or technology. Many of the firms are long-standing pillars of the private equity industry while others have been scaling rapidly over the past one to two decades or have chosen to stay specialized in their particular market niche.
Please join us in recognizing The Top Private Equity Firms of 2023.
TA is a leading global private equity firm, focused on investing in growing companies with high-quality business models across five target industries: technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services. Since its founding in 1968, the firm has raised $65 billion in capital and invested in more than 560 companies worldwide, led by an industry-focused team of over 150 investment professionals. An active investor, TA is committed to building long-term partnerships with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams to help scale portfolio company growth and deliver lasting value. The firm’s dedicated Strategic Resource Group and Capital Markets Group provide further growth-orientated resources and support, including strategic counsel, operational guidance, and assistance structuring and financing transactions. TA has offices in Boston, Menlo Park, Austin, London, Mumbai, and Hong Kong.
“Building on decades of experience and resources, TA is committed to helping companies drive growth and optimize performance. Thank you to GrowthCap for their recognition of our team’s longstanding dedication to founders, leaders, and management teams across the globe. We look forward to furthering these partnerships with our portfolio companies as we help them unlock their full potential and create lasting value.”—Ajit Nedungadi, CEO
Hg is a leading investor in European and transatlantic software and services businesses. The firm supports the building of sector-leading enterprises that supply businesses with critical software applications or workflow services, delivering a more automated workplace for their customers. Hg’s support combines deep end-market knowledge with world class operational resources, together providing compelling support to entrepreneurial leaders looking to scale their business—businesses that are well invested, enduring, and serve their customers well.
Hg has led over 200 investments in the software and services sector and is currently invested in over 50 businesses, with its large-cap strategy, Saturn, now invested in the top three biggest software buyouts in Europe. With over $20 billion additional capital for new investments raised over the last 12 months, Hg has a current FUM of $65 billion. This led to Hg ranking in the top 10 PE firms in the world, measured on fundraising totals of private equity’s biggest firms over the past five years (PEI 300). Today Hg supports a portfolio worth over $125 billion in aggregate enterprise value, with over 100,000 employees, consistently growing revenues at more than 20% annually.
“Hg has shown growing momentum and is in a very exciting and unique position. It’s the only software-focused buyout firm with both an established European heritage and growing transatlantic capability, combined with an ambitious team and capital to invest—all overlayed with a very long-term focus on how to build an enduring franchise of their own. Less obvious to an outsider is the outstanding culture. Joining the firm earlier in the year has shown me a team with a hard-to-achieve mix of low ego, teamwork, and commitment to high performance. This is in part driven by their commitment to long-term thinking when building their own business and supporting management teams in building theirs.”—Alan Cline, Head of North America
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on building stronger, more profitable businesses across a broad range of industries, including industrials, healthcare, business services, consumer, technology, and financial services. Since its inception in 1978, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $40 billion in over 100 companies, with an aggregate transaction value of more than $175 billion.
“At CD&R, our mission is to create value by building great businesses. We are focused on generating industry-leading performance by helping the businesses in which we invest grow and operate more effectively through all economic environments by reaching new markets, pursuing new initiatives, launching new products and services, and building high performing and engaged teams. We are proud to continue to serve as a trusted partner to the families, founders, and corporations with whom we transact to help them meet their objectives. Our talented team is aligned around these objectives through our singular focus on private equity and an adherence to a set of values where integrity is core to our approach. We are honored to be recognized for our longstanding approach built over our firm’s forty-five-year history.”—Nate Sleeper, CEO
Thoma Bravo is a leading software investor with more than $131 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023. The firm is committed to investing in and forming meaningful partnerships with software and technology companies to drive operating results and accelerate growth and innovation. Thoma Bravo has acquired or invested in more than 450 software and technology companies representing over $250 billion of value (including control and non-control investments). The firm’s track record of delivering superior value is a testament to its deep sector focus and its strategic and operational capabilities.
“Thoma Bravo’s culture of collaboration and innovation sets the foundation for our investment approach and engagement with our portfolio companies. By applying our deep sector expertise and strategic and operational capabilities, we help drive accelerated growth and generate long-term value. We are excited for the opportunities ahead and look forward to continuing to support the great companies in our portfolio.”—Holden Spaht, Managing Partner
Based in New York with an office in Shanghai, American Securities is a leading U.S. private equity firm that invests in market-leading North American companies with annual revenues generally ranging from $200 million to $2 billion. From its origins as a family office in 1947 to its founding as a private equity firm in 1994, to its position today with $27 billion assets under management, American Securities has been at the forefront of value-based investing for decades. The firm’s investment philosophy is rooted in partnership—it dedicates the time, energy, and resources necessary to help every portfolio company achieve its full potential.
“At American Securities, we believe in long-term, strategic partnerships with existing CEOs and management teams. Since our inception nearly 30 years ago, we have used this collaborative approach to partner with management to grow more than 70 companies across the industrials, services, healthcare and consumer sectors. We are proud to be recognized by GrowthCap for our track record of success, and we are excited by the opportunities ahead.”—Michael Fisch, Co-Founder and CEO
Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology startup and scaleup software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Since its founding in 1995, Insight has closed more than 750 investments and supported more than 110 strategic exits, including more than 55 successful IPOs of Insight portfolio companies. Insight’s mission is to find and fund scalable companies and work with visionary executives and founders, providing them with the practical, hands-on software expertise that fosters long-term success.
What sets Insight apart from its peers is the firm’s ability to leverage data and pattern recognition, which enables Insight to provide strategic support and scale up exceptional companies at every stage of the growth cycle. Critical to this ability is Insight Onsite, the firm’s software-focused operations team, which is comprised of 130+ operators who work alongside Insight portfolio companies in the areas of talent, sales, marketing, product, engineering and strategy, and help founders and executives identify and execute key strategic growth initiatives.
Insight also offers Insight IGNITE, the firm’s enterprise technology network trusted by executives from many of the world’s most established businesses to connect, learn, and drive decision-making and business excellence. The IGNITE network offers 2000+ senior IT executives access to like-minded peers and Insight Partners’ enterprise-ready portfolio through bespoke events, briefings, and programming.
“For 28 years, Insight Partners has had the immense privilege of partnering with visionary startup founders and teams as they build the next generation of revolutionary technologies. Having a front row seat to this innovation, and getting to collaborate with software leaders on their ScaleUp journeys, is an incredible opportunity that fuels our passion for transforming world-changing ideas into real-world solutions.”—Ryan Hinkle, Managing Director
TPG Growth has a 15-year track record of success in meeting the unique needs of earlier-stage companies, from traditional minority growth investments to growth buyouts and specialty capital. Having launched TPG Growth in 2007, TPG has had the opportunity to partner with some of the most innovative entrepreneurs, founders, and management teams of the past decade and a half. The team brings an established perspective and a differentiated blend of conviction, flexibility, and partnership to growth equity that allows them to invest behind unique opportunities early, particularly in markets that are at points of inflection, disruption, or significant change. TPG Growth also differentiates itself via active business building engagement. Its team takes meaningful ownership stakes in a smaller number of companies, thereby positioning the firm to add value via operational expertise.
Amidst changes in market sentiment, TPG has remained steadfastly focused on profitability and growth, and today, TPG Growth manages $24 billion in assets. Select investments include Airbnb, Beautycounter, C3, Calm, Campus Activewear, GoHealth Urgent Care, Greenhouse, Medical Solutions, MX, Nykaa, People 2.0, Pharmeasy, Spotify, Uber, and Zscaler.
“As a growth equity platform within a multi-strategy firm, TPG Growth leverages the insights of investment teams around the world and pairs those global perspectives with deep sector specialization. We are thematically integrated across our core sectors—business services, consumer & internet, healthcare, and software—and this sector-first strategy allows us to build differentiated angles and insights. It’s a privilege to partner with world-class founders and management teams as they navigate their growth journey and we look forward to continuing to play a strategic role in helping companies achieve their goals.”—Matt Hobart and David Trujillo, Co-Managing Partners
Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $37 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. For nearly four decades, Summit has focused on partnering with category-leading, profitable companies across growth sectors of the economy. Since 1984, Summit has invested in more than 550 companies in technology, healthcare, and other growth industries.
Summit’s deep experience, long-standing focus on growth investing and commitment to innovation helps the team bring a growth-focused perspective to the companies and teams with which the firm partners. In addition to serving as active board members, Summit seeks to provide on-demand, growth-oriented support to its portfolio companies through its Peak Performance Group (“PPG”). The PPG is a purpose-built team dedicated to offering free, flexible support in areas we believe are critical to accelerating and promoting long-term, profitable growth, including operations, capital markets, human capital and technology & data science.
As a firm, Summit recognizes the importance of and is committed to creating a diverse, equitable, inclusive, performance-driven environment purpose-built to generate the best ideas, fuel innovation and power the professional growth of the professionals who work at Summit and across its portfolio companies.
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with $19 billion in cumulative capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and tech-enabled businesses, well-positioned for top-line and bottom-line growth. At the core of Accel-KKR’s investment strategy is a commitment to developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies and a focus on building value alongside management by leveraging the significant resources available through the Accel-KKR network. Accel-KKR focuses on middle-market companies and provides a broad range of capital solutions, including buyout capital, minority-growth investments, and credit alternatives. Accel-KKR also invests across various transaction types, including private company recapitalizations, divisional carve-outs and going-private transactions. Accel-KKR’s headquarters is in Menlo Park, with offices in Atlanta, London and Mexico City.
Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms, with approximately $175 billion in assets under management. The firm pioneered the value-added approach to investing and has been at the forefront of growth investing since its founding in 1984. Bain Capital has a proven, collaborative strategy to support innovative businesses, accelerate growth and achieve scale. The team has decades of experience investing in and building category-leading businesses globally. Bain Capital’s reach across industries and geographies creates unique advantages for management teams as they enter new end markets and expand internationally.
“Over our nearly forty-year history, we have had the privilege of partnering with hundreds of innovative companies, founders, management teams, entrepreneurs and investors who are working to build category-leading companies and are creating positive impact around the world. Deep and enduring partnership is core to our values and culture as a firm, and we are proud of what we have accomplished in partnership with our companies and through our investments. Innovative leaders today require partners who understand their industry as they do, roll up their sleeves to improve operations, and have the global reach and expansive networks to help them scale. We’re proud that Bain Capital continues to be a trusted partner for growing businesses.”—John Connaughton and Jonathan Lavine, Co-Managing Partners.
Vista is a global, market-leading alternative asset manager that invests exclusively in enterprise software. The firm has completed over 600 private equity transactions, representing nearly $300 billion in transaction value since inception and currently has over $100 billion in assets under management.
Vista’s focused experience in enterprise software enables it to identify companies with product superiority and market leadership potential and execute value creation strategies to expand revenue and deliver EBITDA growth. The power of the firm’s partnership lies in the Vista ecosystem which provides its 80+ companies with access to knowledge and experience from their peers throughout the portfolio. Through the size and homogeneity of its portfolio (230+ of its C-suite executives have worked at another Vista company before), Vista can enable better transformation and create businesses with enduring market value.
Vista offers a range of capital solutions including convertible preferred equity offerings specifically for founders, late-stage growth capital to scale and more traditional private equity buyouts. Vista’s goal is to help today’s leading enterprise software businesses innovate, grow and thrive through private equity, permanent capital and credit offerings.
“As a pioneer in enterprise software investing, our singular focus on the sector has helped us empower founders, executives, and their talented teams to transform their businesses. It’s a privilege to partner with our companies to advance our digital economy.”—Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO
Francisco Partners (FP) is a leading technology-focused investment firm with a proven reputation for delivering exceptional returns through a distinctly flexible approach. With nearly 25 years of experience, FP has invested in or acquired more than 400 technology companies and has been repeatedly recognized for market-leading performance (HEC), making it one of the most active, long-standing and successful investors in the global technology industry. FP has approximately $45B in assets under management and $20B in capital available for investment.
FP is an expert in divisional carve-outs and has established itself as a partner and buyer of choice for corporates as they evaluate divestitures and partnerships. FP operates creatively and is adept at identifying opportunities in untapped markets. The firm values transparency, collaboration and an orientation to action and believes that its employees’ diversity of thought and experience makes for a stronger, outperforming team. Many of FP’s portfolio companies rank as best places to work in their local communities and demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“Francisco Partners is a leader in our industry because of our commitment to challenging the status quo in every aspect of our business. Our dedicated team of experienced investment professionals, executives and functional experts covers the full range of value creation by raising the bar and consistently being better partners for our LP’s, portfolio companies, and investment partners.”—Dipanjan “DJ” Deb, Co-founder & CEO
Oak Hill Capital is a longstanding private equity firm that has been investing in the North American middle-market for over 36 years. Oak Hill began its investment activities in 1986 as the family office of Robert M. Bass. This unique heritage is ingrained in the firm’s culture and is demonstrated by Oak Hill’s extensive history of partnering with world-class entrepreneurs and founder-owned businesses by supporting companies through their next phase of growth.
Oak Hill’s experienced team applies a specialized, theme-based approach to investing in the following four dedicated sectors: business services, industrials, media and communications, and consumer. Oak Hill works actively in partnership with management to implement strategic and operational initiatives to create franchise value.
Since its founding, Oak Hill and its predecessors have raised over $20 billion of initial capital commitments and co-investments, and have invested in over 100 companies with an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of approximately $70 billion. Oak Hill is currently investing out of its latest fund, Oak Hill Capital Partners Fund VI.
“Since Oak Hill’s founding over 36 years ago, the firm’s core values and dedication to being principal-minded investors, in which we emphasize economic alignment, capital preservation, risk management, and corporate citizenship, remain unchanged. Our differentiated theme-based approach to investing and creating value is designed to achieve institutionalized success, which we believe is characterized by consistent, repeatable processes that are scalable and lead to compelling investments in any market environment. We promote a collaborative “One Firm-One Mission” culture, which is exemplified by our extensive history of partnering with portfolio companies and their management teams to build sustainable franchises. It is a privilege to be a part of such a long-standing and impactful firm and to work alongside such a talented team at Oak Hill.”—Brian Cherry, Steve Puccinelli, Tyler Wolfram, Managing Partners
Great Hill Partners is a Boston-based private equity firm that invests in high-growth, disruptive companies across five core sectors: software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure. Over the past 25 years, it has raised over $12 billion of commitments across eight funds and invested in over 95 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with founders and entrepreneurs in an effort to help middle-market industry pioneers achieve their full potential. With an individualized approach to each of its investments, Great Hill is a long-term, growth-oriented investor and serves as a true partner to its portfolio companies’ management teams.
As part of its focus on value creation, Great Hill provides robust executive networks, deep domain expertise and strategic counsel to accelerate portfolio company growth and enhance strategic value. Great Hill has a dedicated Growth team that works hand-in-hand with the firm’s investment teams and portfolio companies to accelerate businesses by optimizing efforts across go-to-market, customer acquisition, product expansion and talent initiatives, as well as geographic expansion and sourcing strategic acquisitions.
“We’re thrilled to be included on GrowthCap’s list of Top PE Firms for the third year running, reflecting the talented, hard-working and innovative teams we have in place at Great Hill and across our portfolio. Since our inception more than two decades ago, we’ve been focused on scaling exceptional companies that are transforming the way we live and work around the globe. We are excited about the opportunities ahead as we continue to expand our capabilities and support innovative disruptors at the forefront of their industries.”—Chris Gaffney, Michael Kumin, Mark Taber and Matt Vettel, Managing Directors
Trilantic North America is a growth-focused middle market private equity firm, which specializes in control and significant minority investments throughout North America. Trilantic North America’s primary investment focuses are in the business services and consumer sectors.
Since 2004, the firm has invested in founder-and family-owned businesses and committed $6.7 billion in capital to these types of businesses in the middle and upper-middle markets. Trilantic North America has managed seven private equity fund families with aggregate capital commitments of $10.2 billion and invested in more than 75 companies over the past 19 years, having fully or significantly realized 39 investments in founder and family-owned/operated businesses. Over the past year, 43,000 jobs have been added across Trilantic North America portfolio companies.
In addition to its investments, Trilantic North America is deeply committed to leveraging the expertise of its investment team to provide strategic guidance and create value for the management teams with which it partners. With extensive experience across a wide range of industries, Trilantic North America’s investment team focuses on scaling growth through a thoughtful, hands-on approach rooted in strong partnerships and a value-add mentality.
“Trilantic North America is honored to have been selected as one of GrowthCap’s Top Private Equity Firms of 2023. This award distinguishes our firm’s leadership in executing founder friendly strategies, our dedication to achieving our ESG goals and commitment to initiating progress in the private equity industry.”—Charles Ayres, Managing Partner and Chairman
Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm focused on partnering with, and supporting, the best entrepreneurs in growing technology and healthcare companies. Founded in 2015, the firm has raised four (4) funds totaling $3.3 billion of capital under management. Silversmith typically invests between $20 million to $125 million in profitable, growing companies that have achieved scale in a capital efficient way. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, Appfire, Apryse, DistroKid, impact.com, Iodine Software, LifeStance Health, and Webflow.
“At Silversmith, we believe that providing capital is not unique—but who you are, how you partner, and what you value is. Since our founding, we have had the privilege to be growth partners to founders and CEOs who have built exceptional companies focused on delivering products and services that provide real and measurable value. We would not consistently be named a top growth firm without the hard work they do each and every day to build great businesses.”—Jim Quagliaroli, Managing Partner
The Vistria Group is building a new kind of private investment firm that seeks to deliver both financial returns and societal impact. It invests in essential industries like healthcare, knowledge and learning, financial services and real estate that deliver value for investors as well as communities, employees, and consumers. With over $10 billion in AUM, The Vistria Group works as a true partner with its portfolio companies, drawing on its deep sector knowledge, operational expertise, unique network, diverse team, and impact orientation to achieve transformational growth.
“At The Vistria Group, our commitment to excellence, social responsibility and nurturing strong partnerships with management teams has been a cornerstone of our success over the last decade. We align with partners who are passionate about growth and who prioritize impact as a driver to accelerate growth. Our team believes in pairing profit with purpose and is committed to driving positive change while creating lasting value.”—Kip Kirkpatrick and Marty Nesbitt, Co-Founders and Co-CEOs
Berkshire Partners has a well-established history as a multi-sector specialist investor in private and public equity. The firm’s private equity team invests in leading companies across a range of business sectors including consumer, healthcare, services & industrials, technology & communications, and digital infrastructure. With more than 35 years of experience and over 150 private equity investments to date, Berkshire Partners collaborates with management teams to strengthen and enhance the companies in which it invests.
Berkshire Partners’ investment process is grounded in analytical rigor, truth-seeking, and open debate. The firm seeks to be a constructive partner for management teams and to provide the necessary guidance to help its portfolio companies grow into enduring market leaders.
Berkshire Partners is 100% employee-owned and works hard to reinforce its team-centered approach. Collaboration and deep alignment with stakeholders are principles that the firm believes have helped attract and retain experienced investment professionals. Team members possess deep sector knowledge and champion the firm’s values: Relationships Matter, The Power of Teams, and Winning the Right Way. It is these core values and the distinctive culture of Berkshire Partners that it believes have helped drive the firm’s success.
“Since our firm’s inception in 1986, we’ve sought out companies with growth and resilience characteristics that align with our approach to long-term investing. As we’ve grown, we’ve continued to solidify our knowledge and industry perspectives in the key verticals in which we invest. We take great pride in our integrity and accountability, and we strive to establish meaningful, long-term relationships with all of our portfolio companies. We are always looking for untapped potential and organizational growth opportunities. With many well-respected firms recognized, it’s an honor to be featured as one of GrowthCap’s Top Private Equity Firms of 2023.”—Mike Ascione, Managing Director
Bregal Sagemount is a leading growth-focused private capital firm with more than $6.8 billion of cumulative capital raised. The firm provides flexible capital and strategic assistance to market-leading companies in high-growth sectors across a wide variety of transaction situations. Bregal Sagemount has invested in over 70 companies in a variety of sectors, including software, information/data services, financial technology & financial services, digital infrastructure, healthcare IT, and business & consumer services. The firm has offices in New York, Palo Alto, and Dallas.
“At Sagemount, we collaborate with founders and entrepreneurs to help accelerate growth and create value. We take a custom approach to every investment, combining flexible capital and value-creation solutions to address the unique needs of successful entrepreneurs. We believe our partnership helps deliver outsized outcomes for our companies.”—Gene Yoon, Managing Partner & Founder
Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm committed to building enduring businesses by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in investments in software and services industries, has made 450+ add-on investments in the last five years, and currently has more than 20,000 employees across its portfolio. In total, the firm has embarked on nine flagship funds over its 22+ years of operations, having most recently closed its latest Fund IX in July 2023 with $4.5 billion in committed capital after an oversubscribed fundraising process.
Alpine strives to support driven, engaged and emerging leaders who are willing to take a bet on themselves. As part of Alpine’s distinct PeopleFirst operating strategy that allows it to bring proven leadership into businesses, the firm established multiple executive talent programs that invest in exceptional people. These programs diversify the C-suite and enable Alpine to effectively equip its portfolio companies with high-performance leadership teams that create lasting impact for their employees, investors and the communities they serve. Alpine’s CEO-in-Training program has over 75 current members, with its 2023 class identifying as 36% female and 48% BIPOC.
A Certified B Corporation, Alpine is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City and Salt Lake City and has over $15 billion in assets under management.
“We are proud to accept this award as a testament to the success of our PeopleFirst philosophy. At Alpine, we believe that businesses are built by investing in culture, and we maintain an unyielding commitment to our people’s development and growth. We exercise our deep passion for the people we employ and the companies we partner with by helping portfolio companies execute powerful transitions with thoughtful approaches to scalability and long-term growth. Treating people well and giving them opportunities to be their best selves at work has been the formula for our investing success, and we’re proud to be recognized for it.”—Graham Weaver, Founder and CEO
Turn/River Capital, a leading technology growth equity and buyout firm, specializes in buyouts, spin-outs, growth capital investments, founder liquidity, and recapitalizations of technology, web, and SaaS companies. This San Francisco-based private equity firm is composed of equal parts investors and operators. With deep expertise in sales, marketing, customer success, and finance, its team acts like a software firm. Their operational expertise and proven playbooks allow Turn/River to accelerate portfolio company sales, marketing, and product development.
These proven practices are precisely why Turn/River reliably and rapidly unlocks transformational growth, producing market-leading companies and building lasting value. Turn/River’s continued success reflects the firm’s commitment to driving predictable, sustainable, and profitable growth through go-to-market optimization and driving alignment between founders, executives, and all stakeholders.
“Turn/River’s investment model is based upon our operations-led philosophy, and that begins with investing in our team. We look for software builders, inventors, and changemakers who are committed to doing good by our portfolio companies. We strive to identify, empower, and retain talent with a focus on collaboration, long-term value creation, and genuine partnership.”—Dominic Ang, Managing Partner
Adams Street Partners has been recognized as one of the most respected and experienced private markets investment managers for over five decades. Adams Street is 100% employee-owned, which fosters a positive and unique culture of collaboration, intellectual rigor, integrity, and a commitment to professional development. For the fifth year in a row, Adams Street was named one of Pension & Investments’ Best Places to Work in Money Management in 2022.
The firm’s integrated platform of relationships, data, and insights provides institutional and high-net-worth investors with customized access to a spectrum of private markets investment strategies. Employees operate as a single global team, integrating the expertise of the firm’s investment professionals across five strategies: primary investments, secondary investments, growth equity, private credit, and co-investments. Adams Street is considered a private markets pioneer and was inducted into the Private Equity Hall of Fame in 2000.
“Institutional investors have become more discerning, putting fear of missing out behind them. Investors have indicated they are seeking resilient companies with pricing power, meaningful share in growing markets, strong balance sheets, and a clear path to profitability. They are increasingly placing their trust in global private markets managers that emphasize strong diligence, fundamental analysis, and sector expertise as they seek to produce attractive risk-adjusted returns through market cycles.”—Jeff Diehl, Managing Partner & Head of Investments
JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. For over three decades, JMI has partnered with exceptional founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams at high-growth software companies to provide flexible capital, industry expertise, and operational support to build businesses of enduring value. To date, JMI has invested in over 180 software businesses in North America and Europe and completed over 115 exits. Today, the firm’s portfolio of industry-leading cloud software companies represents $8 billion in combined revenue, $65 billion in aggregate enterprise value, and over 34,000 jobs.
“For more than three decades, we have had the privilege of partnering with some of the best software companies in the world. JMI is honored to again be recognized by GrowthCap as a Top Private Equity Firm. We look forward to continuing to partner with the next generation of software company founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams to help them navigate this evolving landscape and create businesses of enduring value.”—Peter Arrowsmith, Managing General Partner
H.I.G. Growth Partners is the dedicated growth capital affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a global alternative investment firm founded in 1993 with $58 billion of equity capital under management. Focusing on the small-cap and mid-cap segments of the market, H.I.G. Growth invests in growing, technology-oriented businesses across sectors including SaaS, cloud & data software, technology, media & telecommunications, fintech, healthcare, and technology-enabled services. The firm makes both majority and minority investments throughout North America, Europe and Latin America.
H.I.G. Growth leverages the resources of its parent organization, including over 500 investment professionals, 19 office locations, and over 100 active portfolio companies. Its extensive network and resources include a portfolio operating team that creates value in partnership with portfolio companies, accelerating their growth in areas including talent, go-to-market, digital transformation, and FP&A. The firm values a collaborative, inclusive culture focused on mutual respect, curiosity, and partnership which is evidenced by strong relationships across the firm and portfolio organizations. The firm’s commitment to DE&I is reflected in its hiring practices, as well as demonstrated in its investment process, from initial due diligence to post closing initiatives.
“At H.I.G. Growth Partners, our success is a testament to our unwavering commitment to fostering growth and innovation. Our collaborative partnership style empowers us to work hand-in-hand with visionary entrepreneurs, driving transformative results and creating lasting value together. We are honored to be recognized by GrowthCap as one of the Top Private Equity Firms of 2023.”—Ross Hiatt, Head of H.I.G. Growth Partners
Founded in 2019, Brighton Park Capital (“BPC”) is a growth equity firm that invests globally in entrepreneur inspired companies in software, healthcare, and technology enabled services. BPC partners closely with experienced entrepreneurs, founders, and management teams to build market leading products and to execute the needed strategies to create important global companies with long-term value. The firm’s investor-centric approach helps these fast-growth companies in organizational development, product, go-to-market, business development, and corporate development.
In 2022, Brighton Park completed its second fund, which was oversubscribed, and now manages nearly $4 billion. The firm is an investor in many industry-leading companies including Paradox, OPSWAT, Indegene, XSOLIS, RocketReach, Coralogix, and HTEC.
“Brighton Park’s success stems from our team’s unwavering belief in collaboration. Our firm was built on the philosophy that partnering closely with founders and management teams cultivates an environment where innovative ideas, coupled with our purpose-built, value-add capabilities, flourish. We are proud to receive this recognition from GrowthCap as a Top Private Equity Firm of 2023, which is a testament to the importance of this strategy and the unrelenting hard work of our team to bring it to life. Looking ahead, we are excited to continue driving success at our portfolio companies while helping them unlock their long-term growth potential.”—Mark Dzialga, Managing Partner
Serent Capital is a growth-focused private equity firm investing in capital-efficient, B2B SaaS and technology companies. From our founding, we set out to build a distinctly different firm that prioritizes founders and their companies and provides true hands-on resources through our 20+ person Growth Team. Our in-house Growth Team is equipped with a wide range of resources to help companies accelerate growth, including strategic and operational support to drive revenue generation, assistance in building a top-tier executive team, guidance for transformative M&A, and a community of 400+ founders and operating executives. With nearly $5 billion of assets under management, we have partnered with over 60 founder-led, industry-changing companies and offer unparalleled hands-on operational support.
“We recently celebrated our 15-year anniversary, and I’m proud to say our mission to help exceptional, bootstrapped companies scale through a hands-on, operational approach remains our Northstar. We are honored to be recognized by Growth Cap and look forward to continuing to partner with great people and companies to achieve extraordinary outcomes.”—Kevin Frick, Partner
Mainsail Partners is a growth equity firm that invests in growing, bootstrapped software companies. The firm has been investing in bootstrapped companies for more than 20 years with a focus on B2B software that is often the core operating system for businesses.
Mainsail has a dedicated Operations Team that is purpose-built to work alongside software company management teams to help scale operations and accelerate growth. Mainsail works closely with portfolio companies to assist with various growth initiatives, including hiring for key management positions, optimizing go-to-market strategies, pricing optimization, accelerating product development, M&A execution and much more.
Mainsail has offices in Austin and San Francisco and has invested in more than 70 bootstrapped companies.
“It is an honor to be recognized by GrowthCap as one of the Top Private Equity Firms of 2023. This honor is shared with the many bootstrapped founders and management teams we have had the privilege of partnering with over the past 20 years. We have the utmost respect for these founders and the companies and cultures they have created. We are inspired and committed to helping entrepreneurs scale their business with the goal of building industry leading software companies.”—Gavin Turner, Managing Partner
Sumeru Equity Partners (“Sumeru”) provides growth capital at the intersection of people and innovative technology. Sumeru seeks to embolden innovative founders and management teams with capital and scaling partnership. Led by a combination of experienced investors and technology executives, Sumeru partners with founders and management to scale their businesses through the Sumeru Growth Program, prioritizing organic growth levers across product leadership, go-to-market acceleration and growth culture. The firm typically invests $50-200 million per transaction in North America and Europe.
The Sumeru team has invested over $3 billion in more than fifty platform and add-on investments across enterprise and vertical SaaS, data analytics, education technology, infrastructure software and cybersecurity. Our team includes over 50 Sumeru colleagues that collaborate across our Silicon Valley and New York City offices.
“At Sumeru, we invest at the intersection of people and innovative technology. We built our team with experts that prioritize organic growth levers at our portfolio companies across product, go-to-market and growth culture. Our firm has a long history providing capital to founders and management teams and collaborating with our companies through active partnership to manage the challenges of scaling. Whether it is sales, marketing, customer success, product management, pricing and packaging or organizational development, Sumeru has the resources and experience to help build category leaders.”—Kyle Ryland and Sanjeet Mitra, Co-Managing Partners
Founded in 1988, Pamlico Capital seeks control-oriented growth equity investments of up to $200 million alongside founders and proven leaders across four target industries: communications, healthcare, services and software. Working from one office in Charlotte, North Carolina, its team of investment professionals has sourced and led hundreds of successful transactions over its 35+ year history. Pamlico closed its most recent fund in 2020 at the hard cap of $1.4 billion. Since inception, the firm has invested approximately $4 billion.
Pamlico takes a comprehensive approach and active involvement in each of its portfolio companies. It employs strategic planning, portfolio best practice sharing, go-to-market strategy, acquisition planning, and human capital networks to optimize all business operations and capitalize on value creation opportunities. The firm’s culture is upheld by a people-first mentality where colleagues support each other in and out of the office.
“Pamlico is honored to be recognized again by GrowthCap as one of the Top Private Equity Firms. For over 35 years, our sole focus has been to partner with great teams to build market-defining companies. We are really proud of how we do what we do, and this achievement reflects the dedication and expertise of our team, as well as the trust and partnership we build with our portfolio companies.”—Scott Stevens, Partner
Vance Street Capital is a Los Angeles-based lower middle-market private equity firm focused on investing in B2B manufacturers of highly engineered, mission critical components and products serving the industrial technology, medical, life science, aerospace and defense sectors. For over two decades, Vance Street’s partners have worked with management teams and family owners to accelerate revenue growth, improve operations, and acquire strategic assets for the companies in their investment portfolio. Founded in 2007, Vance Street manages over $1 billion across funds and has acquired more than 50 businesses.
“At Vance Street, we seek to solve for unique challenges and growth constraints for founders and entrepreneurs, creating operational value and scaling market leading companies within our niche verticals. We are thrilled to be recognized as one of GrowthCap’s Top Private Equity Firms of 2023.”—Brian Martin, Managing Partner
Headquartered in New York, VSS is a private investment firm that invests in healthcare, business services and education companies. Since 1987, VSS has partnered with lower middle-market companies, working closely with management teams, to facilitate their next stage of growth. VSS provides capital for growth financings, recapitalizations, strategic acquisitions, and buyouts with the flexibility to invest control or non-control capital, based on the needs and objectives of each company. VSS has managed $4 billion in committed capital across 8 funds and has completed 98 platform investments and over 400 add-on acquisitions.
“At VSS Capital Partners, we are focused on providing entrepreneurs and executives of lower mid-market businesses with the capital and operational resources to pursue their strategic business plans. We are honored to be recognized by GrowthCap, and this award reflects our team’s hard work and dedication.”—Jeffrey Stevenson, Managing Partner
Argosy Private Equity has been partnering with lower middle market niche manufacturing and business services companies for over 30 years. Argosy partners with motivated management teams seeking to invest in companies with sustainable competitive advantages and attractive growth prospects. In collaboration with the management teams, Argosy’s team of in-house operating partners works alongside management teams to implement the Value Acceleration Methodology, VAMTM. VAMTM is a toolkit specifically geared towards helping companies in the lower middle market execute on objectives to grow and professionalize.
Argosy has been dedicated to the lower middle market for over 3 decades, raising its first fund in 1997 and currently investing Fund VI, a $422 million fund. The team has partnered with over 130 businesses nationwide and has over $1.0 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2023.
“Since our founding, Argosy has had a mission to invest in great companies, create value for our investors and portfolio companies, and have fun while doing it. All three remain true 30 years later and will continue to be our priority for the next 30+ years.”—Keven Shanahan, Partner
“With our experienced team and a focus on the lower middle market, robust deal sourcing capabilities, and VAMTMtoolkit of resources, we aim to do right by our partners and add value at every stage.”—Lane Wiggers, Managing Director of Operating Partner Program
Sverica Capital Management is a leading growth-oriented private equity firm that has committed capital of $2 billion across six funds. The firm acquires, invests in, and actively builds companies that are, or could become, leaders in their industries. Since inception, Sverica has followed a “business builder” approach to investing and takes an active supporting role in its portfolio companies. Sverica devotes significant internal time and resources to help its management teams develop and execute growth strategies and proactively looks for levers to pull to accelerate growth by reinvesting back into those companies. Sverica firmly believes in building businesses collaboratively that can endure for the long term by starting with a strong foundation and bringing the right people and playbook to drive reinvestment and ultimately strong returns for our investors. Sverica has offices in Austin, Boston and San Francisco and has made 47 platform investments since inception.
“We specialize in partnering with emerging and founder-based businesses, scaling them to their full potential, and putting the leadership and infrastructure in place to ensure their continued success long after our divestment. Sverica was founded specifically for entrepreneurs who know what it takes to be successful, who put people first, who have worked hard to build a unique business, who push the boundaries within their industry, and who choose to partner with seasoned professionals who have shared values but different talents and perspectives.”—Dave Finley, Jordan Richards, and Frank Young, Managing Partners
NewSpring is a lower-middle market focused private equity firm that partners with the innovators, makers, and operators of high-performing companies in dynamic industries to catalyze new growth and seize compelling opportunities. The firm manages over $3.0 billion across five distinct strategies covering the spectrum from growth equity and control buyouts to mezzanine debt. Having invested in over 200 companies, NewSpring brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and resources to take growing companies to the next level and beyond. Partnering with management teams to help develop their businesses into market leaders, NewSpring identifies opportunities and builds relationships using its network of industry leaders and influencers across a wide array of operational areas and industries.
“What differentiates NewSpring is our commitment to tirelessly serving as a true strategic advisor and operating partner to our portfolio companies. We work closely with CEOs to build businesses on their terms, going far beyond our role as a capital provider to empower innovative leaders with access to the expertise, networks, and talent they need to reach their highest potential. This relentless focus on partnership, combined with our unique multi-strategy approach and concentration on the underserved and overlooked lower-middle market, is a critical aspect of our DNA and has driven our success to date.”—Mike DiPiano, Managing General Partner and Co-Founder
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Copyright: The Top Private Equity Firms 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.
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