PALO ALTO, NEW YORK, BOSTON and LONDON, December 9, 2021 – Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, today announced that it has completed fundraising for Advent Global Technology II (“Advent Tech II”), its second dedicated technology fund. Advent Tech II exceeded its target of $3 billion by 33% and reached its hard cap of $4 billion after six months in the market.
The new fund is double the size of its predecessor, Advent Tech, which has invested in 20 software, data and cybersecurity companies since its launch in 2019.1 Following the same strategy as the prior fund, Advent Tech II will back innovative companies led by visionary management teams, focusing on high-growth acceleration and complex transformation opportunities. It will invest mainly in North America and Europe and selectively in other global markets where Advent has an established presence. A dedicated team of 27 tech specialists based in Palo Alto, New York, Boston and London will deploy the new fund.
“We launched Advent Tech two years ago to bring the power of Advent to tech investing,” said Bryan Taylor, Managing Partner and head of Advent’s technology team. “The strong support from existing and new investors in our second fund is a validation of our strategy and approach. With our global reach, deep cross-sector network and vast ecosystem of company-building resources, we believe we’re ideally positioned to help businesses innovate and grow at scale.”
“Core to our strategy are two underlying beliefs,” said David Mussafer, Managing Partner and Co-Chair of Advent’s Executive Committee. “First, that tech is a horizontal, impacting virtually every industry and business. Second, that tech is one ecosystem, where success means understanding both disruptors and incumbents. These beliefs help us partner with the most promising innovators of today with the goal of building them into the market leaders of tomorrow.”
Deep cross-sector network
“Our 30-year history of investing in multiple industries gives us the knowledge and relationships to help tech companies disrupt their markets,” said James Brocklebank, Managing Partner and Co-Chair of Advent’s Executive Committee. “At the same time, our tech team provides us with greater visibility on disruption in all of our sectors and improves our ability to apply technology-driven value creation plans in our portfolio companies worldwide.”
One team, flexible capital
In addition to investing the new fund, the tech team makes technology investments for Advent’s $17.5 billion Global Private Equity IX (“GPE IX”) fund. “This gives us the flexibility to invest across a broad spectrum of deal sizes and types,” said Lauren Young, a Managing Director on Advent’s tech team. “With the tech fund alone, we can make smaller investments—from $50 million of equity—in early disruptors. Together with GPE IX, we can deploy $2 billion or more in established, market-leading incumbents.”
“The tech ecosystem thrives from a constant cross-pollination of ideas, talent and customers,” said Eric Wei, a Managing Director on Advent’s tech team. “Having one team with extensive experience across the growth continuum enables us to identify and support ambitious tech companies, whether they’re seeking a minority growth round or a billion-dollar investment to fuel accelerated growth or major transformation.”
Strong investment momentum
Building on Advent Tech’s momentum, Advent has already closed or signed four investments for Advent Tech II.2 It co-led an investor group that agreed to acquire McAfee Corp. (Nasdaq: MCFE), a global leader in online protection, for over $14 billion in the largest-ever take-private of a software company.3 It also invested in Iodine Software, a leading healthcare AI company, and Tekion, developer of a cloud-native SaaS platform for the automotive retail industry. The fund’s fourth investment has not yet been announced.
Diverse investor base
Advent Tech II received commitments from a diverse group of institutional investors around the world. These include public pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, insurance companies and corporate pension funds. More than 90% of the committed capital came from Advent’s existing investor base, with the remaining commitments provided by a select number of new investors.
In addition to Advent Tech II and GPE IX, Advent is investing its seventh Latin American private equity fund, LAPEF VII, capitalized at $2 billion.
This press release is not an offer or solicitation of an offer, or an invitation or inducement, to invest in any Advent International fund. No person may invest in any Advent International fund except in accordance with and subject to the terms of the applicable fund documentation and applicable law.
1 Includes two pending transactions. Advent cannot ensure any pending transactions will be completed.
2 Includes two pending transactions. Advent cannot ensure any pending transactions will be completed.
3 Dealogic
