FTV Capital Raises $4 Billion for Two Growth Equity Funds

(Bloomberg) — FTV Capital, a firm focused on growth-equity bets, has amassed more than $4 billion for two new funds, as it aims to capitalize on a dearth of initial public offerings that has led fast-growing companies to seek capital elsewhere.

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The firm closed on $3.4 billion for FTV VIII, marking its largest fund to date and eclipsing the $2.3 billion it collected in 2022, executives said. Through the new vehicle, which has already committed over $600 million of its capital, FTV will seek to write checks of between $60 million and $300 million.

Separately, FTV raised $651 million for a fund known as FTV Ascend I, which aims to write checks of between $20 million and $60 million and is co-led by Mike Cichowski and Alex Malvone. The firm said Malvone has been promoted to partner, as has Principal Brent Fierro and Chief Financial Officer Paul Cabral.

“We continue to believe the environment is fantastic for growth equity,” Brad Bernstein, managing partner at FTV, said in an interview, adding the firm is looking to make 15 to 20 investments through each new vehicle.

A lack of IPOs — especially of companies valued at $5 billion or less — has led to a need for capital, he said. The firm is positioned to provide new equity and to buy stakes in companies from angel investors, founders, venture capital funds and others seeking liquidity.

Last year, the firm saw more than $1 billion from realizations, thanks in part to the sale of stakes in Agiloft, Tango Card, Docupace and Egress. The firm said it also deployed a record $1.6 billion in 2024.

“We’ve been able to deploy at rational valuations and shown we can deliver returns consistently throughout various market cycles” since FTV was founded in 1998, FTV Chief Operating Officer Karen Derr Gilbert said. The New York City Employees’ Retirement System is a large investor in FTV funds.

FTV, which last year backed Kore.ai, is bullish on artificial intelligence applications and financial technology companies in the payments and insurance spaces among others, Bernstein said, highlighting FTV’s investments in ParkHub and Arden Insurance Services. The firm is also active in health-care information technology and, in September, backed VALD, which focuses on musculoskeletal assessment and rehabilitation technologies.

FTV, which sold a minority stake in itself to Blackstone Inc. in 2023, opened a London office last year, led by Richard Earnshaw. The UK hub allows FTV to extend its activity in Europe where companies are showing significant interest in bringing their products or services to the US, Bernstein said. “We can be a helpful partner as they think about building their go-to-market strategy,” he added.

Last month, FTV agreed to buy marine intelligence company Windward Ltd. for £216 million ($269 million).

(Adds amount deployed in sixth paragraph. An earlier version of this story was corrected to fix the spelling of Cichowski in third paragraph.)