NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FTV Capital, a leading sector-focused growth equity investment firm, today announced its inclusion for the fourth consecutive year on Inc.’s annual Founder-Friendly Investors list, which honors the private equity, venture capital firms and lenders with a track record of backing founder-led companies. This year’s list recognizes 269 firms that believe in backing founder-led businesses and helping them thrive, demonstrated by their successful track records of collaboration and remaining actively involved with their portfolio companies to drive growth.
“We are honored to be recognized again by Inc. for our ongoing commitment to serving as a collaborative, strategic partner to founders and entrepreneurs on their growth journeys,” said Brad Bernstein, managing partner at FTV Capital. “We’ve always focused on cultivating long-term relationships with management teams, offering not just flexible capital but the expertise, connections and resources necessary to achieve their business objectives. In a year of several significant exits, notable new investments and continued healthy growth across our portfolio, this award underscores the value and efficacy of our distinctive approach to supporting innovative companies and accelerating their success.”
This announcement comes during a strong year for FTV with over $900 million in realizations, including significant recapitalizations of Agiloft and Docupace and the sales of Egress to KnowBe4 and Tango to Blackhawk Network. Additionally, FTV has deployed more than $650 million, expanding its portfolio with five new investments in the enterprise and financial technology sectors: BillingPlatform, Kore.ai, ParkHub, VALD and ZEMA. In June, FTV announced its international expansion with the opening of a London office and appointment of Richard Earnshaw as partner to lead the new office. In addition, FTV was recognized as the #6 top-performing growth equity firm globally in the HEC Paris-Dow Jones Growth Capital Performance Ranking, validating the firm’s differentiated growth equity model and partnerships with leading entrepreneurs worldwide.
"What made FTV special was that they felt and acted like an extension of our team. When we needed help or guidance on key issues in the business, we engaged FTV, and they dove in with us immediately. This kind of partnership is unique in the investor community," said David Leeds, CEO and founder of Tango. “FTV was also unique in their level of industry knowledge and prior experience in our space. Tango grew 800 percent following FTV's investment and ultimately achieved a great exit earlier this year; the FTV team played a vital role in that growth and exit.”
FTV delivers value to its portfolio companies beyond its investment mandate. The firm’s expansive Global Partner NetworkⓇ, which comprises over 500 executives from over 150 leading financial services institutions and Fortune 500 enterprises, provides critical market intelligence and commercial opportunities to FTV portfolio companies. Additionally, FTV PropelⓇ the firm’s dedicated team of operational specialists spanning talent, business development, sales, go-to-market, marketing, finance and technology, focuses solely on delivering strategic value and operational guidance to FTV portfolio companies to catalyze their growth. Earlier this month, FTV also announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with One Mind at Work, a global nonprofit focused on advancing workplace mental health, which will provide FTV portfolio companies with comprehensive access to leading mental health and wellbeing programs.
“It has been a complicated few years for growth companies and the companies that fund them,” said Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. “So, we are happy to share with our readers the best, latest guidance on which venture capital firms, private equity firms and growth-capital lenders have the track record and reputation of being especially good partners to founders and CEOs.”
To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital and debt firms and shared data on how their portfolio companies have grown during these partnerships.
Introduced in 2019, the Founder-Friendly Investors list quickly established itself as one of Inc.’s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining an ownership stake.
To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2024.
About FTV Capital
FTV Capital is a sector-focused growth equity investment firm that has raised over $6.2 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in two sectors: enterprise technology and services and financial technology and services. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network®, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in over 140 portfolio companies since its inception including EBANX, LoanPro, Luma, Neptune, ReliaQuest and True Potential, and successfully exited/partially exited companies including CardConnect (acquired by First Data), Centaur (acquired by Waystone Group), Enfusion (NYSE: ENFN), Globant (NYSE: GLOB), InvestCloud (recapitalized), Strata Fund Solutions (acquired by Alter Domus), VPay (acquired by Optum) and WorldFirst (acquired by Ant Financial). FTV has offices in San Francisco, New York, Connecticut and London. For more information, please visit www.ftvcapital.com and follow the firm on LinkedIn.
About Inc.
The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
Disclosures
The portfolio companies identified and described herein do not represent all of the portfolio companies purchased, sold or recommended for funds advised by FTV Capital. The reader should not assume that an investment in the portfolio companies identified was or will be profitable. For a list of all of our portfolio companies, please visit our website. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Like all entrants, FTV Capital paid a fee to be considered for this award. This award is not to be construed as indicative of FTV Capital’s future performance. Reference to an award is only one piece of information relevant to an evaluation of an investment adviser such as FTV Capital. Finally, this award represents information as of a specific date and time and may not reflect important information related to an evaluation of the investment adviser, which has occurred prior to, or subsequent to, the award. Statements by David Leeds are endorsements made by executives of current and former portfolio companies in which certain FTV Capital funds have invested. This press release is not a solicitation of an offer to purchase securities and may not be relied upon in connection with the purchase or sale of any security. Interests in funds managed by FTV Capital, if offered, will only be made pursuant to a confidential offering memorandum and subscription documents.
