MSP Software and Cybersecurity Investor Summit Partners Raises $8.35B -

Summit Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm that frequently acquires and/or invests in MSP software and cybersecurity companies, has raised $8.35 billion for its Growth Equity Fund XI. The figure exceeds Summit Partners' original target raise by more than $1 billion.

The new fund will target minority and majority investments of $75 million to $500 million primarily in profitable, category-leading growth companies, Summit Partners indicated. Key target sectors, spanning the United States and Europe, include technology, healthcare, financial technology and services, consumer and e-commerce, and business services.

Summit Partners: MSP Software, Automation and Cybersecurity Investment History

Peter Chung, Summit Partners — Peter Chung, CEO, Summit Partners

Summit Partners is a well-known private equity and venture capital investor in the MSP, MSSP and MDR (managed detection and response) software markets. Key moves have included:

2020: Summit Partners invested in Appway, a provider of business process automation software in the financial services vertical market.
2020: Summit Partners invested in NinjaRMM, a software provider that now offers RMM (remote monitoring and management), cloud backup and disaster recovery (BDR), and ticketing software to MSPs and corporate IT departments.
2019: Summit Partners invested in Red Canary, an MSSP and MDR (managed detection and response) solutions provider.
2017: Summit Partners acquired Jamf, the Apple device management software specialist.
2011: Summit Partners acquired software, technology and NOC (network operations center) assets that became Continuum Managed Services. Thoma Bravo then acquired Continuum in 2017, and merged the business into ConnectWise in 2019.

Still, Summit Partners will face venture capital and private equity competition if it pursues additional MSP software and cybersecurity market opportunities. For instance, Thoma Bravo is preparing a new fund, and Vista Equity continues to pursue SaaS software investments and acquisitions.

Existing Thoma Bravo investments include Barracuda, ConnectWise, N-able, Proofpoint and Sophos, among many others. Vista Equity already has key investments in Datto and LogicMonitor, among others.

Summit Partners Growth Equity Fund XI: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the new fund, Summit Partners CEO Peter Chung said:

“With the closing of our latest fund, we will continue to pursue our growth equity strategy, serving as the partner of choice for category-leading growth companies and exceptional entrepreneurs within our sectors of focus. We are deeply grateful for the longstanding support of our limited partners and for their trust and confidence in our team and our strategy."

Summit Partners, funded in 1984, to date has raised more than $43 billion in capital across its growth equity, fixed income and public equity strategies.