Kennet Partners is a

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

investment firm that provides

growth capital Growth capital (also called expansion capital and growth equity) is a type of private equity investment, usually a minority investment, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new mark ...

to software, Internet and technology-enabled business services companies in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the US. Kennet Partners is headquartered in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

, and has an office in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The firm raised its fourth fund in 2014, bringing total capital under management to $700 million.

Founding / history

Kennet was founded in 1997 as Kennet Capital, a joint venture between technology investment bank Broadview International and asset management firm Electra Partners. In 2000, Kennet became a wholly owned subsidiary of Broadview. In 2003 the partners of Kennet completed a management buy-out and became independent. Kennet's first fund was primarily targeted at early-stage technology investments in Europe. With its second fund, Kennet began making growth equity investments in both Europe and the U.S., and this has remained the firm’s exclusive strategy to this day.

Funds and investments

Kennet has raised five funds: * 1997 Kennet I LP (£48.3 million) * 2000 Kennet II LP ($204 million) * 2008 Kennet III LP (€201 million) * 2014 Kennet IV LP (€105 million) * 2020 Kennet V LP ($250 million)

Institutional investor An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...

s in the Kennet funds include Access Capital Partners, Adveq, Alpha Associates, BNP Private Equity,

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG is a global investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, it maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world and is one of the nine global " ...

European Investment Fund The European Investment Fund (EIF), established in 1994, is a financial institution for the provision of finance to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), headquartered in Luxembourg. It is part of the European Investment Bank Group. It ...

, LGT Capital Partners and Siemens.

Investments

Since inception, Kennet has invested in 60 companies, of which Kennet's most notable exits include Altitun,

Paragon Software Paragon Software Corporation was an American video game developer based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Founded on December 12, 1985, by Mark E. Seremet and Antony Davies, the company was best known for games developed around licenses from Marv ...

, No Wires Needed,

Cramer Systems Cramer Systems is a British telecommunications firm, founded in 1996 by Jon Craton, Mark Farmer and Don Gibson. The firm developed Operations support systems (OSSs) for the telecommunication industry clients such as Vodafone, KPN Telecom, and ...

, Chipidea, Adviva Media, NetPro, MedeAnalytics, GoViral, FRS Global, Prolexic Technologies, and Schoolwires. Other investments include: * ABA English * Adikteev * Aspective * BuyVIP * Consul Risk Management *

Clearswift Clearswift is an information security company based in the UK. It offers cyber-security services to protect business's data from internal and external threats. The company is owned by Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based HelpSystems. History Clear ...

Conversica Conversica is a US-based cloud software technology company, headquartered in Silicon Valley, (Foster City, California) that provides AI-driven lead engagement software for marketing and sales organizations and a suite of Intelligent Virtual As ...

* Daptiv (fka eProject) * Impartner * Intelepeer (fka VoEX) * Kapow Technologies * Kemp * Monis Software * Orchestream * RealityMine * Receipt Bank *

Recommind Recommind (OpenText Recommind) is a subsidiary of OpenText Corporation that builds and sells software for electronic discovery, information governance, enterprise search and content categorization. History Recommind was founded in 2000 by J ...

* Rivo Software * Rimilia * Sequans Communications * Sermo * Spreadshirt * STS BV * Telemedicine ClinicPrivate Company snapshot
Business Week, September 2006 * ThinkHR * TradingPartners * Ubizen * Volantis Systems

Competitors

Kennet's investment strategy is similar to that of other growth capital investment firms such as

Summit Partners Summit Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm focuses on investing in technology, healthcare, life sciences and other growth industries. Background Summit Partners was founded in 1984 by Roe St ...

TA Associates TA Associates, founded in 1968, is one of the early modern-era private equity firms in the United States. The firm leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies. TA invests across five industry groups: technology, hea ...

and

Insight Venture Partners Insight Partners (previously Insight Venture Partners) is an American venture capital and private equity firm based in New York City. The firm invests in growth-stage technology, software and Internet businesses. History Insight Partners was fo ...

. In Europe, Kennet competes with firms such as

Eight Roads Ventures 8 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 8 or eight may also refer to: Years * AD 8, the eighth year of the AD era * 8 BC, the eighth year before the AD era Art *The Eight (Ashcan School), a group of twentieth century painters associated with the As ...

, Highland Europe, Scottish Equity Partners and the growth equity arm of

Index Ventures Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/ AI, and security. Since its f ...

. Competitors in the U.S. include JMI Equity and Summit Partners' Accelerator Fund.

References

External links

Kennet Partners
company website)
Tornado Insider ProfileThe Funded.com
Kennet Partners profile
PSEPS DirectoryDatamonitor Profile
{{Private equity firms Private equity firms of the United Kingdom Financial services companies based in London