Top Alts Firms Collect $17bn-Plus in the Last MonthMar19

By Susan Barreto, Alternatives Watch Editor

The latest Alternatives Watch scorecard tracked a fundraising binge of roughly 20 fund closings/launches for the month of February, pointing to a healthy 2020 fundraising environment that was unprecedented in that it was entirely virtual.

The majority of the funds raising a total of $17.3 billion were one of a series and that suggests that most of the activity remained aligned among familiar brand names to institutional investors as well as tried and true strategies in private equity, private debt, venture capital and real estate. 

Combining both manager reported activity, along with investor activity tracked by Alternatives Watch, the inflows to the alternative investment space in February totaled more than $24 billion.

The leading fundraisers were private equity specialists TCV, Arcline Investment Management and Novacap. The focus on technology and its long-term growth potential was on full display.

In the case of TCV, the new fund’s $4 billion in capital made TCV XI the firm’s largest fund to date. The firm attributes the strong momentum to the abundant opportunities coming out of the digital transformation and rapid technology adoption that has been driving headlines. The firm celebrated its 25^th anniversary in 2020. Innovative companies such as Netflix, Airbnb and Peleton are included in TCV’s portfolio company line-up. 

“We are humbled by the ongoing support of new and returning investors, which enabled us to raise a record sized fund,” said Jay Hoag, a founding general partner at TCV. “Just as importantly, we are honored by all the great entrepreneurs we have worked with over the past 25 years, as their vision and relentless execution has been our foundation. We look forward to backing entrepreneurs with our new fund that we believe will become the next generation of iconic companies, in this incredibly fertile technology industry.”

Meanwhile, Arcline is a newer private equity firm and announced its largest single fund raise of $2.75 billion last month, closing its second fund since 2019. Also focused on technology, Arcline invests in defense, aerospace, critical infrastructure services, industrial and medical technology and life sciences. 

 Lastly, Novacap is a TMT-focused offering that drew in $1.9 billion in fresh capital. According to officials at the Montreal-based firm, virtually all the investors from its previous fund vehicle allocated to the latest fund, including sovereign wealth funds, public and corporate pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, family offices and advisory firms. 

Entering into its fifth decade, Novacap has had some big deals as of late including the exit from Nuvei Corporation, which was the largest IPO in history for a Canadian technology company with a current market cap of C$10.3 billion.

Activity has remained brisk for private equity and debt firms going into March, but in the chart below is the full run-down for the month of February.