Kennet Partners is a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

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 interest, in relatively mature companies that are looking for capital to expand or restructure operations, enter new markets ...

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

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the US. Kennet Partners is headquartered in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and has an office in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. 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 that 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 ...

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

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

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 Marvel ...

, No Wires Needed,

Cramer Systems Cramer Systems Group Ltd. 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, KP ...

, 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 San Mateo, California, that provides two-way AI-driven conversational software and a suite of Intelligent Virtual Assistants for businesses to engage customers via e ...

* Daptiv (fka eProject) * Impartner * Intelepeer (fka VoEX) * Kapow Technologies * Kemp * Monis Software * Orchestream * RealityMine * Receipt Bank * Recommind * 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 investment 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 E. Roe Stamps ...

TA Associates TA Associates Management, L.P. is an American private equity firm and was 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 acros ...

and

Insight Venture Partners Insight Venture Management, LLC (commonly referred to as Insight Partners and previously Insight Venture Partners) is a global venture capital and private equity firm that invests in high-growth technology, software, and internet businesses. The ...

. In Europe, Kennet competes with firms such as

Eight Roads Ventures 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...

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

Index Ventures Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with headquarters in both San Francisco and London. It invests primarily in tech companies. History Index Ventures has its origins in a Switzerland, Swiss bond (finance), bond-trading firm cal ...

. 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