Vista Equity Partners Management, LLC is an American

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

that invests in software, data, and technology-enabled businesses. It is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, managing over $100 billion in assets. Vista Equity Partners has invested in hundreds of technology companies, including

Citrix Citrix Systems, Inc. is an American multinational cloud computing and virtualization technology company that provides server, application and desktop virtualization, networking, software as a service (SaaS), and cloud computing technologies. C ...

, SentinelOne, and

Marketo Marketo, Inc. is an American software company, with its headquarters in San Mateo, California. Marketo develops and sells marketing automation software for account-based marketing and other marketing services and products, including SEO and cont ...

. The company has offices in several cities, including

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, and

San Francisco 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 ...

History

2000–2009

Vista Equity Partners was founded in 2000 by American businessman Robert F. Smith, who is chairman and CEO. Vista opened its first office in San Francisco in 2000. In November 2008, the company closed a funding round for its first institutional fund with a total of $1.3 billion raised.

2010–2019

In 2010, Brian N. Sheth was promoted to president and awarded the title of co-founder of the firm. He remained in this role until his departure in 2020. In 2011, the company opened an office in Austin, Texas. Over the years, Vista has added several

private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. ...

s and credit funds to its portfolio, including its first fund, the Vista Credit Opportunities Fund, which raised $196 million. During that time, Vista opened several funds that specifically targeted middle-market companies and

emerging technology Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized. These technologies are generally new but also include old technologies finding new applications. Emerging technologies are o ...

companies. The company also has a permanent capital investment fund, Vista Equity Partners Perennial, which focuses on growing vertical market software companies. In September 2019, Vista Equity Partners raised $16 billion for their flagship fund, which was the largest technology-focused fund raised by an independent private equity firm at the time. In June 2024, Vista Equity Partners was ranked 14th in

Private Equity International ''Private Equity International'' (PEI) is a global insight, analysis and data provider for the private equity industry, with a core focus on the relationship between investors and fund managers: the LP- GP nexus. Launched in December 2001, the t ...

's PEI 300 ranking of the largest private equity firms in the world.

2020–present

As of May 2020, Vista had more than $57 billion in

capital commitment Future liability for capital expenditure in respect of which contract have been made. A Capital Commitment, Committed Capital or simply Commitment, is the agreed capital a General Partner can request (or draw down) from a Limited Partner. Whe ...

s. In 2020, Vista joined

Diligent Corporation Diligent Corporation is a software as a service company that enables groups to share and collaborate information for board meetings. Headquartered in New York City, and incorporated in Delaware, the company has offices in Galway, Ireland; London, ...

's modern leadership initiative and pledged to create five new board roles among its portfolio companies for racially diverse candidates. As of June 2021, Vista had more than $81 billion in

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

. In August 2021, its chief operating officer David Breach was announced as president of Vista, the previous incumbent, Brian N. Sheth, a Vista co-founder, resigning in 2020 following the criminal tax investigation of CEO Smith. In January 2022, it was announced that Citrix Systems had been acquired in a $16.5 billion deal by affiliates of Vista and Evergreen Coast Capital. The all-cash acquisition will see Citrix merge with TIBCO, a Vista portfolio company. In August 2022, Vista agreed to acquire tax automation software platform maker Avalara, Inc. for $8.4 billion including debt. As of August 2023, Vista Equity Partners had over $100 billion in assets under management. In October 2023, Vista, along with Blackstone acquired Energy Exemplar, an Australian energy software company for approximately $1.6 billion. Also in 2023, Vista was named Global Technology Private Equity Firm of the Year by Private Equity International. In June 2024, Vista Equity Partners was ranked 14th in Private Equity International's PEI 300 ranking of the largest private equity firms in the world.

Executive tax evasion

In October 2020, Vista's CEO Robert F. Smith and investor Robert T. Brockman were named in a tax evasion case. That month, Smith signed a non-prosecution agreement with the IRS, agreeing to pay $139 million and testify against Brockman.

References

External links

* {{Largest private equity firms Financial services companies established in 2000 Companies based in San Francisco Private equity firms of the United States American companies established in 2000