Latest news with #Recognize
Entrepreneur
a day ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Recognize Closes USD 1.7 Bn Fund to Accelerate Growth of Digital Services Firms
In the past six months, Recognize has made four major investments: SDG Corporation (cybersecurity), Sprout (digital infrastructure), TRANZACT (insurance services), and HealthEdge (SaaS for healthcare payers). You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Recognize, a leading investor and builder of next-generation Digital Services companies, has announced the successful final close of its second fund, Recognize Partners II/II-A, L.P. ("Recognize II"), securing over USD 1.7 billion in commitments. The fund, which closed in under five months, was oversubscribed and hit its hard cap, demonstrating strong demand from both existing limited partners (LPs) and new blue-chip investors. Founded by industry veterans Francisco D'Souza, Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, Recognize has rapidly positioned itself as a trusted partner for innovative digital companies. The firm focuses on high-growth businesses that use AI, software, and digital platforms to deliver transformative outcomes for enterprises. Recognize II will continue the firm's strategy of investing in companies with enterprise values between USD 50 million and USD 500 million. The firm emphasises a hands-on, partnership-driven approach to value creation, aiming to help businesses scale efficiently and strategically. The new fund attracted participation from a global base of institutional investors, including endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, and family offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Recognize itself also made a significant general partner (GP) commitment to the fund. In the past six months, Recognize has made four major investments: SDG Corporation (cybersecurity), Sprout (digital infrastructure), TRANZACT (insurance services), and HealthEdge (SaaS for healthcare payers). The firm also executed notable exits, including the sale of AST to IBM, a partial exit of 2X through a strategic investment by Insight Partners, and the sale of Torc, an AI-powered talent platform, to a subsidiary of Randstad. "We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of our partners," said Debbie Park Munfa, Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Recognize. "We remain focused on building Digital Services businesses for the future and partnering with excellent management teams to deliver long-term value for our investors." Recognize was advised by Rede Partners Americas LLC, with Goodwin Procter LLP serving as legal and tax counsel.
Economic Times
a day ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Cognizant's former CEO's investment firm Recognize raises $1.7 billion in second fund
Recognize Partners, a technology services-focused private equity firm co-founded by seasoned industry leaders including Francisco D'Souza former chief of IT firm Cognizant, has raised over $1.7 billion (around 14,580 crore) in its second fund to invest in next-generation digital services. With Recognize II, the firm will continue to look at investing and picking up majority stake in companies with enterprise values between approximately $50 million and $500 million, when companies start needing growth capital. The cheque sizes of each investment would be similar to the previous fund with average ticket size of around $100 million or a little bigger, D'Souza told ET in an interaction. The capital was raised from existing and new investors or the limited partners (LPs) which include endowments, foundations, pension funds, insurers, family offices, outsourced chief investment officers (CIOs) and fund-of-funds. In this fund, investors were beyond the US, across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, D'Souza added. In 2022, Recognize had raised $1.3 billion for its inaugural fund and has made 13 investments so far with one more likely going forward to fully deploy the fund. The New York-based investment firm was co-founded by managing partners D'Souza, Charles Phillips – former president of Oracle, and David Wasserman – former partner at investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and banker with Goldman Sachs. According to D'Souza, 'The core thesis remains intact which is we want to build the next generation of digital services…AI is disrupting the IT services or the digital services landscape quite significantly. We think that the future of IT services is companies that embed proprietary IP (intellectual property), artificial intelligence, automation, platforms, and we think that those companies will lead this change in IT services.'He believes there is a shift happening in the technology services space. 'But I think it is accelerating from let's call it labor-intensive models to IP and intelligence-enabled models and we think that's a fairly fundamental reset in the industry. And we're investing in companies that are not just adapting to that trend but are really leading that trend and architecting the future.'D'Souza estimates the total IT and digital services market opportunity continuing to be about a $1 trillion market. 'If you include the tech-enabled business processes, historically what you would have called the BPO (business process outsourcing), that's probably another trillion dollars give or take. So, $2 trillion market. My estimate would be that one third of these are publicly traded and the rest are private.'Over the last six months, Recognize made four new platform investments - SDG Corporation in cybersecurity services, Sprout in digital infrastructure services, TRANZACT in the insurance services space – all from the first fund while HealthEdge – a software-as-a-service (SaaS) player in healthcare – from the newly launched fund the first fund, Recognize has completed two full exits with AI-based talent platform Torc being sold to Randstad while AST being sold to IBM earlier this year. It also made a partial exit of 2X through a strategic investment by another investment firm Insight Partners.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Investment firm Recognize raises $1.7 bn for second digital services fund
Former Cognizant CEO Francisco D'Souza's technology investment firm Recognize has announced the final close of its second fund with $1.7 billion in total commitments. This fund comes on the heels of its first fund, which raised $1.3 billion in 2022. Co-founded by Managing Partners Francisco D'Souza, Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, Recognize II continues to focus on investing in companies with enterprise values between approximately $50 million and $500 million. The firm believes companies at this stage offer strong potential for accelerated growth with the support of Recognize's partnership-driven value creation approach. 'We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of our partners,' said Debbie Park Munfa, Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Recognize. 'We remain focused on building digital services businesses for the future and partnering with excellent management teams to deliver long-term value for our investors.' Recognize II was oversubscribed and closed in less than five months from launch, with strong support from existing investors, including a significant GP commitment, and a curated group of new investors. The LP base includes leading global institutions such as endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, family offices, outsourced CIOs and fund-of-funds across the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Over the last six months, Recognize has made four new platform investments: SDG Corporation (cybersecurity services), Sprout (digital infrastructure services), TRANZACT (insurance services), and HealthEdge (SaaS for healthcare payers). The firm also completed two realisation events earlier this year: the exit of AST, sold to IBM (NYSE:IBM), and a partial exit of 2X through a strategic investment by Insight Partners. In 2024, Recognize also sold Torc, an AI-powered talent platform, to a subsidiary of Randstad (AMS:RAND). These realisations, in Recognize's view, further reinforce the firm's thesis that next-generation digital services firms are increasingly attractive to strategic buyers.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Recognize partners fund II closes at $1.7 billion
BENGALURU: Technology investment firm Recognize on Monday announced the final close of its second fund- Recognize Partners II/II-A with over $1.7 billion in total commitments. With Recognize II, the firm continues to focus on investing in companies with enterprise values between approximately $50 million and $500 million. Co-founded by Managing Partners Francisco D'Souza, Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, Recognize has established itself as a notable investor-operator. In January this year, the private equity firm Recognize made a majority investment in IT asset disposition (ITAD) provider Sprout. Recognize II was oversubscribed and closed less than five months from launch. The LP (Limited Partners) base includes global institutions such as endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, family offices, outsourced CIOs and fund-of-funds across the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Private Equity firm Recognize closes its second fund with a commitment of $1.7 billion
Recognize, a New York-based Private Equity (PE) firm which invests in next-generation digital services companies, has on Friday (June 27, 2025) announced the closure of its second fund, Recognize II, with over $1.7 billion in total commitments. Co-founded by Managing Partners Francisco D'Souza (also co-founder and former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant Technologies), Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, Recognize had raised $1.3 billion in January 2022 under its first fund. With Recognize II, the firm would continue to focus on investing in companies with enterprise values between approximately $50 million and $500 million – businesses that Recognize believes offer strong potential for accelerated growth with the support of Recognize's partnership-driven value creation approach, the PE firm said. Recognize II was oversubscribed and closed less than five months from launch, with strong support from existing investors, including a significant GP commitment, and a curated group of new investors, it claimed. The LP base included leading global institutions, such as endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, family offices, outsourced CIOs, and fund-of-funds, across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America, it added. Over the last six months, Recognize has made four new platform investments: SDG Corporation (cybersecurity services), Sprout (Digital Infrastructure Services), TRANZACT (insurance services), and HealthEdge (SaaS for healthcare payers). The firm also completed two realisation events earlier this year: the exit of AST, sold to IBM, and a partial exit of 2X through a strategic investment by Insight Partners. In 2024, Recognize also sold Torc, an AI-powered talent platform, to a subsidiary of Randstad. These realisations, the firm said, further reinforced its thesis that next-generation Digital Services firms were increasingly attractive to strategic buyers. 'We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of our partners,' said Debbie Park Munfa, Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Recognize. 'We remain focused on building Digital Services businesses for the future and partnering with excellent management teams to deliver long-term value for our investors.'
