Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public. In the field of finance, private equity is offered instead to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the companies. In casual usage, "private equity" can refer to these investment firms, rather than the companies in which they invest.
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and often come from high technology industries such as information technology (IT) or biotechnology.
Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.
CVC Capital Partners plc is a Jersey-based private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately €186 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, European, and Asian private equity, secondaries, credit funds and infrastructure. As of 31 December 2021, the funds managed or advised by CVC are invested in more than 100 companies worldwide, employing over 450,000 people in numerous countries. CVC was founded in 1981 and, as of 31 March 2022, has over 850 employees working across its network of 25 offices throughout EMEA, Asia and the Americas.
In finance, the private-equity secondary market refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private-equity and other alternative investment funds. Given the absence of established trading markets for these interests, the transfer of interests in private-equity funds as well as hedge funds can be more complex and labor-intensive.
Khosla Ventures is a private American venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. It was founded by entrepreneur Vinod Khosla in 2004.
An angel investor is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Angel investors often provide support to startups at a very early stage, once or in a consecutive manner, and when most investors are not prepared to back them. In a survey of 150 founders conducted by Wilbur Labs, about 70% of entrepreneurs will face potential business failure, and nearly 66% will face this potential failure within 25 months of launching their company. A small but increasing number of angel investors invest online through equity crowdfunding or organize themselves into angel groups or angel networks to share investment capital and provide advice to their portfolio companies. The number of angel investors has greatly increased since the mid-20th century.
The history of private equity, venture capital, and the development of these asset classes has occurred through a series of boom-and-bust cycles since the middle of the 20th century. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital experienced growth along parallel, although interrelated tracks.
Arcapita founded in 1997, is an asset management firm. Headquartered in Manama, Bahrain, Arcapita also operates from its offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. The firm serves a group of investors in the Middle East region including investment firms, family offices, high net-worth individuals, and sovereign wealth funds. Arcapita completed over 100 investments in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia for a total transaction value exceeding $30 billion. The board of directors contain nine members, mainly from the Gulf Cooperation Council. Members are chairs, previous chairpersons, or current Chief Executive Officers of sovereign wealth funds, regional investment firms or global financial services firms.
Francisco Partners Management, L.P., doing business as Francisco Partners, is an American private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in technology and technology-enabled services businesses. It was founded in August 1999 and based in San Francisco with offices in London and New York City.
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focusing on seed stage, early stage investments and growth stage investments in the enterprise, fintech, consumer and healthcare sectors. Lightspeed has eleven offices globally and as of 2023 had approximately US$25 billion in assets under management.
Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.
Qualtrics is an American experience management company, with co-headquarters in Seattle, Washington, and Provo, Utah, in the United States. The company was founded in 2002 by Scott M. Smith, Ryan Smith, Jared Smith, and Stuart Orgill.
Global Infrastructure Partners, LLC (GIP) is an American infrastructure investment fund making equity and selected debt investments across markets worldwide. GIP's main headquarters are located in New York City and its equity investments are based on infrastructure assets in the energy, transport and water & waste sectors. GIP employs approximately 150 investment and operational professionals and has offices in New York, London, Stamford, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore and Hong Kong. In total as of 2023, its portfolio companies employ approximately 100,000 people, according to the company website. BlackRock acquired the company in 2024.
Highbridge Capital Management, LLC is a multi-strategy alternative investment management firm founded by Glenn Dubin and Henry Swieca in 1992. In 2004, it was purchased by JPMorgan Chase; as of 2019, it had about $3.9 billion in assets under management, out of $150 billion in JPMorgan's global alternatives division.
Samena Capital is an Asia, India and MENA-focused alternative investments group, co-established in 2008 by Shirish Saraf and key partners from a cross section of industries and regions. This name was chosen due to the markets that Samena invests in. These are the Indian Subcontinent, Asia, Middle East and North Africa – a region collectively known as SAMENA. Also in ancient Buddhist script, Samena means "together" or "collective", which reflects the collective investment model the company is based on. The company and its subsidiaries employ 26 people in 3 locations worldwide, and has 48 shareholders.
Highfields Capital Management LP is a hedge fund founded in 1998 which had assets of $12.1 billion in 2018. The annualized net returns during the firm's first 20 years were more than 10%.
Sapphire Ventures is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Austin, and London. The firm is considered one of the world's premier venture capital firms.
CDH Investments is a major Chinese alternative asset management firm based in Beijing, China. It specializes in private equity, venture capital and credit products. CDH invests across a range of sectors and regions. As of March 2015, CDH manages over RMB 100 billion of investor capital across its various investment platforms.
Ospraie Management, LLC is a New York City-based investment management firm that invests in commodities and basic industries worldwide across public and private markets. The company, through its venture arm, makes agriculture-focused investments that seek to reduce environmental impact.
