Hughes & Company has closed its first private equity fund, Hughes Growth Equity Fund I LP, at $116 million, beating its target of $100 million.
Hughes & Company specializes in lower-middle-market healthcare software and technology-enabled services companies. The firm typically invests from $5 million to $20 million per platform and its transaction types include minority and majority control transactions, growth equity, leveraged buyouts, spin-outs, and strategic combinations.
“In today’s environment, companies can raise money, which tends to be the easier part of the equation. Building successful, enduring businesses is much more difficult,” said Travis Hughes, the founder and a managing partner of Hughes. “We intentionally designed our firm’s investment strategy around a smaller pool of committed capital to stay hyper-focused on helping companies eliminate their constraints and maximize growth. We are pleased to have the support of a group of leading institutional investors including several sophisticated family offices, pension funds and insurance companies.”
The investment team at Hughes is comprised of healthcare industry experts, operators and thought leaders and includes, in addition to Mr. Hughes, managing partners James Denny Jr., Ken Manning, and Matthew Simas; partners Naile Kovuk, Mark Regal, and Rytas Vygantas; and associate Chip Locke.
“Our first priority, always, is to support our portfolio companies,” said Mr. Denny. “Having built and sold many companies, our entrepreneurial team fully appreciates the highs and lows of growth. It is that mindset that helps us to accelerate growth and unlock value with our partners.”
Hughes completed its first investment for Fund I in December 2020 with an investment in Azara Healthcare, a provider of population health management software that is used to improve health outcomes of individuals and populations while also improving efficiencies and reducing costs. Hughes’ investment facilitated the merger of Azara Healthcare and the population health division of SPH Analytics. Azara is headquartered northwest of Boston in Burlington, Massachusetts.
In 2021, Hughes exited its last two pre-fund portfolio companies with the sale of iN2L (It’s Never 2 Late), a Colorado-based provider of touch screen systems and software that supports social interaction, cognitive and physical exercise and therapy at nursing homes, independent living communities, and adult day programs. Hughes, Vista Equity Partners, and Chicago Pacific Founders acquired iN2L in January 2015 and Hughes sold its equity interest in the business to Vista in March 2021.
The second exit was the sale of Aperture Health, a Kentucky-headquartered provider of healthcare credentialing management services that improve provider data, build and manage provider networks, and publish and maintain provider directories. In June 2021, Hughes sold its interest in Aperture Health to Stone Point Capital as part of its acquisition and combination of Aperture with Verisys Corporation. Hughes and Concentric Equity Partners acquired Aperture Health from OptumInsight in August 2014.
Hughes & Company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Chicago.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | August 4, 2021
