Great Hill Partners has held a final close of Great Hill Equity Partners VIII LP with total capital commitments of $4.65 billion.
Fundraising for Fund VIII began in September 2021, and the fund was significantly oversubscribed with demand exceeding the original $3.5 billion target. Great Hill’s earlier fund, Great Hill Equity Partners VII LP, closed in July 2019 at its hard cap with $2.5 billion of limited partner commitments.
Limited partners in Fund VIII – many of whom have invested in prior Great Hill Partners funds – include a mix of United States and international investors, including public and private pensions, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, insurance companies, healthcare systems, institutional fund managers, family offices, and high net worth individuals.
Great Hill makes majority and minority investments of $25 million to $500 million in companies that have enterprise values of less than $1 billion. Sectors of interest include business-to-business and business-to-consumer software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors.
In November 2021, Great Hill invested in Prodege, a Los Angeles-headquartered provider of marketing, data, and analytic services to consumer brands and marketing agencies that are used to increase customer acquisition, engagement, brand loyalty and revenue. Just yesterday, Prodege announced the add-on acquisition of Pollfish, a New York City-based provider of mobile-first consumer survey services.
“We’re very pleased to announce the completion of our largest-ever fundraise, which will enable us to build on our strong momentum in a very compelling investment landscape,” said Great Hill managing directors Christopher Gaffney, Michael Kumin, Mark Taber, and Matthew Vettel in a released statement. “The successful raising of this fund is a testament to the talent and efforts of the entire Great Hill team as well as the execution and strong performance of the exceptional management teams and innovative companies in our portfolio. We are grateful for the support and trust that both returning and new limited partners have placed in us and look forward to deploying this new capital to back promising growth-stage companies and generate value for our limited partners.”
In November 2021, publicly traded private equity firm Blackstone (NYSE:BX), through its Blackstone GP Stakes strategy, acquired a minority ownership interest in Great Hill Partners.
Boston-headquartered Great Hill has now raised over $12 billion in commitments and invested in more than 90 companies since its founding in 1998.
© 2022 Private Equity Professional | February 3, 2022
