Pallavi Thatai

Haveli Investments closes debut $4.5bn software buyout fund led by Vista Equity Partners co-founder Brian Sheth. The fund, which closed at its hard cap in March, targets both minority and control stakes in enterprise software businesses. Since its inception, Haveli has pursued an active acquisition strategy. It acquired cybersecurity risk management firm AppViewX, and ZeroFox Holdings, a cybersecurity services provider. The $4.5bn fund signals strong investor appetite for sector-specialist strategies in enterprise software, even as broader fundraising conditions remain mixed across the private equity landscape. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gvqZUACV #PEInsights #privateequity #fundraising #software

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I spoke with Christien Louviere of BDE Capital about his journey from a $330mm exit to becoming an independent sponsor. Christien shared excellent insights for folks looking to partner with business owners, rather than buy sellers out completely. Below are a few of the topics we covered: - Why he moved from “zero-to-one” startups to a buy-then-build strategy - How Christien's background shaped a focus on growth vs. cost-cutting - Why 20–40% rolled equity is central to his deal structures—and how it builds trust with sellers - Using scenario analysis with AI tools to evaluate management teams and uncover hidden key-person risks - How to identify when a $3–5M EBITDA company truly has a middle management layer—or is still founder-reliant For anyone investing in or buying small businesses, Christien’s approach provides a fresh lens on growth, alignment, and deal structuring. 🎥 Watch the full interview here → https://lnkd.in/ekfkaiej 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e86Agx6V

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🔔Announcing the 2025 Vertical SaaS 50!🔔 Today, Avid Ventures, Headline, and Bain Capital Ventures recognize 50 new emerging vertical SaaS companies. 🏭 This year, over a third of the honorees are solving problems in the physical world including Caspian, DocUnlock, and Revenue Vessel in logistics, Complement, DiploAI, and Forgepoint in manufacturing, Ichi in construction, and GridStrong, Lumora, and Strobe Power in electricity/utilities. 📝 As in prior years, several honorees are building in the broader professional service landscape including &AI, Crosby, and PointOne in legal, Mako AI in financial services, and Foundation, Novella, and Strala in insurance. 🩺 Most notably, we've seen an increase in healthcare companies like Charta Health, Ferry Health and RoVR as well as Zoomlogi in pharma, Corner Health and Duet in nurse practioner practices, ExaCare AI in senior care, Onos Health in behavioral health, Grove AI in clinical trials, and Lassie and Rondah AI in dental. If you are building a vertical SaaS company or have recommendations for our 2026 list please reach out - we'd love to hear from you!

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I’ve spoken to over 2 dozen MDs at PE firms I can confidently say that the arb of figuring out how to implement Vertical AI at portfolio companies is very real right now It will fundamentally change underwriting for those who can do it predictably and unlock generational returns. Most are aware they need to act. Very few have.

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Proud to share that Greenfield Partners has led GoodShip’s $25M Series B, combining forces with our friends at Bessemer Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Chicago Ventures, and FUSE! For anyone who has managed freight, the pain is familiar: scattered data, reactive decisions, and too many spreadsheets. GoodShip is building a modern operating system that brings planning, procurement, and performance into one place so transportation teams can act faster with measurable results. By unifying data across systems, teams get real-time visibility and clearer levers. GoodShip is already trusted by the leading enterprise shippers like Tropicana, WK Kellogg, McCain Foods, and KBX Logistics. “The freight industry is moving toward a new operating standard, with GoodShip at the forefront of this shift” says Itay Inbar. “GoodShip is redefining a trillion-dollar industry with a novel approach and rapid AI innovation - unifying procurement and visibility in a platform that’s already proving its value at enterprise scale across the world’s largest shippers.” The team, led by Ryan Soskin and David Tsai, brings deep freight experience and a builder’s mindset, and it shows in every customer conversation. Already, we are hard at work with the GoodShip team in scaling their go-to-market. Our shared goal is straightforward: help more shippers move from reactive decision-making to confident execution. This is the start of an exciting journey ahead. Congratulations to Ryan, David, and the entire GoodShip team—I’m grateful for the partnership and energized for what comes next! Itay Inbar Olivia Levine

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At our first in-person Angular Ventures AGM earlier this month in NYC, Gil Dibner and David Peterson shared their perspective on how venture is evolving — and how the market is now clearly dividing into five distinct swimlanes. Each has its own economics, strategy, and implications for founders. Too many funds are finding themselves "too big but not big enough," while others are stretching beyond their natural stage, blurring swimlanes in ways that don’t always serve founders. "At Angular, we've always been in one swimlane - inception - and we intend to stay there. As we've written recently, Angular III is large enough to lead any appropriate inception round and yet small enough to care deeply about every investment we make. We wouldn’t have it any other way." Gil breaks it all down in the latest The Angle newsletter column. The full column is linked in the comments below.

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Chief has launched publicly with $3.3M in pre-seed funding to transform how growth-stage SaaS companies make decisions. Founded by Bret Larsen and Jon Daniels, and backed by Dundee Venture Capital, Deepwater Asset Management, York IE, Upstream Ventures 上游創投, and others, Chief uses AI-powered agents to turn operational chaos into real-time insight and action. https://lnkd.in/e3vhAxZr #AI #SaaS #PredictiveOps #StartupFunding #OperationalIntelligence #ML #GenAI #B2BTech Mandy Wilkey

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💡Emerging GP Fundraising Insight #8: Rolling Closes Keep You Moving Small funds can't always afford to sit still until the target is hit. Rolling closes let you start deploying earlier, build a track record, and show momentum to prospective LPs. One GP told me that for Fund I ($5M target), he took capital as it came, signed, wired, and got to work. It wasn't perfect, but it kept the lights on and the deals moving. Sometimes the "sign and wire as it comes" approach is the only way to get moving. Takeaway: Momentum is a fundraising asset and rolling closes can help you keep it. Has anyone here used rolling closes as a strategic advantage?

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Never stop learning...., especially from top mentors and organizations... After a few years in PE/VC industry, I signed up for the PE/VC course at University of Chicago, organization that currently has itself over USD 3 billion of investments in private equity and venture capital. The course is led by Scott Meadow, who shares his 40+ years of direct investment experience as a principal investor in firms and partner in PE/VC funds. The program is designed by the The University of Chicago Booth School of Business faculty, including Steven Kaplan, most quoted academic expert on how PE and VC funds work, and the author of the Kaplan-Schoar Index (see link in comments), used now as an industry standard, and reported by Preqin and others. The program brings together leaders from around the world, current and future start-up founders, PE/VC professionals, hedge funds and family office managers, and corporate officers acting as LP's. Every time I come to Chicago, I search for newest trends, deep understanding of business issues, but also for energy and inspiration coming from discussions with peers.

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