Kennet Partners

Kennet Partners
Limited company
Industry Private Equity
Founded 1997
Headquarters London, England, United Kingdom
Foster City, California, United States
Key people
 Michael Elias, David Carratt, Javier Rojas
Products Private equity funds
Total assets $600 million
Number of employees
 15
Website www.kennet.com

Kennet Partners is a private equity investment firm that provides growth capital to information technology, Internet and business services companies in Europe and the US.

Kennet Partners is headquartered in London, England, and has an office in Foster City, California. The firm raised its third fund in 2008 with €201 million, bringing total capital under management to over $600 million.[1]

Founding / history

Kennet was founded in 1997 as Kennet Capital, a joint venture between technology investment bank Broadview International and asset management firm Electra Partners. In 2000, Kennet became a wholly owned subsidiary of Broadview. Following the downturn in the global technology markets, the partners of Kennet completed a management buy-out and became independent in April 2003.[2]

Kennet's first fund was primarily targeted at early-stage technology investments in Europe. With its second fund, Kennet began making growth equity investments in both Europe and the U.S., and today the firm focuses exclusively on providing growth capital.

Funds and investments

From founding in 1997 to June 2008, Kennet has raised three funds:

Institutional investors in the Kennet III fund include Access Capital Partners, Adveq, Alpha Associates, BNP Private Equity, Credit Suisse, European Investment Fund, LGT Capital Partners and Siemens.[1]

Investments

Kennet is often the first institutional investor in a company and invests in founders that have bootstrapped their companies to $10 million or more in annual sales. Although Kennet focuses primarily on expansion capital, the firm also purchases shares from founders or earlier investors in certain cases.

Since inception, Kennet has invested in over 35 companies,[4] of which, Kennet's most notable exits include Altitun,[5] Paragon Software,[6][7] No Wires Needed,[8] Cramer Systems,[9] Chipidea[10][11] and Adviva Media[12][13]

Other investments include:

A more detailed list of their investments can be found on Crunchbase.[32]

Competitors

Kennet's investment strategy is similar to that of other growth capital investment firms such as Summit Partners, TA Associates and Insight Venture Partners. In Europe, Kennet competes with firms such as Fidelity Ventures, Atlas Venture, Wellington Partners and the growth equity arm of Index Ventures. Competitors in the U.S. include JMI Equity and Summit Partners' Accelerator Fund.

References

  1. 1 2 "Kennet closes third fund on €200m" AltAssets, July 24, 2008
  2. ↑ UK Kennet Venture Partners spins out from Broadview AltAssets, 31 March 2003
  3. ↑ Kennet Partners (Tornado Insider profile)
  4. ↑ Company website:portfolio
  5. ↑ Record Exit for Kennet eFinancial News, 22 May 2000.
  6. ↑ 3i and Kennet sell Paragon of Virtue European Venture Capital Journal, 1 March 2000.
  7. ↑ Phone.com acquires Paragon Software Mobile Info, 11 February 2000.
  8. ↑ Intersil to acquire No Wires Needed EE Times, 27 April 2000.
  9. ↑ Amdocs acquires Cramer Systems for $375 million Telephony Online, 18 July 2006
  10. ↑ Kennet website: Chipidea case study
  11. ↑ MIPS buys Chipidea Silicon Tap, 27 August 2007.
  12. ↑ Specific Media's Adviva Buy Aimed at Behavioral Growth in UK ClickZ, 13 March 2008.
  13. ↑ Specific Media acquires UK-based Adviva Tech news blog - CNET New.com, 12 March 2008.
  14. ↑ Interview with FD Mike Banwell, Aspective Limited TWST.com, 19 January 2004.
  15. ↑ A Q&A with Jon Craton, Founder, Cramer Systems Sandhill.com, 14 August 2008.
  16. ↑ eProject becomes Daptiv VentureBeat, 12 November 2007.
  17. ↑ Bob's Guide FRSglobal profile
  18. ↑ Kennet website: MedeFinance case study
  19. ↑ Kennet invests €16 million in Next Performance Kennet.com, 31 May 2011
  20. ↑ NTRglobal garners €22m The Chilli.com, 19 June 2008.
  21. ↑ $34m VC round for Spanish SaaS Venture Phil Wainewright: Software as Services, 30 June 2008.
  22. ↑ Prolexic Technologies closes $13.9 million in growth funding, led by Kennet Partners Kennet.com, 28 March 2011
  23. ↑ "Recommind raises $7.5M for eDiscovery 2.0", VentureBeat, 8 October 2008.
  24. ↑ Sequans extends mobile WiMAX chip series EETimes.com, 20 May 2008.
  25. ↑ Dutch Wireless Audio Startup Raises First Round alarm:clock euro, 13 August 2007.
  26. ↑ Private Company snapshot Business Week, September 2006
  27. ↑ Mobile app marketing platform Trademob raises $15 million in series B funding led by Kennet Partners Kennet.com, 7 November 2012
  28. ↑ Kennet invests $25 million in WorldOne Kennet.com, 8 September 2011
  29. ↑ Partners announces $16 Million investment in AVA.ai
  30. ↑
  31. ↑
  32. ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/kennet-venture-partners/investments

Further reading

External links

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