Francisco Partners (FP), an investment firm that partners with technology businesses, has signed a deal with SAP America Inc to acquire SAP Litmos (Litmos), a specialist in the learning management system market. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is subject to customary regulatory clearances. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Since its launch over 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has invested in over 400 technology companies, making it one of the most active and long-standing investors in the technology industry. Francisco Partners has experience in the education and human capital technology

FPE Capital (FPE), a software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, has led a growth investment in Global App Testing, a global web and app testing platform to the software development community. This marks the third investment from FPE Fund III, the successful final close of which was announced in May at a raised hard cap of £185 million. The investment from FPE will back the founders Ronald Cummings-John and Owais Peer and their management team as they accelerate the Company’s existing strong growth on the back of earlier stage investment.   Global App Testing was founded in 2013

Private investment firm Orangewood Partners has exited its investment in George Industries, a designer and manufacturer of mission-critical and highly engineered components for the defence, aerospace, and industrial sectors. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Under Orangewood’s ownership, George saw meaningful improvement in its performance by executing strategic M&A, recruiting a highly experienced management team to strengthen operations, expanding customer relationships, and enhancing its product offerings.   Affiliates of Orangewood acquired George in 2016 in partnership with the founding family who previously owned and operated George for more than 60 years.  

HiBob, the company behind HR platform Bob, has raised an additional $150 million in growth funding, just ten months after raising a $150 million Series C in October 2021.  Led by General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, and with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and other insiders, HiBob’s Series D round takes the company’s valuation to $2.45 billion and total funding to $424 million since inception. This latest growth investment is intended to support HiBob in capitalising on its market leadership as the company continues to execute on key business priorities in the current market environment.  The latest round

Earth Capital Limited (ECL), a UK growth equity impact investor, has launched a new company, Sustainable Energy Holdings Limited (SEHL), formed through a merger of four of its portfolio companies, all low-carbon bioenergy generation assets: Eccleshall Biomass, Limelight Energy, Black Dog Biogas and Bright Light Energy Ltd. These UK-based biomass-fuelled renewable energy plants will now benefit from a single dedicated management team which will focus on operational performance, and a consolidation of financial and commercial functions. Together, these facilities will generate 3.89 MW of base load renewable energy, enough to power 9,000 homes and will avoid the emission of 5,000

Global law firm Dentons has appointed partners Rob Irving and Kuif Klein Wassink as co-heads of the Europe Corporate and M&A practice group. They will be responsible for leading the firm’s corporate and M&A group across Europe and Central Asia and for further developing the market profile and client base of the practice.  In addition, partners Piotr Dulewicz and Olivia Guéguen have been named Europe Co-heads of Private Equity and Venture Capital sector group.  They will be responsible for enhancing the Firm’s offering and client relationships in the private equity sector.   Irving is an M&A and private equity partner with

Thoma Bravo has completed its acquisition of SailPoint Technologies Holdings, a specialist in enterprise identity security, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6.9 billion.  The agreement to be acquired was previously announced on 11 April, 2022 and approved by SailPoint stockholders at the Special Meeting of Stockholders held on 30 June, 2022. SailPoint stockholders are receiving $65.25 in cash for each share of the common stock they owned. SailPoint’s common stock has ceased trading and will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

KKR has completed the acquisition of Barracuda, a provider of cloud-first security solutions, from software investment firm Thoma Bravo. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Barracuda is a cloud-first provider of cybersecurity solutions for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).  More than 200,000 customers worldwide count on Barracuda to protect their email, networks, applications, and data. JP Morgan served as exclusive financial advisor to Thoma Bravo and Barracuda. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Thoma Bravo and Barracuda. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal counsel to KKR. Guggenheim Securities, DBO Partners and Barclays

MPE Partners (MPE), along with portfolio company Motor-Services Hugo Stamp (MSHS), has acquired Pacific Power Group, (PPG), an industry leading provider of products, parts, and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for marine, energy, commercial, and industrial equipment. MPE and MSHS partnered in the transaction with members of PPG’s management team, led by Bill Mossey.  Forbright Bank and City National Bank of Florida provided financing to support the transaction. BakerHostetler served as legal advisor to MPE. Cascadia Capital acted as the investment banking advisor to Pacific Power Group. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

EdTech startup Microverse, an online school for remote software developers, has doubled its valuation with an extension of $4 million to its Series A round. This brings the total Series A to $16.5 million. The extension came from existing investors Northzone, General Catalyst, All Iron Ventures and business angels, and is further complemented by new investor, True Equity. The new funding has more than doubled the company’s valuation and will enable them to keep building on their mission of connecting international talent to job opportunities worldwide. The investment will also allow Microverse to continue to scale and meet soaring demand. The