This article originally appeared in the Boston Business Journal, an American City Business Journals sister publication of Bizwomen.
A Boston private equity firm focusing on technology investments is entering 2024 with fresh capital in its pockets.
Clearhaven Partners LP, a private equity firm based in Boston with a staff of 19, has raised $580 million for its second fund. The fund closed last month.
Michelle Noon, founder and managing partner at Clearhaven Partners, told the Business Journal that the firm typically makes majority investments, but makes "significant" minority investments at times.
Clearhaven typically backs lower middle market software and technology companies with "strong growth prospects," she added. Revenues tend to be in the ballpark of $20 million to $100 million. The firm currently has six companies in its active portfolio, including Tewksbury-based Engageware. This past summer, the customer engagement software company announced the acquisition of a conversational and generative AI technology.
Clearhaven closed its inaugural $312 million fund in 2021, or two years after Noon, previously at Riverside Partners, launched the firm.
Despite the latest fund being significantly larger than its predecessor, Clearhaven Partners plans to invest in a comparable number of companies. Fund II is targeting six to nine companies, Noon said, reserving a portion of capital for follow-on investments.
Clearhaven Partners
Private equity markets suffered from weak exits towards the end of last year, which generally inhibited the ability of firms to raise new funds. Asked about the exit market, Noon said that the good news for Clearhaven Partners is that “we're in build mode.”
“Our goal is to build healthy, intrinsically valuable businesses that will attract the right acquirer at whatever time makes the most sense for the company,” she said.
Noon added that Clearhaven Partners is looking to grow both its investment and operating teams, adding three or four new people this year.
