The firm

Francisco Partners is one of the largest and most active technology-focused investment firms in the world, built on more than 25 years of investing exclusively in technology and technology-enabled services. Founded in August 1999 in Menlo Park, California — at the dawn of dedicated technology buyouts — by Sanford Robertson, Dipanjan Deb, David Stanton, Benjamin Ball and Neil Garfinkel, it is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in London and New York. Wikipedia records roughly $45 billion in assets under management as of 2024, and the firm itself recently announced it closed $21 billion across its flagship fund FP VIII and its middle-market vehicle FP Agility IV. It ranked 27th on Private Equity International's PEI 300 in June 2024, and in February 2025 earned the top spot on the 2025 HEC Paris–Dow Jones annual large-buyout performance ranking.

Thesis and sweet spot

The firm describes its promise as a performance advantage for technology companies: deep sector focus plus flexible capital. Through its private equity and credit funds, it writes control or significant-minority cheques for carve-outs, take-privates, growth financings and other complex transactions — typically in maturing or growth-stage tech companies that need strategic and operational help as well as money. Its hunting ground is software, internet, communications, healthcare IT and related sectors. The tagline on its site says it plainly: growth-aspiring technology companies, met with flexible capital and genuine partnership.

Notable portfolio

The current portfolio includes The Weather Company, AdvancedMD, Merative, New Relic, RBMedia and Sumo Logic. Recent activity shows a firm very much in motion: acquisitions of Weave, Moneris, Command Alkon, EfficientIP and Blackline Safety, plus portfolio company Rightway raising $155 million to push its next-generation pharmacy benefits platform. For Indian founders, the portfolio is a useful catalogue of what Francisco Partners considers a buyable asset — vertical software, healthcare IT, communications infrastructure — segments where India's own SaaS and health-tech ecosystems are maturing fast.

People

The firm is led by co-founder and CEO Dipanjan Deb, with David Golob as chief investment officer, Ezra Perlman and Deep Shah as co-presidents, and Tom Ludwig as COO. Deb's trajectory — from TPG Capital to founding Francisco Partners in 1999 — makes him one of the longest-tenured technology buyout investors in the industry.

Programs, credits and perks

Francisco Partners does not run a public accelerator, incubator or startup credits programme; it is a private equity firm that partners with established technology companies. There are no open applications or fellowship deadlines for founders. The engagement route is the traditional one: reach the deal team with a growth story in software, healthcare IT or communications infrastructure, or meet the firm through its portfolio — many of its companies continue to acquire, which creates partner and vendor opportunities for startups.

Why it matters for founders

Francisco Partners is a template for what a technology company can become under patient, sector-expert capital — and a potential future buyer or strategic partner. Its $21 billion across FP VIII and FP Agility IV means it is actively hunting deals right now. If your company operates in the sectors it knows best, building a relationship early is cheaper than competing against one of its portfolio companies later.