Chicago-based software investor Thoma Bravo closed its inaugural European-focused fund on €1.8 billion (around $1.9 billion), beating its target of around €1.5 billion.
Thoma Bravo Europe Fund will target equity investments in mid-market software businesses across core European markets. The firm said in a statement that the rate of digitization in Europe has led software companies to look for dedicated investments to accelerate growth.
Since setting up its London office in 2023—the firm’s first outside of the US—Thoma Bravo has made four investments in continental Europe across the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. In total, it has deployed over €14 billion of equity across 16 transactions in the region in the last 14 years.
The fund close came as PE investments in the European software sector saw a record-breaking year. More than €57 billion was transacted in the space last year, according to PitchBook data, up from €53 billion in 2023. Deal count also bounced back from 828 to 881, although it still lagged behind the record 1,012 transactions in 2021.
Thoma Bravo’s £4.3 billion (around $5.4 billion) take-private of Darktrace was the largest software deal in Europe last year.
The firm had made an unsolicited bid for the company in 2022, but Darkface rejected the offer at the time as the company thought it did not reflect its true value.
Other significant deals last year included TPG and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec‘s €3.9 billion buyout of German property management software Aareon and the €1.6 billion take-private of French business software developer Esker by Bridgepoint and General Atlantic.
Featured image by juanma hache/Getty Images
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