Main Capital Partners successfully concludes 6 month dual fundraise at combined hard cap of €2.44 billion

• Main Capital VIII & Main Foundation II have closed at their respective hard caps of €1.9 billion and €500 million in just 6 months’ time, well past their initial target sizes of €2 billion combined and doubling its predecessor funds Main Capital VII and Main Foundation I. Both funds were substantially oversubscribed.
• Despite challenging market circumstances, Main’s existing LP base showed continued strong support, resulting in a re-up rate of 115%.
• Main’s proven strategy and track record have attracted an increasingly global institutional LP base, with close to 25% of commitments coming from US investors.

Main Capital Partners, a specialized European Enterprise Software investor, announces the successful closing of its latest two buyout funds Main Capital VIII and Main Foundation II, amassing a total of €2.44 billion in commitments. With Main Capital VIII and Main Foundation II roughly doubling in size compared to their predecessor funds, Main’s total Assets under Management have surged to approximately €6 billion. In line with prior fundraises, Main received strong support from its existing investor base. Their continued trust in Main is evidenced by a significant re-up rate of 115%. Besides re-ups from existing investors, Main attracted ~€1 billion in commitments from new investors, amongst which were reputable institutional investors such as APG (on behalf of its client ABP), Tecta Invest and Texas County and District Retirement System. Existing investors, such as Hamilton Lane, increased their commitments.

The fundraising for Main Capital VIII and Main Foundation II commenced in October 2023 with target sizes of €1.6 billion and €400 million, respectively. The dual fundraise experienced significant demand from both existing and new investors globally, and Main was able to wrap up both fundraises at their respective hard caps of €1.9 billion and €500 million in just under six months. The short timeframe in which both fundraises were achieved despite an overall difficult fundraising climate, and the strong investor appetite well in excess of the funds’ hard caps, are a testament to Main’s consistently strong investment performance and highly specialized focus on Enterprise Software investing.

Main is a buyout investor in Enterprise Software with a 20-year track record and a strong coverage of the lower-middle market, investing between €5 to 150 million equity tickets in profitable small- to medium-sized Enterprise Software businesses. Main’s portfolio companies are supported by Main’s in-house Market Intelligence & Performance Excellence teams, providing access to proprietary data & research and best practices on go-to-market strategies, technology, finance and M&A. With a team of more than 70 professionals across the core markets Benelux, DACH, Nordics and the US, its local presence and hosting of thematic events, Main is deeply connected with the local software ecosystems, enabling Main to build exclusive relationships with software founders and entrepreneurs. Over the past couple of years, Main has grown to become one of the most active investors in Europe. In 2023, Main realized well over 40 transactions, amongst which were 12 new platforms investments, 26 add-ons and six realizations. Over its full history, Main realized close to 30 exits with a weighted average return over 4x and a loss rate well below 0.5%.

Building more sizable, scalable and profitable cross-border software groups in defined product-markets, based on both organic growth and growth by acquisitions, is the core business and capability of Main. Main operates cross-border in approximately 10 product-markets like Healthtech, Govtech, HRtech, and Cybersecurity. Notable investments in Cybersecurity are Pointsharp (SE), Oribi (NL) and Inverid (NL). In HRtech Main is invested in BCS (NL), Textkernel (NL) and Perbility (DE). Main’s Healthtech practice covers companies such as Enovation (NL) and SDB Groep (NL), LuxSci (USA), Alfa eCare (SE), Buchner (DE), UHB (DE) and Oiva Health (FI). An example of a leading Govtech investment is xxllnc (NL), a large SaaS Govtech group with over 300 employees providing productivity tools for local municipalities and software for Taxes and the Social Domain.

Charly Zwemstra, Founder and Chief Investment Officer at Main, said: “Main was one of the first movers in the European Software space, focusing on buyouts of profitable and resilient Enterprise Software businesses with the aim of building larger international software groups. We are very proud of our 20-year track record and the continued support and trust we have received from a highly institutional and global LP base. The successful closing of both Main Capital VIII and Main Foundation II reinforces Main’s position as a European leader in software buyouts. With these new funds, we continue to play a key role in the consolidation of the fragmented software market by building international leading European and Cross-Atlantic software groups.”

Jorn de Ruijter, Head of Investor Relations and Investment Director at Main, said: “Closing two funds significantly above target and almost double the size of the prior funds in just six months, is testament to Main’s exceptional track record and close relationship with our LP base. We are thankful for the strong and continued support of both our existing and new LPs. Main’s proven model of building larger resilient software groups has enabled us to deliver consistent top quartile returns to our LPs, and we will do our utmost to continue doing so with these new funds and future funds.”

Main did not use a placement agent for the fundraising and Loyens & Loeff acted as legal counsel.