Thoma Bravo Launches $1.8 Billion Fund for EU Software Firms

Thoma Bravo has closed a fund of 1.8 billion euros ($1.89 billion) dedicated to European software deals.

The private equity group announced the fund — its first for the region — on Tuesday (Feb. 25), saying it was targeting middle-market software firms across Europe.

“Our first dedicated pool of capital for European software marks a significant milestone for our firm,” Orlando Bravo, a founder and managing partner at Thoma Bravo, said in a news release.

“We see an enormous opportunity to back Europe’s technology innovators and help them scale, and we are grateful for the long-term support of our investors in realizing this ambition.”

Irina Hemmers, a partner and head of Thoma Bravo’s European office, added that the fund comes at a moment when “Europe is digitizing rapidly, and leading software companies are increasingly looking for dedicated support and investment to accelerate their growth strategies.”

The release notes that Thoma Bravo has invested in European companies for 14 years, spending more than $14 billion on 16 deals across the region.

As covered here last month, Europe’s economic downturn has been attracting an increasing number of private equity (PE) activity since last year.

A report by the Financial Times (FT), citing data from Dealogic, found that the total value of buyout deals in Europe worth more than $1 billion climbed at more than double the rate of the rest of the world. Around $133 billion in major deals were made in Europe during 2024, a 78% increase from 2023. That’s compared to the 29% increase for the rest of the world.

Among 2024’s high-profile PE transactions in Europe were a $6.9 billion consortium agreement for investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown and one by Thoma Bravo itself, with the firm paying $5.5 billion to take the British cybersecurity company Darktrace private.

One area where the firm is steering clear of is the blockchain sector, Bravo told CNBC last summer. The company had once helped lead a $900 million investment in cryptocurrency exchange FTX, whose collapse revealed a massive fraud that sent its founder to prison.

“Personally, I’m a believer in blockchain. I think it’s a powerful way of doing many things and for many use cases, and I’ve always believed that,” Bravo said. “From an investment standpoint, after you make a mistake, you kind of move on.”