Private Equity firm Recognize closes its second fund with a commitment of $1.7 billion
Co-founded by Managing Partners Francisco D'Souza (also co-founder and former CEO and Vice Chairman of Cognizant Technologies), Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, Recognize had raised $1.3 billion in January 2022 under its first fund.
With Recognize II, the firm would continue to focus on investing in companies with enterprise values between approximately $50 million and $500 million – businesses that Recognize believes offer strong potential for accelerated growth with the support of Recognize's partnership-driven value creation approach, the PE firm said.
Recognize II was oversubscribed and closed less than five months from launch, with strong support from existing investors, including a significant GP commitment, and a curated group of new investors, it claimed. The LP base included leading global institutions, such as endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, family offices, outsourced CIOs, and fund-of-funds, across the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America, it added.
Over the last six months, Recognize has made four new platform investments: SDG Corporation (cybersecurity services), Sprout (Digital Infrastructure Services), TRANZACT (insurance services), and HealthEdge (SaaS for healthcare payers).
The firm also completed two realisation events earlier this year: the exit of AST, sold to IBM, and a partial exit of 2X through a strategic investment by Insight Partners. In 2024, Recognize also sold Torc, an AI-powered talent platform, to a subsidiary of Randstad.
These realisations, the firm said, further reinforced its thesis that next-generation Digital Services firms were increasingly attractive to strategic buyers.
'We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of our partners,' said Debbie Park Munfa, Partner and Head of Investor Relations at Recognize. 'We remain focused on building Digital Services businesses for the future and partnering with excellent management teams to deliver long-term value for our investors.'
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