Key Takeaways
- • Bessemer Venture Partners launched BVP Forge, a new growth buyout platform focused on control and significant minority transactions in software, tech-enabled services, and Internet companies globally.
- • Rob Arditi joins Bessemer as Founding Partner to lead BVP Forge, arriving from Norwest Venture Partners, where he was co-head of its growth equity business and spent more than 12 years building the growth equity team.
- • BVP Forge is designed to address a gap in Bessemer's traditional early- and growth-stage venture model, which did not fit thousands of technology businesses based on growth trajectory, stage, or structure.
- • The platform will leverage Bessemer's network, operating resources, and scale, alongside a systematic value creation process and its roadmap-driven sector research approach.
Summary
Bessemer Venture Partners has announced the launch of BVP Forge, a growth buyout platform that extends the firm beyond its traditional early- and growth-stage venture capital investments. According to the firm, the platform will pursue control and significant minority transactions in software, tech-enabled services, and Internet companies on a global basis. The announcement did not disclose fund size or capital commitments.
Bessemer said the move responds to a recurring gap in its deal flow. The firm has encountered thousands of technology businesses that did not fit its venture model due to their growth trajectory, stage, or structure. It cited several portfolio companies that align more naturally with a growth buyout structure, including Anaqua, NetSmart, TeamViewer, and LiveAuctioneers, as well as Mindbody and Pipedrive, which previously exited to growth buyout firms.
To lead the platform, Bessemer has brought in Rob Arditi as a Founding Partner. Arditi joins from Norwest Venture Partners, where he was co-head of the growth equity business and spent more than 12 years helping build that team. Bessemer said BVP Forge will draw on its existing network of category-defining companies, its operating resources, and its roadmap-driven approach to identifying emerging sectors and industry crosscurrents. The firm positioned the platform as a way to support founders and management teams scaling self-sustaining software, tech-enabled services, and Internet businesses.
Bessemer said the move responds to a recurring gap in its deal flow. The firm has encountered thousands of technology businesses that did not fit its venture model due to their growth trajectory, stage, or structure. It cited several portfolio companies that align more naturally with a growth buyout structure, including Anaqua, NetSmart, TeamViewer, and LiveAuctioneers, as well as Mindbody and Pipedrive, which previously exited to growth buyout firms.
To lead the platform, Bessemer has brought in Rob Arditi as a Founding Partner. Arditi joins from Norwest Venture Partners, where he was co-head of the growth equity business and spent more than 12 years helping build that team. Bessemer said BVP Forge will draw on its existing network of category-defining companies, its operating resources, and its roadmap-driven approach to identifying emerging sectors and industry crosscurrents. The firm positioned the platform as a way to support founders and management teams scaling self-sustaining software, tech-enabled services, and Internet businesses.
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