Investment firm Recognize raises $1.7 bn for second digital services fund

Francisco D'Souza's firm closes second fund in under five months, targets mid-market digital services firms and completes multiple exits including to IBM, Insight

Former Cognizant CEO Francisco D’Souza’s technology investment firm Recognize has announced the final close of its second fund with $1.7 billion in total commitments. This fund comes on the heels of its first fund, which raised $1.3 billion in 2022.

 

Co-founded by Managing Partners Francisco D’Souza, Charles Phillips, and David Wasserman, Recognize II continues to focus on investing in companies with enterprise values between approximately $50 million and $500 million.

 

The firm believes companies at this stage offer strong potential for accelerated growth with the support of Recognize’s partnership-driven value creation approach.

 

“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.” 

 

Recognize II was oversubscribed and closed in less than five months from launch, with strong support from existing investors, including a significant GP commitment, and a curated group of new investors. The LP base includes leading global institutions such as endowments, foundations, pensions, insurers, family offices, outsourced CIOs and fund-of-funds across the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

 

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 (NYSE: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 (AMS:RAND). These realisations, in Recognize’s view, further reinforce the firm’s thesis that next-generation digital services firms are increasingly attractive to strategic buyers.