Good day! Over the past few years, the first-time fund manager has reminded me of a modern-day Sisyphus, trying to push its debut offering up that fundraising mountain, only to be slapped down by overallocated or uninterested investors. But, unlike Sisyphus, every so often, a manager makes it to the summit with a final closing and often an interesting story about the journey they took to get there. 

Leading off this morning’s newsletter, I have the story of one such firm, Integrity Growth Partners, which closed its debut fund after two years of fundraising and even longer as an independent sponsor.

Meanwhile, my WSJ Pro colleague Luis Garcia looks at an investment by New York-based Bedford Ridge Capital in Israeli startup Quantum Art, which looks to break new ground in the realm of quantum computing.

Read on for more on these stories and many more…

Integrity Growth Partners has raised $220 million for its first fund after two years on the marketing trail, Laura Kreutzer writes for WSJ Pro. The new fund caps the firm’s transition from an independent sponsor backing investments on a deal-by-deal basis to a commingled fund manager. Integrity, which was formed by former professionals from the growth investment strategy of Kayne Anderson, invested in roughly a half dozen deals totalling some $267 million before pitching its first fund.

Private-equity firm Bedford Ridge Capital led a $100 million investment in Quantum Art that will bolster the Israeli startup’s plans to break new ground in the hot area of quantum computing, Luis Garcia writes for WSJ Pro. Quantum Art is one of a growing number of startups developing quantum systems to analyze data and make calculations much faster than traditional computers. The new investment brings total capital raised to $124 million and values the business at hundreds of millions of dollars, said Quantum Art Chief Executive Tal David.

Midmarket firms Montagu and Kohlberg & Co. are buying Teleflex Medical OEM in a carveout deal from publicly traded Teleflex for $1.5 billion. Teleflex Medical OEM develops and supplies catheter components and subassemblies, as well as surgical fibers and sutures used in treatment areas that include the heart, neurovascular, electrophysiology and urology.

University of Utah’s board of trustees revealed plans to partner with sports-, entertinament- and media-focused private-equity firm Otro Capital in a deal that would create a new for-profit venture to finance the university’s athletics and bolster its revenue, according to various press reports. Although the university does not appear to have disclosed much about the financial details of the partnership, it marks one of the first of its kind for private equity in college sports. Otro Capital was co-founded by Partners Alec Scheiner, Brent Stehlik, Isaac Halyard and Niraj Shah, all of whom previously worked at sports-, entertainment- and media-focused firm RedBird Capital Partners.

KKR led a $700 million growth investment in cybersecurity startup Saviynt, valuing the startup at about $3 billion, Angus Loten writes for WSJ Pro Cybersecurity. The other two investors were Sixth Street and Carrick Capital Partners. Saviynt plans to use the new capital to expand its global operations, according to Chief Executive Sachin Nayyar, who co-founded the company more than a decade ago.

Midmarket infrastructure firm Argo Infrastructure Partners has acquired the majority of minority shareholder stakes in data-center services provider TierPoint, which Argo has backed since 2020. Since then, $3 billion of capital has been raised for TierPoint to fund growth and reduce the company’s cost of capital by terming out debt facilities.

Thoma Bravo has completed its roughly $1.4 billion acquisition of publicly traded AI-driven pricing and selling software provider Pros Holdings. Thoma will operate the company’s travel business Pros Travel as a separate portfolio company and will merge the business-to-business software unit with existing portfolio company Conga.

Cinven has agreed to buy a majority stake in U.K. advisory services firm Flint Global, Zoe Hu writes for sister publication Private Equity News. Bloomberg News reported that the deal values Flint at £190 million, or around $252.6 million, including debt.

Arcline Investment Management announced the acquisition of Altronic from its corporate parent Hoerbiger Group. Girard, Ohio-based Altronic supplies advanced ignition, control and instrumentation for critical infrastructure power systems.

Gallatin Point Capital has led a $50 million investment in Hometap, a Boston-based financial technology company that offers homeowners to cash out some of the equity in their homes in exchange for a share of the home’s future value.

Midmarket private-equity firm LNC Partners has backed a $50 million investment in employee benefits broker and HR advisory services provider Bennie.

Chicago-based Wind Point Partners has acquired Enviromatic Systems, which designs and engineers mission-critical building-management systems, from Audax Private Equity. Enviromatic employs 275 people across Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. Audax initially backed the company in 2023 out of its lower midmarket Origins investment strategy.

New State Capital Partners has completed its majority investment in Harrell Fish, a Bloomington, Ind.-based mechanical installation and maintenance services company. The deal marks New State’s first investment out of New State Fund IV, which closed earlier this year with $700 million. The firm partnered on the deal with independent sponsor Amethyst Capital Group.

Family office investment firm Enceladus Partners is backing Smith Excavating, a critical maintenance services provider for end markets that include infrastructure, utilities and government. The firm is partnering on the deal with Chief Executive Matthew Smith.

Energy transition infrastructure investor Transition Equity Partners has closed a strategic investment in Nexus Data Centers, a Woodlands, Texas-based developer of hyperscale data-center campuses.

Centana Growth Partners led a $33 million investment in 401GO, a financial technology company that caters to 401(k) retirement plans. Existing backers of the company also supported the deal, including Next Frontier Capital, Rally Ventures and Impression Ventures.

Growth investment firm SEVA is backing a minority investment in Pronto, a mobile, secure team communications company serving corporations and higher education institutions.

Kent Road Capital, a Toronto-based firm focused on industrial services companies, said it has formed flexible packaging portfolio company Bloor Street Flexibles. At the same time, the firm also facilitated the company’s first acquisition with the purchase of an unnamed flexible film manufacturer.

Our add-on deal interactive tool allows you to sort and analyze volumes of add-on deal data compiled by WSJ Pro. View more.

Boston-based lower midmarket firm Fort Point Capital is exiting its investment in Jones Lake Management with the company’s sale to fellow private-equity investor Leonard Green & Partners. Fort Point initially backed the Cincinnati, Ohio-based provider of pond- and lake-management services back in 2022.

Angeles Equity Partners has completed its sale of Xanitos to fellow private investment firm Bessemer Investors. Angeles Equity initially acquired the provider of healthcare environment services back in 2021.

TPG Credit has raised more than $6.2 billion for TPG AG Credit Solutions Fund III, surpassing the fund’s original $4.5 billion goal, according to an emailed statement. The new fund is roughly double the size of the $3.1 billion predecessor fund which closed in 2022. Investors that have disclosed commitments to the latest vehicle include State of Michigan Retirement System, Texas Municipal Retirement System, South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission and Wyoming State Loan and Investment Fund, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitments database. TPG said it plans to invest the fund primarily in credit instruments. Financings are generally structured as senior-secured positions in the capital structure with low-to-mid-teens contractual cash coupons and estimated loan to value ratios of 35% to 65%, the emailed statement said.

Eiffel Investment Group has closed Eiffel Energy Transition III at the fund’s €1.2 billion, or about $1.4 billion, upper limit. The fund exceeded its €1 billion target and will be able to invest around €3 billion in energy transition assets over its eight-year lifespan, thanks to a provision that allows it to recycle early distributions back into new investments.

Thomas O. Hicks, private-equity pioneer and co-founder of Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, built a career that was characterized both by big wins with food and beverage brands and radio stations, as well as high profile flops in dot.com ventures, James Hagerty writes in an obituary of Hicks in The Wall Street Journal. Hicks died on Dec. 6 at his home in Dallas and had been receiving treatment for throat cancer.

Invictus Growth Partners has added Erik Nierenberg as a partner at the firm to focus on portfolio value creation. Nierenberg formerly served as chief executive of Litmus, which was acquired by Validity earlier this year. Invictus also named four senior executives to its operating advisor network.

Alternative-credit investor Strategic Value Partners has added Aleka Bhutiani as a managing director and head of communications and brand. Bhutiani joins the firm from Golub Capital, where she was director of strategic communications.

Brookfield Asset Management and Qai, a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, have formed a $20 billion partnership to invest in artificial-intelligence infrastructure in select international markets. Brookfield and its partners plan to invest in this partnership through the recently launched Brookfield Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund, which is targeting $10 billion in equity, the Journal previously reported. The new partnership with Qai forms a cornerstone of Brookfield’s global AI infrastructure program.

Four healthcare executives and entrepreneurs have formed Rivalry Capital, a new healthcare technology-focused lower midmarket private-equity firm. The firm’s founders are Jim Chandler, Matt Young, Robert Moghim and Kian Modanlou.

State Employees’ Retirement System of Pennsylvania has approved a $65 million commitment to BVIP Fund XII, the latest private-equity fund from Boston-based BV Investment Partners. BVIP is targeting $2 billion for the fund with a $2.25 billion upper limit, according to pension documents, which indicated that the fund is targeting a final close in January 2026.

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Maria Armental; Ted Bunker; Chris Cumming; Luis Garcia; Laura Kreutzer; Isaac Taylor; Chitra Vemuri.

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