Good morning and welcome to the WSJ Pro Private Equity newsletter for Tuesday.

FalconPoint Partners, a New York firm started two years ago, is investing $500 million in scrap-metal-management company SMS, a deal that could benefit from growing investment in U.S. steel and manufacturing businesses, writes Luis Garcia.

Isaac Taylor reports that venture-debt financing is booming, as more startups stay private for longer.

Rod James has the scoop on Warren Equity Partners' fundraising target for its latest fund, as the firm aims to buck the slowdown in fundraising.

Now onto the news...

FalconPoint Partners will invest $500 million in scrap metal management business SMS, in a bid to benefit from a revival in the U.S. steel industry, Luis Garcia reports for WSJ Pro. FalconPoint, a midmarket investor, is carving the company out of Scrap Metal Services, for which SMS generated more than 20% in annual revenue growth over the past four years. 

Venture-debt firms are shifting their focus to larger deals with mature private companies as more startups stay private for longer, WSJ Pro’s Isaac Taylor writes. Venture debt value hit a record $53 billion in 2024, up from $27 billion the prior year and more than a previous high of $42 billion in 2021, according to a report that venture debt firm Runway Growth Capital issued in partnership with PitchBook Data.

Warren Equity Partners is targeting significantly more for a new flagship infrastructure products and services fund than it raised for a predecessor, even as the broader asset class contends with a slowdown in the flow of dollars coming through the door, Rod James writes for WSJ Pro. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based investment firm, which backs smaller infrastructure and industrial services businesses in North America and Europe, is seeking at least $2.3 billion for Warren Equity Partners Fund V, according to documents prepared for public pension manager Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System.

Software investment firm Thoma Bravo is buying Verint Systems in an all-cash take-private deal that values the customer-experience automation company at $2 billion. When the deal closes, which is expected before early next year, Thoma Bravo plans to combine Verint with its portfolio company Calabrio, also a customer-experience automation business.

Advent International in Boston is buying engagement software developer PatientPoint from investors led by L Catterton and Littlejohn & Co. The Cincinnati-based company's systems are used by 30,000 doctor's offices and 125,000 care providers. L Catterton first backed the company in 2007 while Littlejohn has been an investor since 2019.

Providence Equity Partners is backing education software company Modern Campus with a growth investment. The Toronto company's applications are used to help schools connect with prospective students and guide those that enroll through their engagement with the institutions they attend. Riverside Company, which has backed Modern Campus since 2018, is exiting its stake in the deal.

Denver-based private-equity firm Fruition Partners has acquired Memory Co., a founder-owned developer and distributor of licensed consumer drinkware, home décor, and related hard goods products for retailers and e-commerce platforms. The company’s founder, Charles Sizemore, will retain a significant stake.

Private-credit firm Victory Park Capital provided a $175 million credit facility to Crusoe, an artificial intelligence infrastructure provider. Crusoe, in conjunction with Nordic data center services provider atNorth, plans to use the financing to expand Crusoe Cloud capacity in a data center owned by atNorth.

Bain Capital in Boston is backing newly formed managing general agent Crestwell Underwriters, which is initially focused on the commercial residential property market, through the firm's insurance strategy. Crestwell is currently offering coverage to condominium managers in Florida.

Australia-focused private-equity firm Five V Capital and U.K. investment firm Kaltroco are backing building-surface preparation-solutions supplier BlastOne with a growth investment. 

A group of investors that includes Arrington Capital, Arche Capital and Primitive Ventures are backing a more than $400 million private placement in publicly-listed Sharps Technology to support the company’s digital asset treasury strategy, primarily for SOL, the digital asset of the Solana blockchain.

Australian biotech company Vaxxas, which develops needle-free vaccine delivery, has received about 90 million Australian dollars in equity investments and debt financing from a group of investors led by SPRIM Global Investments, the venture arm of life-sciences firm SPRIM, and with the participation of LGT Crestone, OneVentures and Brandon Capital-Hostplus.

Private-equity firm MVM Partners led an $80 million growth investment in medical device developer ProVerum, joined by OrbiMed and existing investors such as Gilde Healthcare Partners as well as the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. The Dublin-based company is developing technologies used in minimally invasive surgical procedures to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia.

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

Growth investor BGF Group in London has claimed a big score in the sale of medical technology company OrganOx to strategic buyer Terumo, notching a 10-fold return on money initially invested in the Oxford University spinout. The sale valued the business at about $1.5 billion and generated about £175 million, or $236.7 million, in proceeds for BGF, according to the firm, which first backed OrganOx in 2019. Other investors in the business included Oxford Investment Consultants, Lauxera Capital Partners and HealthQuest. Overall, BGF said its investment in OrganOx produced an internal rate of return in the range of 69%.

Platinum Equity has rounded up at least $2.28 billion so far for its latest lower midmarket focused fund, Platinum Equity Small Cap Partners II, according to a regulatory filing. The new fund is significantly larger than the $1.5 billion that the firm raised for its inaugural small cap fund back in 2018. Investors that have disclosed commitments to the newest fund include Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions, New York City Employees’ Retirement System and Public Employees’ Retirement System of Idaho, according to WSJ Pro’s LP Commitments database.

Artemis, a Boston-based private-equity firm focused on industrial technology manufacturing companies, has raised at least $75 million so far for Artemis Capital Partners IV, according to a regulatory filing. The filing indicates that the fund has a $250 million goal.

Growth investment specialist TCV in Menlo Park, Calif., has reeled in John Doran from its London office to become co-leader at the firm's headquarters alongside firm founder Jay Hoag, according to a spokesman. Michael Kalfayan and Muz Ashraf, both general partners, have assumed leadership roles for the firm's European operations.

Growth firm Glade Brook Capital Partners in Greenwich, Conn., has added Timothy “Chip” Stevens as a partner and Tushar Behl as a principal barely a month after closing on $515 million for its Glade Brook Strategic Growth IV fund. Stevens most recently worked for insurer Aflac while Behl, who is based in India, was with Alpha Wave Global. The firm manages about $2.5 billion.

Invidia Capital Management has added Matt Bennett as a partner at the healthcare focused private-equity firm. Bennett previously served as a managing director and operating partner at New Mountain Capital.

Private-equity firm Pacific General in New York has added Greg Yun as a managing director based in Seoul, where he leads partnership investments in the U.S. with Korean investors as well as in Korean businesses with strong U.S. potential. He was most recently with Yellow Sea Management.  

Bow River Capital in Denver aims to accelerate its private-credit strategy through the purchase of the asset-based financing operations of Dallas-based Park Cities Asset Management, which focuses on lending to lower midmarket businesses, according to an emailed news release. The acquisition also brings a 12-member team, including Park Cities co-founders Andy Thomas and Alex Dunev, with experience in the 14-state Rodeo Region where Bow River mainly invests. Founded in 2017, Park Cities managed about $484.4 million at the end of last year, according to an annual regulatory filing.

Nearly half of investors in defined-contribution retirement plans would like to invest in private equity or private credit, according to a report from asset manager Schroders. Among investors in 401k, 403b or 457 workplace savings plans, 45% would invest in these asset classes if their plan offered, up from 36% last year. However, just 30% expect private investments to be available in their plan in the next five years.

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

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