Good day Pro PE readers. Growth funds are in the spotlight of this morning’s news. Our own Preeti Singh writes that TPG’s growth investment arm has already deployed a chunk of its latest growth fund, which quietly wrapped up in August with $3.6 billion, while WSJ Pro Venture Capital’s Yuliya Chernova reports on Spark Capital’s next fundraising pitch. Finally, our colleagues at The Wall Street Journal report on growing investor interest in battery-storage technology as the country focuses more attention and resources on renewable energy.

On another note, this weekend will mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks here in the U.S. Many of us will reflect back on the day and perhaps mourn the losses of loved ones, friends, neighbors or colleagues. The private-equity community lost a number of its own that day, including Christopher Mello and David Retik, who at the time worked for what was Alta Communications, and Brian Dale, a founding partner at what was Blue Capital Management.  Loved ones and colleagues of Mr. Mello and Mr. Retik haved helped carry on their legacies through the David E. Retik Christopher Mello Foundation, a nonprofit organization that to date has donated more than $2 million in grants to support a host of different charities. Meanwhile, David Retik’s widow Susan Retik formed another nonprofit in partnership with Patti Quigley, whose spouse also died in the attacks, called Beyond the 11th, which supports Afghan widows.
As we head into the weekend, I leave you with words from a TedTalk Susan gave (if you haven’t seen it, you can check it out here). “Humanity is not something that just happens. It takes practice. We need to learn to treat each other humanely, and then we need to practice it again, and again and again.”

Now onto the news of the day...

TPG’s growth-equity group has wasted little time investing its fifth fund, after quietly wrapping up fundraising for the vehicle in mid-August with almost $3.56 billion, Preeti Singh reports for WSJ Pro Private Equity. The firm has deployed nearly half of TPG Growth V LP, according to people familiar with the matter. It was TPG Growth’s first fund to close since strategy founder William McGlashan Jr. stepped down as managing partner in March 2019 amid a U.S. college admissions cheating scandal.

Venture firm Spark Capital has returned to the marketing trail, seeking $2 billion for its next set of funds, as it looks to capitalize on a strong return run, Yuliya Chernova writes for WSJ Pro Venture Capital, citing people familiar with the offering. The firm is seeking $650 million for its next main early-stage fund and $1.35 billion for its newest growth fund. Spark announced its prior set of funds in early 2020.

Big investors are charging into startups touting experimental new battery technologies that would make it possible for renewable energy sources to produce most of the country’s electricity, Scott Patterson writes for The Wall Street Journal. Deep-pocketed investment firms such as TPG, Apollo Global Management and Paulson & Co. in recent months have plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into the companies, which make what are called long-duration batteries. Unlike mobile-phone or electric-car batteries that can deliver electricity for about four hours straight, long-duration batteries can discharge for longer periods, ranging from six hours to several days, and store far more power.

A-Street Ventures, a firm funded by certain members of Walmart Inc.'s founding family, the Waltons, has made a minority investment alongside KKR in Teaching Strategies, a provider of solutions for early childhood education. It is the debut investment for A-Street which started its operations in June with a $200 million fund to invest in early and late stage ventures and growth opportunities that focus on improving student outcomes and closing equity gaps. While the fund will aspire for market rate returns similar to other commingled funds, its profits will be re-invested into the firm or support charitable causes, according to a press release.

Sands Capital and Tiger Global Management led a $530 million investment in cybersecurity company Snyk Ltd., joined by new investors that included Baillie Gifford, Koch Strategic Platforms and Lone Pine Capital, among others. The deal valued the U.K.-based company at about $8.5 billion.

Lone Pine Capital led a $510 million investment in online financial services provider Varo Bank NA, joined by Declaration Partners, Eldridge Industries, Marshall Wace, Berkshire Partners / Stockbridge and BlackRock Inc. funds. The Draper, Utah-based bank obtained its charter just over a year ago and said the fresh investment will help it expand. It recently added a hub in Charlotte, N.C.

Insight Partners is joining Francisco Partners and Great Hill Partners in backing Network Merchants LLC, a technology services and hardware company based near Chicago in Schaumburg, Ill., that does business as NMI. The deal reportedly values the business at about $1.55 billion. Francisco Partners acquired the business in 2017. NMI provides software and hardware, including point-of-sale devices and mobile apps used by more than 250,000 retailers worldwide. Francisco Partners notched a gain of more than four times its investment in partially exiting the company, according to a person familiar with the matter.

DigitalBridge Group Inc., joined by other investors, has increased its commitment to Vantage Data Centers Management Co. by $1.5 billion to help finance the infrastructure company’s expansion into Asia. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has acquired Agile Data Centers and the data center holdings of PCCW Ltd. to anchor the expansion drive.

Toronto-based lower midmarket private-equity firm Fulcrum Capital Partners has invested in Creative Outdoor Advertising, a company that provides street furniture advertising for local businesses across North America. The deal markets Fulcrum’s first investment out of its latest fund Fulcrum Capital Partners VI LP. The fund recently held a first closing and Fulcrum said it expects to close it early next year with more than 300 million Canadian dollars, the equivalent of $236.4 million.

Ronin Equity Partners said it has acquired Canadian refrigeration equipment manufacturers QBD and Minus Forty in a $230 million deal. Northleaf Capital Partners, Cherng Family Trust, Stephens Capital Partners, Nicola Wealth, Northwood Ventures, Knott Partners and Sope Creek Capital co-invested in the deal, which a person close to the firm said marks the last platform investment out of a $300 million debut fund raised earlier this year.

Ares Management Corp. and Edison Partners are providing $120 million to mobile financial services company Nuula, including a $20 million equity investment by Edison and a $100 million credit line from Ares. Legally named Business Financial Services Inc., the Coral Springs, Fla.-based company’s products provide mobile applications to manage financial aspects of smaller businesses.

The CapStreet Group LLC said it has recapitalized Specter Instruments LLC, which does business as WIN-911, alongside the company’s majority owner Robert Brooker, management and other shareholders. Austin, Texas-based WIN-911 offers industrial monitoring, alerting and notification software that delivers machine alarms though different communication modes, including smartphone applications, voice, text and email.

Blackstone Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and Hamilton Lane Inc. have committed fresh financing to Canoe Software Inc., which operates as Canoe Intelligence. The New York-based company offers products to streamline the investment management process for alternative asset managers.

Redmile Group led a $150 million investment in genetic research company Mammoth Biosciences Inc., joined by investors that include Foresite Capital, Senator Investment Group, Sixth Street and Greenspring Associates. The Brisbane, Calif.-based company said the Series D investment values the business at more than $1 billion. Mammoth develops tests and therapies using the Crispr gene-editing technology that company co-founder Jennifer Doudna helped invent.

KKR & Co. has agreed to invest $40 million in private aviation company Jet Edge International, which is also known as Western Air Charter Inc. and JetSelect LLC, acquiring preferred equity in the charter flight services company through the firm’s credit strategy. The transaction follows a previous commitment of $150 million KKR made earlier this year, according to a news release.

Bluestone Investment Partners, a lower midmarket firm focused on defense and government services deals, said it has invested in cBEYONData Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based company offering professional services and technologies that cater to chief financial officer-level executives at law enforcement, civilian and defense agencies.

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

Carlyle Group Inc.-backed Pharmapacks LLC’s parent company, Packable Holdings LLC, has agreed to combine with a blank-check company tied to Highland Capital Partners at an equity value of $1.91 billion, Dave Sebastian reported for Dow Jones Newswires. The Islandia, N.Y.-based company sells personal care products direct to consumers through several websites. Carlyle invested more than $250 million in Pharmapacks last November at an enterprise value of $1.1 billion, backing the company through its $18.5 billion Carlyle Partners VII buyout fund. The special-purpose acquisition company that has agreed to combine with Packable, Highland Transcend Partners I Corp., is led by Highland Partner Bob Davis.

Patient Square Capital is acquiring behavioral health company Summit Behavioral Healthcare from FFL Partners and Lee Equity Partners. Franklin, Tenn.-based Summit provides acute psychiatric care and addiction services at 24 sites in 16 states and was acquired by FFL and Lee in October 2017.

Aquiline Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a majority interest in financial software provider Quicken Inc. from fellow private-equity firm H.I.G. Capital, which acquired the company from Intuit Inc. in 2016, according to a press release. Quicken Chief Executive Eric Dunn will retain an equity stake in the company alongside other employees, the release stated.

BelHealth Investment Partners said it has completed its sale of General Genetics Corp. to publicly traded molecular diagnostics company Genetic Technologies Limited. General Genetics offers relationship and clinical genetic testing services.

DC Capital Partners has rounded up at least $323 million so far for DC Capital Partners Fund III LP, according to a regulatory filing. DC Capital Partners backs midmarket companies across the government contracting and engineering and consulting services sectors.

Blackstone Inc. announced three new senior leaders in its $163 billion credit business, Blackstone Credit. Carlos Whitaker has joined from Credit Suisse to become president of Blackstone’s business development companies, Blackstone Private Credit Fund and Blackstone Secured Lending Fund. Kate Rubenstein is moving from Blackstone’s portfolio operations group to become chief operating officer of the two BDCs, and Chris Sullivan is joining from Barclays to become the head of sponsor coverage for Blackstone Credit.

KKR & Co. has named Kerryann Benjamin as chief diversity officer and head of talent management. She joins the firm in New York from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where she held similar roles during her two decades with the investment bank.

GCM Grosvenor Inc. has named Markus Koch as an executive director to lead its new Frankfurt office and the Chicago firm’s push to expand in central Europe. He was most recently a managing director in Prime Capital’s client solutions group, based in the German financial center.

Cartica Management has named Mimi Humphrey as global head of distribution, according to an emailed news release. She joins the Washington-based firm from real assets manager Cohen & Steers, where she was a senior vice president and relationship manager.

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