SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pilot Growth Management LLC, a technology-focused growth equity firm, today announced the full deployment and final closing of Pilot Growth Equity Fund II, LP. The total amount of new capital in PGE II is $45 million. Pilot Growth received repeat commitments from institutional anchor limited partners in the first fund and attracted interest from many family offices.
Pilot Growth, which manages over $200 million of growth stage capital including exits, counts several category-leading software companies among those in its portfolio, including CB Insights, r4 Technologies, Bizzabo and Tailwind.
“We are gratified by the steadfast support from our limited partners; they believe in our team, our portfolio and our investment approach,” stated Neil Callahan, co-founder and managing partner of Pilot Growth.
Paul Breitenbach, the Founder & CEO of r4, a cross-enterprise AI company, and former co-founder of Priceline said, “I am excited to be partnering with Pilot Growth. Not only do they invest and help grow market leading AI companies, but they are also a pioneering practitioner of AI with their home grown NavPod platform. NavPod helps Pilot source growth stage market leading software companies like r4.”
“NavPod is a tireless team member who gets smarter every day as she sources and ranks potential investments for us. Of the 10 portfolio companies in our two funds, 80 percent were initially sourced and validated by NavPod, which enabled our senior team to contact the entrepreneurs at exactly the right time,” said William Lee, Pilot Growth co-founder and managing director. “The team exited Zenedge, a NavPod deal, via a sale to Oracle in 2018, validating NavPod’s contribution to the strategy’s long-term success.”
A cornerstone of the Pilot Growth’s team strategy is applying their own entrepreneurial experience and senior business development advisors to help their portfolio companies grow faster. “We are excited to partner with entrepreneurs and management teams to help them rapidly expand their innovative platforms into larger companies with loyal customer bases,” said Rob Walker, co-founder and managing director of Pilot Growth.
About Pilot Growth Equity
Pilot Growth Equity is a technology growth equity firm with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Washington, DC. Pilot Growth invests in growth-stage technology companies that require capital and strategic resources to accelerate their growth. Founded by entrepreneurs, Pilot Growth provides its portfolio companies a combination of world class operating, company-building, and advisory expertise, as well as global access to private and public-sector customers. Please visit us at www.pilotgrowth.com.
About r4 Technologies, Inc.
Founded in 2013, r4 Technologies is the leader in applying AI to cross-enterprise management, delivering better business outcomes as a service. r4 was created by founders of Priceline, leveraging decades of expertise in extracting profit from data.
In 2019, r4 was named a Gartner Cool Vendor in AI Core Technologies. The company is based in Ridgefield, CT, with operations in San Francisco, Austin, Washington, DC, Dublin, London, Munich, Delhi, and Pune. For more information, please visit www.r4.ai.
