Goldman raises $5.2b global growth fund
Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has closed its debut global growth fund with USD 5.2bn in commitments. It claims this is one of the largest first-time growth vehicles ever raised globally.
The corpus comprises USD 3.7bn from institutional and high net worth investors as well as a significant contribution from Goldman and its employees.
The strategy represents a continuation of the firm’s existing proprietary growth investing strategy – with an emphasis on companies with strong market positioning, high growth rates, and durable business models. The average investment size is around USD 50m, and the primary target industries are enterprise technology, financial technology, healthcare, and consumer.
The fund, known as West Street Global Growth Partners, has already completed several investments. They include MegaRobo Technologies, a China-based provider of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics-enabled research services to small and medium-sized biotech companies.
GSAM was one of three lead investors in a USD 300m Series C round that closed last June. MegaRobo offers services, ranging from workflow automation to AI drug development, that are intended to deliver greater efficiency in areas such as antibody selection, cell line development, and molecular screening.
Other Asia investments involving GSAM in the last 18 months, though not specifically linked to West Street Global Growth Partners, demonstrate an interest in healthcare and robotics.
In China, the firm co-led a USD 100m Series C for Zhenge Biotech, a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), a USD 150m Series C for Cyclone Robotics, a robotic process automation (RPA) start-up, and a USD 100m Series C for Shadowbot, another RPA player. In Japan, it led a USD 51m Series C round for Rapyuta Robotics, a developer of collaborative pick-assist robots.
GSAM’s growth equity business is led by Stephanie Hui in Hong Kong, Darren Cohen in New York, and Nishi Somaiya in London. It leverages Goldman’s operating platform, GS Value Accelerator, which includes a global network of operating advisors and sector experts who help companies with scaling revenue, digital transformation, recruitment, and environment, social and governance (ESG) issues.
“Goldman Sachs has a decades-long history of backing the world’s leading founders and bringing the full resources of the firm to help them scale and build category-defining businesses,” said Julian Salisbury, CIO for asset and wealth management at Goldman, said in a statement.
“We believe the pace of innovation across enterprise technology, financial technology, healthcare, and consumer businesses shows no sign of abating, and we are excited to work closely with portfolio companies to navigate volatility and reach the next stages of growth.”
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