KKR fund scouring Canadian tech scene for investment opportunities, but they aren’t alone
By Barbara Shecter
U.S. buyout specialist KKR & Co. is actively making the rounds of tech hubs in Toronto, Waterloo and Vancouver, in the hopes of scoring the first Canadian investment for its Next Generation Technology Fund.
The New York-based firm is “actively looking at a handful of investment opportunities in Canada,” Dave Welsh, who leads the technology, media and telecommunications growth strategy within KKR’s private equity platform, told the Financial Post in a recent interview.
Welsh declined to provide details about which segment or segments of tech the private equity firm is exploring, or the size of a potential investment in a company — other than to say the sweet spot for the fund’s investments is between US$70 million and $150 million.
“KKR is spending time getting to know them because the firm strongly believes they are the types of businesses with which we would like to build long-term partnerships,” Welsh said.
