Ex-Blackstone CFO Tosi targets $1.5bn for tech investments

Laurence Tosi, former CFO at Blackstone Group and Airbnb, collected about $650 million for his firm WestCap’s first traditionally structured private equity fund for tech investments, a source told Buyouts.

Tosi is among a handful of well-known PE and finance executives who have broken off on their own to run their own shops. Others include former Lindsay Goldberg partner Chris Laitala, who formed Avesi Partners; former co-head of Goldman Sachs’ merchant banking division Sumit Rajpal, who launched GrowthCurve Capital; and Jim Momtazee, KKR’s former healthcare chief, who formed Patient Square Capital.

WestCap is targeting $1.5 billion for the fund, with a $2.25 billion cap, the person said. Park Hill Group is working as placement agent on the fundraising.

WestCap, principally owned by Tosi, launched in its current form in 2019, according to the firm’s Form ADV. The firm invests in tech companies across real estate, fintech, experience and healthcare. WestCap managed about $1.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2020, the Form ADV said.

The firm has raised money in the past both for specific deals, as well as a perpetual capital-structured vehicle it calls its Strategic Fund. Bloomberg last year reported the firm was closing on $750 million.

In June, WestCap led a financing round in Templum, Inc., a trading technology company. Last year, the firm invested $40 million in Addepar, a wealth management platform that specializes in data analytics and reporting.

WestCap in June hired Daphne Tong as partner and co-head of private equity, according to her LinkedIn profile. Tong worked at GIC from 2015 to June, where she was co-head of funds and coinvestments in the Americas, her profile said. Tong also spent around nine years at Blackstone Group, her profile said.

Other executives at WestCap include partners Jaime Vassallo Hildreth, who formerly worked at Blackstone Group; Scott Ganeles, former CEO at fintech Ipreo; Charlie Young, who worked at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Ipreo; and former Ipreo president Kevin Marcus.

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