FRANCISCO D'SOUZA IS NO STRANGER TO THE TECH INDUSTRY.IN HIS NEW AVATAR AS MANAGING PARTNER & CO-FOUNDER OF PE FIRM RECOGNIZE, HE IS BETTING ON THE NEXT BIG TECH COMPANIES ACROSS THE GLOBE.

IN HIS NEW AVATAR AS MANAGING PARTNER & CO-FOUNDER OF PE FIRM RECOGNIZE, HE IS BETTING ON THE NEXT BIG TECH COMPANIES ACROSS THE GLOBE.

- BY RUKMINI RAO

COULD YOU talk to us about your transition from the IT industry to private equity? What made you take this leap of faith? I left Cognizant after 26 years because I wanted to write another chapter, and I spent a little time thinking about what the next chapter would be after I left. I realised that I loved the technology services industry... I'd grown up there, spent almost all my career there, and so I wanted to stay involved in some way... Because I'd operated a business for a long time, it became almost a natural idea to say, 'maybe I can... invest in the industry'. And so, at Recognize, we're private equity investors, but we only focus on investing in digital services businesses. It gives me an opportunity to learn a new craft, if you will, in investing, but at the same time stay involved in an industry that I know and I love, and hopefully I can bring some value to the companies in which we invest. So, it's a nice balance.

While the IT industry is not new to PE investments, for someone like you who has run a big IT firm, how do the learnings play a role in your investment and approach to value creation?

I think there are multiple ways to create value when you invest. At Recognize, we are entirely focussed on one sector. Since we know the companies in the sector… the found-ers… I think that gives us a bit of an edge because of our familiarity with the industry. We tell the founders and entrepreneurs we work with that we bring two things... capital and capability, because you need both… for the investment to be successful. We’ve been around for a long time, so we understand how it works. We have networks of talent that we can bring to the portfolio companies if needed. We have networks of clients, partners, and we bring all of those to our portfolio companies. And because we just focus on one industry, that focus allows us to be deeper in those areas.