Press Release | Technology & Business Solutions (TABS)

Thomas H. Lee Partners Announces Growth Investment in Carpe Data

April 11, 2022

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”), a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies, today announced that it has made a strategic growth investment in Carpe Data (“the Company”), a provider of innovative emerging and alternative data products for the insurance industry. With the investment, THL will become the majority shareholder of Carpe Data. The Company’s founders and management will continue to hold a meaningful stake, as well as a group of existing strategic investors.

Headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, Carpe Data uses proprietary algorithms and AI to transform emerging and alternative data into predictive and actionable insights for insurance carriers across the globe. Carpe Data’s unique and predictive data enables insurers to automate claims decisions and improve outcomes across the insurance lifecycle. THL’s investment will be used to support continued innovation across Carpe Data’s proprietary data platform, as well as capture opportunities for the Company to expand and strengthen its position as the next-generation data company for insurance.

“As leading investors in the insurance and automation space for over 20 years, we have witnessed the growing demand among carriers for automated alternative data and predictive analytics to improve performance and gain a competitive edge in all key workflows,” said Edward Shahnasarian, Director at THL. “With a strong track record of innovation and growth, Carpe Data is meeting this demand by creating a new market for alternative data to unlock automation and improve outcomes across the insurance lifecycle. We are excited to partner with this innovative and industry leading team to accelerate their vision.”

Max Drucker, Founder and CEO of Carpe Data, commented, “Since forming Carpe Data in 2016, we have rapidly grown and cultivated a blue-chip customer base, and we believe THL is the ideal partner for the next phase of our journey. The depth of their expertise in the insurance technology and automation sectors, combined with their experience scaling high-growth technology businesses, makes THL well suited to help us execute on our strategic roadmap for continued growth. With this investment, we have a unique opportunity to further expand across core segments, introduce new products and use cases, and enter adjacent markets.”

This marks the tenth investment for THL’s Automation Fund, the industry’s first fund dedicated to investing in automation-related businesses. This also marks the eighth investment for THL’s flagship fund, Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund IX, which invests behind Identified Sector Opportunities (“ISOs”) across three industry verticals, including Financial Technology & Services.

THL’s Ganesh Rao, Managing Director and Head of Financial Technology & Services, Gary DeGruttola, Executive Advisor, Edward Shahnasarian, Director, and Timothy Ferris, Vice President, will join Max Drucker, CEO, and Geoff Andrews, COO, on the Carpe Data board of directors as part of the deal.

Cooley LLP served as legal counsel and William Blair served as financial advisor to Carpe Data. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel and Raymond James & Associates served as financial advisor to THL.

About Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”) is a premier private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies exclusively within three sectors: Healthcare, Financial Technology & Services, and Technology & Business Solutions. THL couples deep sector expertise through an Identified Sector Opportunity (“ISO”) process with dedicated internal operating resources from its Strategic Resource Group (“SRG”) to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. The Firm’s domain expertise and resources help to build great companies with an aim to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $34 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion.

About Carpe Data
Carpe Data is the next-generation data company for insurance, transforming emerging data into predictive and actionable insights that enable automation and improve insurance outcomes across the policy lifecycle. Already well known for its claims automation technology, Carpe Data also provides small commercial insurers with advanced classification, risk characteristics, and predictive scores for more than 45 million businesses across the United States. Based in Santa Barbara, Carpe Data employs nearly 150 people across the US, UK, and Portugal who are committed to helping insurers achieve peak efficiency while supporting superior claims and underwriting experiences. For more information, please visit https://carpe.io.