Nic Humphries

Spear’s Review

One of the most prolific tech investors of his generation, Nic Humphries has cultivated his focused investment approach over the past three decades, spending the Nineties working at private equity firms including Geocapital and Barclays Private Equity (now part of Equistone). 

As the senior partner and executive chairman of Hg, Humphries has strategic oversight of a sophisticated software investing operation which spans Europe and the US – one with around $70 billion in funds under management as of 30 June 2024. He first joined the firm in 2001, where he set up its technology team with support from the firm’s senior management. 

Since 2020 Hg has been included in the HEC Paris-DowJones private equity performance ranking, which ranks the world’s top PE firms in terms of aggregate performance. In the 2023 ranking of large-cap buyout firms, Hg was recognised as one of the top five highest-performing investors.

Humphries told the Bain & Company’s Dry Powder podcast that his in-depth tech focus resulted from a period of discovery first as a generalist investor – where he could learn from his early mistakes and work towards sustainable and stable success in the software space. Humphries’ scores of investments have seen him lend his strategic hand as a board director to Visma and Argus Media.