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. He first joined the firm in 2001, and set up its technology team with support from the firm’s senior management. The firm is now the second-biggest British private equity group, is on track to surpass $100 billion in assets under management in 2025, and is likely to see one of London’s biggest IPOs in 2026 when portfolio company Visma is made public. 

Humphries told Bain & Company’s Dry Powder podcast that his in-depth tech focus resulted from a period of discovery as a generalist investor, where he learned from his early mistakes and worked 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.

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