Blueprint Equity Raises $333M Third Fund for Secondary-Market Software Deals

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Blueprint Equity, a San Diego-based growth equity firm investing in “market-leading enterprise businesses,” has closed a total of $333 million for its newest fund.

The firm raised the new capital from family offices, endowments, funds of funds, and other accredited investors.

This is Blueprint’s third fund and will give the firm additional capital for both follow-on investments and new deals, according to executives.

Blueprint’s first fund raised $75 million and has deployed the majority of its capital, producing returns north of 400%. The second fund has yet to be fully deployed.

“At the end of the day, fundraising comes down to results. You can have a great story and a great network, but it’s really about performance,” said Sheldon Lewis, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blueprint Equity.

“Fortunately, both Fund I and Fund II are top five percent globally when it comes to IRR, DPI, and TVPI, which are the main metrics LPs care about,” said Lewis. “We’ve been very fortunate to partner with great founders and invest in some exceptional businesses.”

Founded in 2018, Blueprint Equity is led by Sheldon Lewis and Bobby Ocampo. The duo began their careers in investment banking and venture capital before launching a fund of their own.

Blueprint invests in companies with $1 million to $7 million in annual revenue and is often the first outside investor. Its investment strategy includes investing in tech companies in secondary markets, outside of San Francisco, New York and Boston.

It generates most of its returns through secondary sales, acquiring significant stakes in early-stage companies, helping grow revenue to $10 million to $15 million, and then selling to larger investment firms. To date, the firm has more than $600 million in assets under management.

“From a thesis standpoint, nothing’s changing. If you look back at our first fund, it’s exactly the same: we’re focused on B2B enterprise software businesses that are mission-critical or operating systems, typically doing anywhere from one to seven million in ARR and growing north of 75% year-over-year,” said Lewis.

“We’re usually the first institutional round, and we like to lead the round. Quite frankly, if we can take the whole thing, we will.”

Blueprint Equity has a 14-person investment and operating team, providing greater coverage across sourcing, diligence, and portfolio oversight.

Blueprint has made 24 investments to date. It plans to grow that number to more than 40 investments over coming years.

With a larger fund and deeper operational platform, Blueprint Equity is positioned to play a more active role in the growth of its portfolio companies while maintaining the same disciplined investment approach that has defined its earlier success.

“We’ve always put all of our money on the field instead of taking big salaries, and that’s allowed us to build a much larger team than most funds our size,” said Lewis. “Most $200 million funds might have four people — we have fourteen, and that lets us outwork and outcompete.”

“For us, being outside of Silicon Valley is actually an advantage. We never wanted to invest inside that bubble, because everyone has that herd mentality. As long as we’re close to an airport, that’s really all we need, and being based in San Diego also makes recruiting easier because most people want to live here.”