Good morning, PE Hubsters! Rafael Canton filling in for MK Flynn for the US edition of the Wire from the New York newsroom.
Safety concerns over AI voiced by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei caused a stir over the weekend. AI has been a central theme in tech investing, and it’s also the topic we start the week with.
I spoke with Max de Groen, partner and co-head of Technology, North America Private Equity at Bain Capital, to learn more about how the Boston-based firm is navigating disruption from AI in software, and his view on dealmaking activity in the tech sector.
Then, we have a couple of deal announcements from this morning. Genstar Capital and Aksia have made a growth investment in accounting and advisory firm Richey May.
To finish, New Mountain Capital agreed to make a significant minority investment in offshore legal and corporate services business Appleby Global Group.
Reinforced focus
The themes of AI disruption in software and private credit have been at the center of investing in the technology sector throughout 2026.
Bain Capital is one of the PE firms with a wide lens on tech, investing in subsectors like software, fintech, consumer tech, cybersecurity and healthcare IT, among others. In May, Bain became one of several PE firms to back the OpenAI Deployment Company.
I caught up with Max de Groen, partner and co-head of Technology, North America Private Equity at Bain, to learn more about how the Boston-based firm is navigating disruption from AI in software and whether the conversation around higher interest rates has affected software investing.
The interview is part of PE Hub’s ongoing series of Q&As with PE thought leaders. Here’s an excerpt from the conversation:
What’s your outlook for dealmaking in the tech sector going into 2027?
It’s been a slow first half of the year. The market has been dealing with continued uncertainty, which makes it harder for buyers and sellers to align on a fair value for a business. I’m cautiously optimistic that as we go into the end of 2026 and into 2027, there will be more understanding of what a new normal will look like, and that will lead to an increase in deal volume over time.
Now, there are going to be several challenges with the market seeing a significant increase in deal volume. There are a number of assets that are owned by sponsors that were bought during the 2020-22 time period, when investors paid high prices for assets. It is tougher to grow into those valuations, especially in a world in which software multiples are lower than they were a few years ago.
There have been longer hold periods for some sellers because of that, and we are optimistic that there are going to be a number of well-positioned companies across tech, both in software and in some other sectors, ready to transact. Whether that’s businesses that we are acquiring from other private equity firms, venture capital, founders or opportunities in the public markets, I am optimistic that we’ll see a growth in activity over the next year.
How has AI disruption affected your investment strategy?
For several years now, we’ve been highly cognizant of the impact of AI, including the way it is shaping the role of software today and the way software will be developed in the future. As we looked at opportunities in software in 2024 and 2025, we were already taking that into consideration.
The ‘SaaSpocalypse’ ultimately painted the industry with a broad brush, but it didn’t fundamentally change how we were and are thinking about software. There was a broader recognition around change coming to the software space, and in particular, to the companies whose principal role had been as a lighter-weight workflow engine, and not a mission-critical piece of software built on deep industry data, domain expertise or critical systems. AI has threatened the value proposition of those companies.
We didn’t have any of those companies in our portfolio. Our lens has always been to invest in mission-critical businesses that solve a unique, fundamental problem for their customers. We’re deeply involved with companies focused on systems of record and systems of data and action.
As it relates to the SaaSpocalypse itself, it did change the way a lot of public investors thought about software and the valuation paradigm around it. Of course, over the last few months you’ve seen recognition by the public market that not every software company is going to be affected equally by AI.
Ultimately, these dynamics have only reinforced our focus areas and how we think about software businesses. We look at the market now and believe this is one of the greatest opportunities in recent memory to invest in high-quality tech companies. This is a sentiment shared by our Tech Opportunities and Ventures colleagues.
Together, we are spending a lot of time thinking about which companies are differentially well positioned and how we can leverage our operating capabilities, playbook and AI transformation capabilities to help accelerate their growth.
Read on for more from the chat with de Groen about the firm’s investment in OpenAI’s DeployCo.
Editor’s note: This story is part of PE Hub’s ongoing series of Q&As with PE thought leaders. For more, see:
Tax services
Let’s look at a deal from this morning. Genstar Capital and Aksia have made a growth investment in Richey May, a top 50 accounting and advisory firm, according to a statement.
The investment is intended to accelerate Richey May’s organic growth and M&A strategy as it continues to expand as a national platform. Existing investor F3 Partners and Richey May’s management team will retain significant ownership stakes alongside the new investors.
Richey May has provided accounting, tax and advisory services for more than 40 years, serving clients nationwide from its Denver, Colorado headquarters and offices across eight states. Richey May is the brand under which Richey, May & Co. and RM Advisory operate, providing attest services and tax and business consulting services, respectively.
Deep experience
New Mountain Capital agreed to make a significant minority investment in Appleby Global Group. Based in Bermuda, Appleby is an offshore legal and corporate services platform.
Under the agreement, New Mountain will take a minority interest in a newly formed Cayman Islands company that will indirectly hold Appleby Global. Existing management and partners will retain majority control of the business under the terms of the deal, and the law firm entities will remain owned and controlled by Appleby partners qualified in the relevant jurisdictions.
Appleby provides legal and fiduciary services – including corporate and disputes work – to financial institutions, investment managers, insurers, corporations and private clients. The firm’s offices span the key offshore financial centers of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Mauritius and the Seychelles, along with hubs in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The firm has “deep experience scaling professional services firms through organic expansion and strategic acquisitions,” Harris Kealey, managing director at New Mountain, said in a statement. “The opportunity for Appleby employees to increase equity ownership and participate in the future success of the firm is central to our partnership approach.”
That’s it for me. If you have any questions, thoughts, or want to chat about deals in the tech, consumer or sports sectors, please email me at rafael.c@pei.group.
Tomorrow, Craig McGlashan will write the Europe edition of the Wire, while Obey Martin Manayiti will be with you for the US edition.
Cheers,
Rafael