We are pleased to announce that Cinven, together with La Caisse (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec), has agreed to acquire Optio, a leading specialty insurance Managing General Agent platform. Optio originates, underwrites and manages specialty risk on behalf of more than 60 third-party capacity providers, it was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in London. The business underwrites a highly diversified portfolio of specialty risks across six business lines, Profession & Specialty, Transportation, Property & Energy, Healthcare, Transactional Liability, and Surety & Credit, spanning more than 30 products across 18 offices in 15 countries. This investment builds on Cinven's extensive expertise and long track record in specialty underwriting and financial services, including investments in Compre Group, Miller Insurance Services LLP and Policy Expert, and reflects our conviction in Optio's compelling growth trajectory in a structurally expanding market. Read more about Cinven's investment in Optio: https://lnkd.in/e6W99Jhg
Cinven
Venture Capital and Private Equity Principals
London, England 86,963 followers
A leading international private equity firm that invests in high-performing businesses with strong potential for growth.
About us
We are a leading pure-play, international private equity firm that has been investing for nearly 50 years. We invest in high-performing businesses with strong potential for growth, across Europe and, since 2015, with a focused presence in North America. We create value by working closely with portfolio company management teams to achieve clear strategic goals – a partnership approach which consistently drives outstanding performance. We invest across six sectors: Business Services, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials and TMT, and operate out of 7 offices in Europe and the US. This focused approach means we have developed deep expertise across these sectors and regions, making us well placed to help our portfolio companies drive growth through cycles by implementing value creation plans with significant impact. We are proud of our collaborative culture. We form strong partnerships – with investors, with management teams, with external advisers and with colleagues. Every Cinven investment brings together our sector, country and functional specialists who pool their experience to identify untapped potential. Once invested, we work side by side with management teams and co-invest partners, aligning on a business vision and drawing on our experience to provide the strategic direction they need to achieve sustainable growth. This partnership approach means we all succeed together. Visit www.cinven.com to learn more about our work.
- Website
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http://www.cinven.com
External link for Cinven
- Industry
- Venture Capital and Private Equity Principals
- Company size
- 201-500 employees
- Headquarters
- London, England
- Type
- Privately Held
- Specialties
- Private Equity
Locations
Employees at Cinven
Updates
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Millions of people file their taxes through Taxwell's products every year. AI is now central to how that experience gets built and improved. In a recent conversation between CEO Dermot Halpin and Stuart Walker, Cinven's Partner for AI and Technology Transformation, Dermot sets out how AI is reshaping the filing experience, from document upload that auto-populates forms, to SmartFile, an AI assistant built directly into the TaxAct journey. The same thinking extends to how the business operates, with AI embedded across areas such as customer service, software development, and the tax engine update cycle. The goal, as Dermot puts it, is simple: a filing experience that feels effortless – one that understands your tax situation and moves you through the process quickly and with confidence. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/ev-giwSw
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We are pleased to announce that Cinven has agreed to acquire Salsify, a leading cloud-native provider of Product Experience Management software solutions. With a global network spanning North America, Europe and Australia, Salsify helps brands manage and share accurate, up-to-date product information with online retailers. Its platform serves as a system of record for product data, autonomously formatting and syndicating content to match each retailer's specific requirements. Founded in 2012, today Salsify has established a network of more than 2,000 customers, including many of the world's leading consumer brands, publishing approximately 750 million products across 2,600 commerce destinations. This investment draws on Cinven's deep TMT and Consumer expertise and reflects our conviction in Salsify's significant value creation potential - from its differentiated, business-critical platform and strong growth track record, to its compelling proposition as AI reshapes commerce - and its clear runway for further growth in Europe, other international markets, and further expansion in the US. Read more about Cinven's investment in Salsify: https://lnkd.in/ebp54gWh 👏 Danny Garin, John Cuyulis, Maxim Crewe, Carol Yu, Piyush Chaudhari, Rob Gonzalez
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Congratulations to Samy Jazaerli on being named in the Rising Stars of Private Equity list 2026 by Private Equity News. A well deserved recognition. ⭐ Since joining Cinven in 2017, Samy has been a key member of our Financial Services sector team, with involvement in a number of significant transactions including Alter Domus, Compre Group, Grant Thornton UK, IFGL and Viridium Gruppe. View the full list here: https://lnkd.in/eKWznyAV
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We are pleased to announce that Cinven's portfolio company Vitamin Well Group is combining with EMPWR Nutrition Group, a leading nutrition bar manufacturer. EMPWR is a Belgium-headquartered contract development and manufacturing organisation operating four manufacturing facilities across Croatia, the Netherlands, the United States and Canada, with over 1,500 employees and more than 100 customers. EMPWR has been an important manufacturing partner for Vitamin Well, producing the full range of Barebells Original and Soft bars for markets globally. This transaction represents an exciting next step in Vitamin Well's growth trajectory, enabling the Group to further meet the strong consumer demand for its bars. Read more about the transaction of EMPWR: https://lnkd.in/enpvR886
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Great news from portfolio company Artefact, now a Select partner in the Claude Partner Network Services Track with Anthropic, one of only two partners with this status in Southern Europe. This partnership is a strong example of the AI-driven transformation helping enterprises move from strategy to execution on generative and agentic AI, while building real internal capability along the way, and continues to propel Artefact's very strong growth. Congratulations to the whole Artefact team. 🎉
📣 Partnership announcement - Artefact and Anthropic team up to accelerate Enterprise AI Adoption. We’re excited to announce that we’re now a #Selectpartner in the Claude Partner Network Services Track, with Anthropic, the AI research and development company that creates reliable, interpretable, and steerable #AI systems. 🤝 Through this partnership, Artefact will help enterprises deploy and scale #generative and #agentic AI from strategy to operations. Artefact has provided hands-on Claude Code training sessions in London and Paris, and 1,500 users of its own consulting and technical workforce now use Claude. In particular, Artefact has built a seamless employee experience - powered by Claude - that supercharges daily workflows in areas such as strategic research and technical execution. Now, as a Select partner in the #ClaudePartnerNetwork, Artefact supports its clients in deploying #Claude at scale to materialize business gains. This partnership supports organizations in a set of priority areas: 🚀 Claude large-scale adoption per function, 🔒 Claude production-ready deployment (FinOps, Security), ⚙️ SaaS simplification & Legacy IT modernization with Claude. Artefact is already doing this for several organizations: ➡️ At Pictet Group, Artefact is running the Claude Code adoption and training program, equipping around 500 developers with best practices in agentic coding. ➡️ At Ara Partners, Artefact is helping investment, IR, and ops teams transform their work with Claude - deploying it into key sourcing, diligence, execution, and reporting workflows to help them work faster and more effectively. ➡️ At Cinven, Artefact is redesigning their investment team’s workflows to be AI-first, built around Claude, and deploying Claude into firmwide operations at portfolio companies. 🗣️ Thomas Remy, Head of France, Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa at Anthropic: "Claude was built to be safe, helpful, and honest, which is why many enterprises trust it as the foundation for their work with AI. By pairing Claude with Artefact's expertise in enterprise AI adoption, we're helping organizations close the gap between how they’re currently using AI and what AI can actually do." 🗣️ Vincent LucIAni, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Artefact: “This partnership with Anthropic is fully aligned with our highly innovative culture and ambition to help more organizations transform their business through AI that is scalable and people-centric. By combining Anthropic’s powerful AI capabilities with Artefact’s expertise in agents management, AI deployment and enterprise adoption, we want to change the way companies operate for the better.”
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As Pride Month comes to a close, we've been reflecting on what it means to colleagues across Cinven. For some, it's a deeply personal journey spanning decades. For others, it's about the everyday practice of allyship, listening, and making space for different lived experiences. What comes through clearly is that inclusion isn't a once-a-year commitment. It's built through small, everyday choices that make people feel safe being themselves, all year round.
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Great to see our volunteers from the Cinven London office spending time with Year 10 pupils sharing practical skills. The team was very inspired to see a new generation of talent already showing such confidence and ambition.
Developing future leaders with Cinven at St Mary Magdalene Academy. Year 10 pupils from our partner school, recently took part in a ‘Prefect Leadership’ session delivered by volunteers from our corporate partner the Cinven Foundation. Working with around 25 pupils, the volunteers shared insights into key career skills such as interview techniques, professionalism, and building rapport. Pupils then put their learning into practice through a final group task and presentation. Tabitha, English teacher at St Mary Magdalene Academy said: “It was great to have the volunteers from Cinven share the qualities of a strong leader with our budding Prefects. The pupils demonstrated the skills they had been taught wonderfully and thoroughly enjoyed the morning.” A huge thank you to the Cinven London team for inspiring the next generation of leaders. 👉 Learn how your business can partner with us to support our schools: https://lnkd.in/dVeGVBP
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What does a long-term career in private equity actually look like? In our most recent edition of Executing Excellence, four Senior Principals share their insights on what it's like behind the deals. Courtney Basanovic, Letizia Bellucci, Rebecca Hunter, and Anastasya Molodykh discuss what makes dealmaking so rewarding, how they've grown at Cinven, and what they'd tell the next generation of dealmakers. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ew7pUEpd
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