It’s the largest raise to date for Shamrock, which was founded in 1978 as the family investment company for the late Roy Disney.
Shamrock Capital Partner Steve Royer said the firm’s previous institutional funds have successively raised $170 million, $300 million, $400 million and $700 million since the early 2000s.
Shamrock launched its latest fund, formally known as Shamrock Capital Growth Fund V, in 2020. It saw significant demand and exceeded its $1 billion hard cap. The fund is targeting companies seeking $25 million to $200 million of equity capital in both control and non-control transactions.
“Shamrock will continue to invest in companies that are involved in the convergence and transformation taking place within media, entertainment and communications,” Royer said.
“We will continue to partner with management teams that are leading companies in some of the most dynamic parts of our economy,” he added, citing gaming, sports betting, marketing services, infrastructure, personal and professional betterment platforms, and the technology platforms that power this transformation.
Shamrock has roughly $3.5 billion of total assets under management.
These investments include Ad Results Media, a Houston-based audio and podcast advertising agency; Canopy Spectrum, a New Orleans-based private equity fund; Excel Sports Management, a New York-based management and marketing agency that represents blue-chip brands and marquee properties; Learn on Demand Systems, a unit of parent Hands-On Learning Solutions, a New Port Richey, Fla.-based virtual learning and training lab; Omega Wireless, an Irvine-based telecom company; and Wpromote, an El Segundo-based digital marketing agency.
Royer pointed to Excel Sports, Learn on Demand Systems and Wpromote as the kinds of businesses that Shamrock will target going forward.
“To have a fresh pool of capital to leverage our reputation in the market, and to take opportunities to partner with managers in the field, is really exciting,” he said.
Shamrock also owns a diversified portfolio of premium content consisting of interests in more than 800 films, 1,000 television episodes and 20,000 musical compositions.
Shamrock also announced the promotions of Sam Halls to principal and Alicia Zhu to vice president. Halls, who joined Shamrock in 2016, was previously an associate at Menlo Park-based Silver Lake Sumeru.
Zhu, who joined Shamrock in 2019, was formerly at Walt Disney Co., where she focused on mergers and acquisitions and long-term strategic initiatives.
