After the recent launch of Percent Underwriter, we are excited to announce our partnership with 8090 Partners, the first third-party underwriter to join the Percent platform. As a private investment platform for family offices and institutions, 8090 Partners adds decades of expertise and a roster of industry-leading partners to help launch the first Percent offering underwritten by a third party.
Founded in 2020, 8090 Partners helps their partners grow their capital and legacy by advancing their investment, philanthropic, and family office endeavors. After developing partnerships with 22 industry-leading families and entrepreneurs, making up more than $50 billion of wealth, 8090 joins Percent in our shared mission of transforming private capital markets into a more open, equitable ecosystem.
At the core of 8090 Partners’ operations are three basic strategies. When pursuing their Growth Equity strategy, the company invests in promising growth-stage technology companies led by world-class executives with proven business models. 8090’s Thematic Fund strategy drives high-conviction, targeted investments in early-stage technology entrepreneurs targeting billion-dollar outcomes. Finally, the firm’s third strategy, Special Situations, focuses on providing opportunistic capital and differentiated investment solutions to venture-backed technology companies when traditional VCs cannot.
8090’s notable investments include equity investments in Carta, Luminous Computing, Odeko, EquipmentShare, Nanotronics, Cemvita, and Infinium, acquisition financing to FiscalNote, and bridge loan financing to Vaunt. 8090 Partners has invested along with industry leaders such as Bill Gates, Luke Nosek, Travis Kalanick, as well as large funds such as Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Sequoia, a16z, and others.
As one of the first partners for Percent’s Underwriter platform, investors can soon invest in deals underwritten by 8090. The company will also utilize Percent’s extensive specialized suite of underwriter tools, accessing a wealth of industry data and services to help with their continued growth.
How 8090 Partners Conducts Due Diligence
8090 Partners takes both a top-down (macro-level) and bottom-up (micro-level) approach to diligence.
On the macro side, 8090 looks for:
- Attractive TAMs — Growing end markets, broad adoption
- Disruptive Trends — Companies that create secular shifts, thus creating new markets, avoiding fads (one-trick pony) or fades (tech obsolescence)
- A+ Teams — Proven operators in the specific sector, along with relevant experience within a sector or industry value chain
- Other Investors — A support network and validation of the company’s thesis
- “Recognized Winners” — A product edge or lead versus that of the company’s competitors
On the micro- or company-specific side of things, 8090 looks at:
- Valuation — The company’s downside protection, absolute/relative risk-reward, and fundamental asset value
- Quality — The company’s corporate and board structure, key person assessments, and exit considerations
- Business Model — If the company has strong unit economics, revenue stream visibility, and proven KPIs (key performance indicators
- Growth — Consistent organic growth of the company, balancing market share advances with profitability
- Value Proposition: Everything from the product, return of investment to buyers, and business/segment long-term drivers
Percent is excited to onboard third-party underwriters and provide investors with diversified credit opportunities across different industries and asset classes. By leveraging our extensive suite of underwriter tools, our surveillance reporting, and our investment platform, Percent is executing on our mission to make the private credit market accessible to all.