Pictet Alternative Advisors (PAA) has launched its first thematic private equity fund, which will focus on technology investments. The fund plans invest in 20 to 25 best-in-class funds globally and target up to 20 direct or joint investments in private companies over three to four years.

PAA says in a statement that private markets offer an attractive route to investing in the tech sector and capitalizing on its structural growth potential. As companies stay private for longer, a growing share of the investment value is created prior to the listing. The coronavirus pandemic, it notes, has accelerated the ongoing trend of digital transformation and underlined the strong reliance society has developed in only a few years towards digital processes, software applications or social networks.

Pierre Stadler, head of  thematic private equity, believes that the world is still in the early stage of digital transformation, and, as such, there continues to be many attractive investment opportunities. He notes: “Software, for example, remains the fastest-growing sector globally, with an expected double-digit compounded annual growth rate over the next five years. And, while internet use has surged, there is still much further to go, with 41% of the world still lacking access to the web. Then there’s 5G. Together with the Internet of Things, the next generation of wireless technology promises to take connectivity into uncharted territory.”

Since 2012, PAA has set up 11 multi-strategy funds and manages numerous segregated accounts with US$17 billion of assets under management. It has started investing in private equity in the 1990s.