Recognize Partners

Three co-founders hold the Managing Partner title: Charles Phillips, Frank D'Souza, and David Wasserman. The firm discloses no separate Chief Investment Officer or investment committee chair — indicating decisions sit with the founding group. Rajeev Mehta, Cognizant's former President, serves as Co-Founder and Senior Advisor but is not listed as a Managing Partner.

Yes. Recognize invests exclusively in technology services companies — product engineering, cybersecurity, cloud services, digital operations, and adjacent verticals. The firm calls this a one-sector strategy and does not maintain a product-company fund, credit strategy, or real-asset vehicle alongside its core private-equity funds.

Recognize employs a dedicated value-creation unit of operating principals and advisors who embed inside portfolio companies post-close. Named operating professionals include Soumya Dash, Pallav Garg, and Saleem Janmohamed. The firm's website quotes portfolio CEOs describing the team as hands-on in areas like human capital, culture building, and integration during M&A roll-ups.

Recognize Partners Fund II closed at $1.7 billion in June 2025 (per the firm). The fund advanced the existing strategy of acquiring and scaling digital services businesses — identical to the Fund I mandate. Total AUM stood at $3.3B+ as of March 2026.

Yes. While Recognize typically targets control positions, it also takes significant minority stakes. Portfolio company 2X is a recent example: Recognize initially invested in the marketing-as-a-service platform, and Insight Partners later led a strategic minority round in March 2025 with Recognize retaining its exposure.

Headquarters are at 540 Madison Avenue, New York. The firm also has an India office led by Partner and Head of India Operations Muthu Kumaran. The India presence supports a model that frequently involves global delivery and engineering talent — a structural advantage for a firm whose portfolio companies sell offshore-resourced services.

The link is direct. Charles Phillips was President of Oracle and later Chairman of Infor. Frank D'Souza co-founded Cognizant and took it from startup to a Fortune 200 services giant. Rajeev Mehta served as Cognizant's President. David Wasserman founded Long Ridge Equity Partners, which also invested in tech-enabled services. Recognize was built to deploy the same operating playbooks, not just capital.