Investing In Automation: Talking With The Portfolio Pickers At Thomas H. Lee Partners’ $900 Million Automation Fund

Investing In Automation: Talking With The Portfolio Pickers At Thomas H. Lee Partners’ $900 Million Automation Fund

Given the trend toward the automation of everything, it's somewhat surprising how few investors focus on the space. That makes Thomas H. Lee Partners' year-and-a-half-old Automation Fund, with $900 million in assets, particularly intriguing. The giant private equity group, which has raised more than $34 billion in equity since its founding by billionaire Thomas Lee in 1974, figures that robotics and automation could follow a similar trajectory to software, which exploded over the past 25 years with investments rising from $1 billion to $150 billion. Big growth means big opportunity for investors, of course, and with markets turning down there may also be new opportunities to buy companies on the cheap for the long term. "Automation is penetrating all end markets. That's why it is such a powerful technology trend in which to invest," says Thomas H. Lee Partners managing director Jim Carlisle, who heads the automation fund. Carlisle, 46, joined Thomas H. Lee in 2000 after a stint at Goldman Sachs. Managing director Mike Kaczmarek, 38, who works with him on the fund's investment efforts, arrived in 2016 and is also on the advisory board of MassRobotics, an innovation hub for the robotics community. The duo see growth, fragmented