San Mateo, CA—Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP) launched its inaugural SEP Fellows Program, an academy-style internship program engaging underrepresented college students in investing and technology roles within SEP and its portfolio companies. The SEP Fellows Program expands on the firm’s initiatives to promote diversity, inclusion, mentorship and equality in our community by training and preparing future leaders.
“SEP is thrilled to partner with our portfolio and the 2020 class in launching SEP Fellows,” said SEP Managing Directors Kyle Ryland and Sanjeet Mitra. “Our firm invests in technology growth and has unique access to innovation. We believe real innovation requires systematic promotion of inclusion, a diverse set of thoughts and backgrounds and access starting at early stages of career development. Our goal with the SEP Fellows Program is to enable entry into technology and finance careers for a group of terrific and gifted students.”
The SEP Fellows Program recently placed twenty-two students around the country from diverse backgrounds into internships covering sales, marketing, engineering, finance, operations, and investing roles. Fellows also participate in professional workshops and fireside chats with industry leaders and networking seminars designed to develop skills necessary for long-term career success. SEP partnered with SaaS recruiting platform Sourcediv and a number of college career centers and organizations for the 2020 class.
The program emphasizes mentorship from SEP and its portfolio. “Mentorship plays an unparalleled role in career advancement,” says Kevin Cheng, Vice President at SEP. “It has always been a foundational pillar of the culture here at SEP and our portfolio, and we view it as a critical building block of success in any role.“ As part of the program, Fellows are paired with mentors across the SEP team. Additionally, senior executives across the SEP portfolio companies are committed to creating an environment for organic mentorship and networking. The mentorship program represents not only a commitment for this summer but an ongoing commitment to provide guidance, feedback, and access to the broader SEP network in technology and finance.
The program is currently designed as an annual summer program. Applications for the 2021 SEP Fellows Program will open in Fall 2020. Sumeru Equity Partners is an equal opportunity employer.
About Sumeru Equity Partners
Sumeru Equity Partners (“SEP”) is a technology-focused growth capital firm that invests in companies across software, technology-enabled services and hardware. The firm employs a growth-oriented partnership model with technology companies and typically invests $25-200 million per transaction. The firm was founded in 2014 by an experienced team from Silver Lake Sumeru, a private equity fund started in 2007 within Silver Lake. SEP has a longstanding history of investing and partnering with founders and management teams to build growth leaders. SEP has backed leading software companies such as Azuga, Ceros, Criteria, GoGuardian, MDSL, Social Chorus, Blackline, Talend, Kyriba and Buildium. For more information about SEP and its full portfolio, please visit www.sumeruequity.com.