FTV Capital’s 2026 Annual Partner Conference Focuses on Growth Execution in the AI Era

In early October, FTV Capital hosted our 2026 Annual Partner Conference in San Diego, bringing together more than 200 limited partners, portfolio company leaders, strategic advisors and executives in our Global Partner Network®. This year, the two-day event was built around a key theme: how leading growth-stage companies are combining operational discipline with AI-enabled leverage to drive growth and a lasting competitive advantage.

Mind the gap

FTV Managing Partner Brad Bernstein opened the general session with his point of view on AI, “Mind the Gap: Winning in the AI Era,” arguing that the AI investment boom has run well ahead of business results.

AI is expanding what software and tech-enabled services companies can build, how fast they can build it and how much value they can deliver to customers. At FTV, we see impressive productivity gains and AI-enabled innovation in our companies each week, and yet we also see a market that’s quick to extrapolate from both fear and hype.

AI capex is projected to reach $5-10 trillion by 2032; still, only one in five enterprises is prepared to redesign processes to run autonomously with AI agents. Brad articulated our view: companies that close this gap and create durable value are those that both redesign around AI quickly and own what AI can’t mimic—proprietary data, deeply embedded workflows, governance and compliance built over years, and trust that comes from being the system of record.

FTV companies are playing to win

Throughout the conference, portfolio companies showed how they’re navigating complex markets, transforming their businesses with AI and driving growth through operational excellence. Lean Solutions Group, a nearshore outsourcing partner for U.S. transportation and logistics companies, has 254 AI initiatives in production performing 18 million tasks annually. EBANX shared its journey of operating through complexity at global scale, and VALD discussed how it’s building an AI moat in healthcare, amassing a proprietary database of more than 170 million musculoskeletal measurement records.

FTV introduced our newest investments, Carbon, COR, Kingsview Partners, TabaPay and Valitana, and highlighted outcomes from the past year, including Neptune Flood raising $368 million in an IPO. Neptune reflects what a close partnership between FTV and a management team can deliver with disciplined growth execution over the life of an investment.

FTV’s model in action

Beyond the main stage, the conference showcased FTV’s model in action. Strategic Advisory Board members exchanged market insights, Fund Governance Committee members met to weigh in on the firm’s direction and limited partners joined a dedicated fund review.

In closed-door peer leadership sessions, portfolio CEOs and founders compared notes on driving growth, profitability and leadership effectiveness, a discussion led by CEOs Alex Belgrade of Valitana, Frederic Ceyte of FundApps and Jimmy Fitzgerald of Paddle. Sales and operating executives worked through practical ways AI is reshaping go-to-market execution, in a session led by FTV Chief Revenue Advisor Bob Ranaldi and Homefield CEO George Hou.

Our Global Partner Network executives connected directly with portfolio companies in hundreds of 1-on-1 meetings, facilitating commercial relationships that continue all year.

Unpacking FTV’s no. 1 growth equity ranking in North America and Europe

Consistent execution is what FTV’s own track record is built on, and the data backs this up. FTV Partner Kyle Griswold and HEC Paris Professor Oliver Gottschalg analyzed one of the firm’s highlights of the year, our no. 3 global and no. 1 North America/Europe ranking in the 2025 HEC Paris-Dow Jones Growth Capital Performance list. Gottschalg explained the drivers behind that performance: fundamental growth, downside protection and differentiated market positioning—the same strong qualities we look for in the companies we back.

Looking ahead

One big-picture takeaway: businesses have a great opportunity in front of them, and it’s time to close the gap. Every fast-growing company today has access to the same technology. The difference will come from owning differentiated assets and executing with discipline. Helping our companies do both is our priority for the year ahead.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in San Diego. We look forward to continuing the conversation and powering growth together.