Tyler Zachem and David Basto have joined The Carlyle Group CG as managing directors in the firm’s corporate private equity group, Fortune has learned.

Both men previously led Broad Sky Partners, a middle-market private equity firm they co-founded in late 2013, after leaving MidOcean Partners. Broad Sky was a so-called fundless sponsor, which means it worked on a deal-by-deal basis without having a defined pool of capital. It appears to have made two acquisitions: Apex Parks Group, a group of family entertainment centers; and MannaPro Products, an animal feed company.

At both Broad Sky and MidOcean, the pair focused on deals in the media, communications and business services sectors. They will work out of Carlyle’s New York office.

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Avista Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm formed a decade ago by former DLJ Merchant Banking chief Thompson Dean, is making a major change to its structure, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

When Avista begins raising its fourth fund in early 2016, it will not include an energy investing component. Instead, Avista’s energy team will attempt to raise their own fund under the firm’s banner.

The official explanation to prospective investors is that the move will provide greater investment flexibility, as certain limited partners may be averse (or already overexposed) to the energy sector. More to the point, however, is that energy deals out of Avista’s $1.4 billion third fund have dragged down overall returns. By carving out those deals from their track record, it gives Avista’s non-energy folks a better chance of finding willing investors.

No word yet on how much Avista plans to raise. Don’t be surprised to see a fairly low number, given that it has fallen short of target the past two times around.

The firm currently has enough dry powder in its existing fund to do one new deal, or perhaps two if they are small.

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When activist investors say jump, Yahoo YHOO jumps. Just a week after Starboard Value recommended that Yahoo stop the planned spin-off of its Alibaba and Yahoo Japan shares and sell its core business, Yahoo's board is considering exactly that, according to reports.

If "core Yahoo” sold, Yahoo stock would consist of no operating company. Shareholders would own some Alibaba stock, some Yahoo Japan stock, and around $5 billion in cash.

The loudest speculation is that the 21-year-old Internet property, which shareholders now value at less than nothing, could be sold to a private equity firm for between $5 billion and $6 billion range (net of cash on hand). But if a deal happens, it would mean the end of Yahoo as we know it: a struggling, aging Internet giant.

Over the last decade, Yahoo has tried just about every possible approach to return to growth: It tried a media CEO (Terry Semel), a returning founder (Jerry Yang), a tough-talking cost-cutter (Carol Bartz), a CTO (Scott Thompson), and a product visionary (Marissa Mayer). None have worked out.

But private equity could be a viable last resort. "Core Yahoo" had nearly $900 million in operating cash flow last year, and remains the fifth-largest website in the world. Industry watchers have called on Mayer to cut more costs and lay off more employees, but instead she's acquired 50 companies and made money-losing investments in expensive content deals. Cutting costs, on the other hand, is private equity's specialty.

There are a few big catches, however: Private equity isn't known for turning around consumer Internet properties. They have armies of Six Sigma ninjas that know how to cut costs and run lean operations, but they don't know how to dream up new, innovative products that people will love.

There’s only one large consumer Internet buyout I can think of, and it was a big success: Skype, which Silver Lake Partners bought from eBay in 2009 and sold to Microsoft MSFT two years later for three times its money. That included the involvement of a venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, with eBay EBAY itself retaining a minority stake. So a PE-backed consumer Web turnaround is rare, but not impossible.

The other big catch is the debt: As my colleague Dan Primack has noted, big buyout deals are having a hard time finding buyers for their debt. With shrinking revenue and threats that its credit rating will be cut further, Yahoo debt would be even harder to place. A $5 billion to $6 billion deal doesn’t compare to Dell’s crazy $67 billion buyout of EMC, but it may give financial buyers pause.

Private equity isn't the only last resort. Strategic buyers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, may also see value in the asset. Verizon VZ already has shown interest in snapping up struggling old-Internet stalwarts, having earlier this year acquired AOL, worth $164 billion at its peak, for just $4 billion.

Read Fortune’s profile of Jeff Smith, the man leading Starboard Value’s campaign against Yahoo.

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You can follow Erin Griffith on Twitter at @eringriffith, and read all of her articles here.

Yahoo has its share of troubles, but as the company’s board considers a possible sale of its core business, it may find a long line of potential suitors.

Yahoo’s board is meeting this week to discuss the possibility of selling its core assets, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Fortune. While discussions are believed to be in the early stages, the board may ultimately decide to put its core Internet business up for sale including its media properties, e-mail, and advertising.

All that would be left of the company would be its hugely valuable stakes in China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba BABA and Yahoo Japan, a joint venture with Japan-based conglomerate SoftBank, along with some cash. It’s also possible, however, that Yahoo’s board will decide against a sale or may sell just a few pieces of the business.

Speculation about which companies may be interested in Yahoo is rampant. Verizon Communications VZ and Internet company IAC/InterActive Corp are among the potential suitors, according to The Wall Street Journal. IACI . Private equity firms are also said to be lining up to bid.

Investors hoping for a deal sent Yahoo’s shares YHOO up 5% on Wednesday after news of a possible sale emerged the night before. But others have questioned whether Yahoo is really that valuable.

Critics point to Yahoo’s desire to spin-off its stake in Alibaba, which is valued at around $30 billion, as well as its stake in Yahoo Japan, valued at $8 billion, versus the company’s own market capitalization of nearly $32 billion, as proof that the core of its business is worth nothing. What’s worse, Yahoo shareholders have watched as the company’s revenue has steadily declined and its position in the Internet industry’s pecking order erode.

The truth, however, is that the company’s core Internet business is actually a cash cow that, in the right hands, could be an extremely valuable asset.

“One of the things you get access to is a billion monthly users so that helps you to cross-sell other products,” Bob Peck, an analyst SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, told Fortune in an interview. “You also get access to the advertising technology.”

John Blackledge, head of Internet industry research at Cowen, says Yahoo’s value is in the cash it generates. He estimated that in 2016, alone, Yahoo core would generate $780 million in operating profit. That’s before any buyer cut costs and hires new management. Even after taxes and other expenses, Blackledge says, Yahoo core would generate even more cash than now, like an annuity.

“There's value in [Yahoo core] that hasn't been understood or appreciated,” says Scott Kessler, an analyst at S&P Capital IQ. “I'm hardly saying this is a great company with tremendous growth, but this is still a powerful global brand. A lot of companies would be interested in acquiring them.”

For its part, Yahoo declined to comment about any possible sale, and, at least publicly, is committed to focus on growth. The company signed a search ad deal with Google in October, and has recently reported modest growth in its advertising business after years of mostly stagnation. In the third quarter, Yahoo’s revenue rose 7% to $1.2 billion compared to the same period last year. The company’s search and display ad revenue grew 13% and 14%, respectively, and it’s “Mavens” business (Mobile, video, native, and social advertising) saw an increase of 43% year-over-year to $422 million.

While that may not be groundbreaking performance compared with Google GOOG and Facebook FB , it could attract buyers who ultimately want a steady stream of cash.

After all, it’s happened before.

Earlier this year, Verizon said that it would acquire AOL for nearly $4.4 billion. A vestige of the 1990s, AOL was in a similar position as Yahoo. It still had rather impressive ad revenue and substantial cash flow, but its business was slowly shrinking.

Indeed, Kessler says that Verizon could be actively seeking to buy Yahoo buy for all of the same reasons that lured it to AOL. The difference here, is that Yahoo may be even more attractive.

“I don't see why people should perceive Yahoo to be different than AOL,” he says. “Yahoo is more global, and Yahoo has a stronger balance sheet than AOL did. I think there's a lot there.”

Questions remain, though, over how much Yahoo’s core business is worth to the right buyer. Analysts surveyed by Fortune value it at anywhere from $1.9 billion and $8 billion. Most analysts, however, say that Yahoo’s core will likely fetch between $5 billion and $8 billion. The wide range is due to the differences in the way analysts value Yahoo’s stake in its Asian investments, and how much cash would remain with what’s left of the company.

Regardless, the sales price would be a far cry from the days of old when Yahoo could have fetched tens of billions more. In 2008, Microsoft MSFT proposed a $44.6 billion acquisition, a 62% percent premium to the company’s stock price at the time. That was before Alibaba became such a valuable asset. While the deal would have given Microsoft all of Yahoo, the differences between the Yahoo of 2008 and Yahoo’s core now are not all that different. It would have been one of the biggest technology industry acquisitions in history, and looking back, it would have given shareholders far more cash.

Yahoo ultimately rebuffed Microsoft’s offer and set its own course in hopes of a turnaround. Instead, things got worse.

Now, the board is back in the same spot, mulling a possible sale of Yahoo’s core business. The implications are major. One possibility is that Yahoo would cancel the spin off of its Alibaba shares and keep them. After selling its core Internet assets, Yahoo would essentially become a holding company for its Asian investments.

The process could take months. But as far as Kessler and other analysts Fortune spoke to are concerned, deciding against a sale against may be a grave mistake.

“There are a lot of opportunities and options,” Kessler says of Yahoo. “The time might be ripe.”

For more on Marissa Mayer and Yahoo, check out the following Fortune video:

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There were two major developments on Thursday in the world of ride-hailing.

First, Uber is in the midst of raising $2.1 billion in new private equity funding at a whopping $62 billion valuation. For context, that’s higher than the market cap of General Motors GM , and it was done at fairly standard terms (1x liquidation preference, no “ratchets”). Second, four Uber rivals from around the globe have signed a “strategic partnership” through which they’ll work together on both technology and services. The new partners are Lyft (U.S.), Didi Kuaidi (China), GrabTaxi (SouthEast Asia) and Ola (India).

In other words, it’s now Uber vs. the world. Which is why it’s so surprising that Uber’s new financing round is being co-led by Tiger Global, which previously invested in Didi Kuaidi, GrabTaxi, Ola and Lyft (that last one is indirect, as Lyft raised money from Didi Kuaidi). Keep your enemies so close that they’re on your cap table?

Sources familiar with the situation say that Tiger is committing more to Uber in this round than it invested in any of the other three companies, which helped make Uber more comfortable with its inclusion. For Tiger, it was less about hedging and more about a platform coverage (i.e., there can be multiple winners, particularly as some of the companies expand beyond consumer transportation). Moreover, the two sides worked out an information-sharing plan that would avoid either one from being put in an awkward position (which, presumably, means very little information will actually be shared).

The deal also reflects how much of Uber’s growth is outside of the U.S., despite regulatory challenges and homegrown rivals. For example, five of its ten largest global markets are in China, where a company spokesperson claims it has between a 25% and 30% market share of all completed private car trips. In India, Uber claims around a 40% market share.

From a fundraising perspective, that international growth means:

1. Uber feels more confident about its competitive position, so is willing to take on an investor like Tiger Global. This is a far cry from last year, when Uber CEO Travis Kalanick openly bragged to Vanity Fair about trying to disrupt Lyft’s fundraising efforts.
2. Uber wants to maintain momentum — including adding new markets — but needs new outside capital to do so. But because it already has raised so much money from so many big investors, it can no longer be quite so choosy when it comes to new shareholders.

Uber has not yet closed the new financing round, nor does it have verbal commitments for the entire $2.1 billion. Expect that it will follow the same process we’ve seen in the past, where it holds a quick first close in order to set the terms — in this case with Tiger and T. Rowe Price — and then works to fill out the remaining book.

For Uber’s most recent stock certification in Delaware, where the new valuation was first disclosed, see below (courtesy of private market data provider VC Experts):

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and investing partner Bryan Cressey are hiring investment staff to handle their personal investments in healthcare technology and services companies, Fortune has learned.

The new effort will be separate from Cressey & Co., a healthcare-focused private equity firm in which both Frist and Cressey are (and will continue to be) partners.

Frist says that there are no current plans to raise a dedicated fund, but rather that the new effort will be focused on small deals that he and Cressey have made (mostly independent of one another).

Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, Frist was a heart surgeon whose family founded the HCA HCA hospital chain (where Bill continues to serve as a director). Brian Cressey is a well-known private equity investor who, prior to Cressey & Co., co-founded firms that would later become known as GTCR and Thoma Bravo.

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After years of declining sales and a shrinking army of domestic Avon Ladies, the direct-selling beauty company is selling off its North American business to a private equity firm, in the hope it can focus on more promising markets abroad.

Avon Products AVP said on Thursday it was selling an 80.1% stake in its U.S. and Canada division to Cerberus Capital Management, known for its turnaround expertise, for $170 million. Avon will keep the remaining 19.9% of the new company, which will be privately-held, and will have two directors on Avon North America’s board. Cerberus also will investing $435 million for around a 17% equity stake in Avon Products.

Avon's sales in North America have fallen by more than half since 2007, an all-time high when they hit $2.62 billion, and there has been a fast exodus of its sales representatives-the iconic "Avon Ladies." Where there were once 600,000 Avon Ladies in North America, there are now only 400,000, a devastating blow for a direct-selling company. North America, Avon’s biggest market a decade ago with nearly half of its sales, now generates only 14% of company revenue. And the last time it made a profit in North America was 2011.

The company has struggled to compete with the emergence of affordable, quality cosmetics brands like Sephora, specialty stores like Ulta Beauty ulta and vastly improved beauty offerings of retailers from Walgreens wba to Target tgt , not to mention trying to adapt to keep direct-selling relevant in today's world.

Avon CEO Sheri McCoy, who took the reins in 2012 as the company rebuffed a $10.7 billion offer from Coty city , has for years been adamant that Avon was an iconic U.S. company that was viable in its home country. But her efforts to improve technology, adapt to the e-commerce era, and update the commission structure failed, and sales continued to slide.

Adding to the pain, Avon’s business has struggled in key emerging beauty markets like Russia and Brazil. Avon shares have slid 90% on McCoy’s watch, bringing its stock market value down to $1.6 billion. Shares rose in pre-market trading Thursday.

“We believe that the separation of Avon North America is the best way to ensure that both businesses have an unencumbered path to profitability and growth, and this was a key principle as we considered alternatives,” McCoy said in a statement.

Cerberus said that it is committed to Avon’s direct-selling business model. It also said that being out of the spotlight of the public markets would give it breathing room to fix Avon in its home market.

Avon will use the $605 million in proceeds from the deal to, among other things, pay down its debt. It is also suspending its dividend.

Goldman Sachs and Centerview advised Avon on the financial aspects of the deal. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP served as Avon's legal counsel. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as Cerberus' legal counsel.

When Martin Shkreli stepped down as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals last week--following his arrest for securities fraud--the controversial company named chairman Ron Tilles as interim CEO. Not terribly surprising, even if Tilles has deep ties to Retrophin Inc. RTRX , a different biotech company at the heart of Shkreli’s alleged transgressions. (Tilles was mentioned in the complaint against Shkreli, but was not charged with any wrongdoing.)

What was strange, however, was how Turing Pharma described Tilles in the press release announcing his appointment:

Mr. Tilles began his career at Merrill Lynch in 1985 and subsequently worked with several other securities firms. Ron’s experience includes numerous private equity and venture capital positions in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries over the last 20 years.

Unfortunately, there is no publicly-available evidence that Tilles ever held even a single private equity or venture capital position in the pharma or medical device industries, let alone “numerous” ones. In fact, his official bio on the Turing Pharma website omits any mention of venture capital or private equity work.

Tilles is registered as an active broker-dealer with Robert W. Meredith & Co., although a person who answered the phone at Robert W. Meredith could not confirm his current involvement. According to a document Tilles filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), he previously was registered with six other securities firms--dating back to Merrill Lynch between 1985 and 1987. There are a few short gaps in the history--and a bit of overlap--but the longest lag is well short of a single year:

• Robert W. Meredith: 12/04-present
• Cripple Creek Securities: 10/04-1/05
• Condor Securities: 11/93-1/03
• Yamaichi International : 1/92-8/93
• LIT America: 4/89-5/91
• Nikko Securities: 4/88-1/89
• Merrill Lynch: 9/85-7/87

In that same document, Tilles writes the following:

With Robert R. Meredith’s permission, I provide consulting advice on a part-time basis to several privately held companies in the biotechnology industry. These companies are typically financed by venture capitalists and angel investors. I provide introductions on behalf of these early stage companies and receive fees from time to time for these introductions. The work hours devoted to this effort have not averaged more than 20 hours a month at any given time, partially during trading hours, and partially outside of trading hours.

There is a world of difference between providing part-time consulting to venture-backed biotech companies and holding a “venture capital position” within said biotech company.

Perhaps the Turing press release referred to how Tilles served as Retrophin’s director of business development, a position that sometimes involves venture capital or private equity activities. But Retrophin was hardly an active investor, with S&P Capital IQ showing not a single equity investment in a privately-held company (unless you include a few strategic acquisitions). It also is worth noting that neither Retrophin nor Turing are mentioned by Tilles on his FINRA doc under a section titled “employment history,” which is supposed to cover the past decade.

Tilles is listed as a board member on the website of an enterprise software company called QuantumID Technologies, but his QID email no longer works and phone calls to the company redirect to what seems to be a personal voicemail.

A Turing Pharma spokesman has not returned requests for comment, and an email sent to an alternate address for Tilles has not been returned.

Paul Edgerley is stepping down as a managing director with Bain Capital, after a 27-year run, Fortune has learned.

The Boston-based private equity firm informed investors of his decision last night via email, with Edgerley expected to transition into a part-time advisor and mentor role.

Edgerley joined Bain Capital in 1988, and was named a managing director two years later. He has primarily focused on the industrial and energy sectors, with a particular interest in Asia, and currently sits on the boards of such companies as Sensata Technologies ST , MYOB Holdings (Australia), HeroMotoCorp. (India), TI Automotive and Apex Tool Group. He will retain the MYOB, TI Automotive and Apex Tool seats going forward.

Earlier deals included HD Supply HDS and Sealy Corp.

Edgerley also is a limited partner in the Boston Celtics ownership group, which is co-led by Bain colleague Steve Pagliuca.

From the firm’s email to investors:

Over the course of his career, Paul distinguished himself as an outstanding investor with keen insights and instincts, playing a key role in our investment committee process as well as demonstrating an ability to work with companies and executives to help them achieve their full potential. While his contributions to Bain Capital's success are too numerous to list in their entirety, there are some key accomplishments that were central to our firm's growth. At a time when few private equity firms moved into new asset classes, Paul played an important role as a senior advisor in the founding and early development of Brookside Capital. He was one of the partners who recognized a new strategic opportunity for expansion into Asia, helping to create the investment strategy and build the team. His guidance was critical to the establishment of our portfolio group, which has become one of our key levers in growing great companies. And, he led the industrials vertical which has made investments in more than 50 companies since its inception.

A Bain Capital spokesman declined comment.

Earlier this week I asked for 2016 predictions from readers of Term Sheet, our daily newsletter on deals and deal-makers. Below are 50 some odd responses, in no particular order:

Robert: "Space X will announce its trip to Mars”

Kevin: “One or two Chinese banks will also be compelled to merge with other banks too due to non-performing loans.”

Chase: “Data supported design thinking will transform product development. The mass data capture is already taking place — now companies will be leveraging this data to influence how they deliver products. No longer will companies design a product, produce at scale, and then deliver to the market with its ‘fingers crossed.’ Companies will instead put forth low-volume product releases and iterate the design in real time. A great example is fashion — why guess on trends when you can test them in real time? To take this one step further, companies will no longer design to solely to improve aesthetics, but will instead design to transform the experience. As an example, think about how Keurig changed the coffee experience based on the notion that people want a single cup and easy cleanup, while other coffee makers were focused on aesthetics.”

Viral: “Geo-political issues will escalate to high levels prompting rise in gold and developed markets sovereigns.”

PK: “Going public will come back in style.”

Rick: “Unicorns devalue to true GAPP values.”

Drew: “DeflateGate, Part II”

Mike: “The important VC shift that will occur in 2016 is that capital availability will: (1) become highly stage dependent; (2) depend more on execution than on brilliant ideas; and (3) will move to the "edges" (early and late) with the middle becoming somewhat starved.”

Steve: “In 2016, manufacturers will need to address Converged Commerce — a strategy where each channel is treated equally, with common back-end processes that support the experience you're trying to provide to every customer type in every channel — in order to control their own destinies. With retailers closing their doors, brands have to protect their revenue streams or find new ones. Selling direct through online channels allows them to reach broader audiences and increase margins, but they face strong channel conflict with distributors and retailers who are all selling to the same buyers.”

Norm: “"I predict that 2016 will be another robust year for later-stage technology companies. Cloud computing, security software and augmented reality are all high growth sectors."

Ashley: “Fed doesn’t raise rates in all of 2016. Especially helpful for my floating rate student loans.”

John: “Alternative investment platforms will be front page of the newspapers and an AngelList syndicate will beat a top 5 VC firm to lead a high profile Series B.”

Sandy: "I think 2016 will be a strong year for the venture industry. Recent trends are encouraging. Private valuations are less heady. Tech IPOs are working again though the numbers are small. The big tech companies have unprecedented cash hoards. So the exit environment looks favorable."

Kirk: “Investors considering more their portfolio’s impacts on natural resources and communities, and potentially impairing the companies who do not measure nor mitigate those impacts.”

Derek: “The S&P will hit 1,800 near the middle of 2016 as the US slips into a recession due student loan issues, distorted "headline" unemployment rate, continued declines in China, and austerity imposed on the troubled Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece & Spain. Let's be honest, how are the ‘ghost cities’ in China not a red flag?”

Branden: “VCs will become more and more anxious to see additional exits via acquisition.”

Madeline: “The on-demand market bubble will crash as it will begin to feel the effects of high labor churn combined with the difficulties in expanding into other geographical markets which will be less cost effective to operate in. Instacart will be one of the first on-demand unicorns to fall.”

Esther: “There will be an increase of investments into Israeli tech companies from the Asian alternatives market.”

JC: “The rise of the physician super group.”

Mitchell: “More unicorns will get the Gilt treatment.”

Jason: “VR Sports and Magic Leap will be set to take over the world, while new consumer mobile plays will struggle dearly.”

Jennifer: “While big pharma captures the headlines, more funds will quietly be raised with a focus on tech-enabled health/biotech before the mass commoditization of some of the technologies.”

Patrick: “2016 will be the year of M&A in tech and biotech, not the bursting of a bubble.”

Charles: “Apple buys Ford.”

Shriram: “Substantial uptick in tech IPOs, as private growth capital tightens up, terms get more onerous, and late stage companies focus on positive unit economics. ‘Down round IPO’ will become NBD.”

Matt: “Dick Costolo is at the center of a major comedy media deal.”

Ben: “ETFs for millennials will morph into Wealthfront with a taste of Fitbit and a sprinkle of Bitcoin.”

Derek: “Within the next two years, no one will be talking about big data and Apache Hadoop--at least, not as we think of the technology today. Machine learning and AI will become so good and so fast that it will be possible to extract patterns, perform real-time predictions, and gain insight around causation and correlation without human intervention to model or prepare the raw data.”

Jon: “Google (or Alphabet to be precise) is going to get serious about tackling the Enterprise market. Up to now they have been sitting mostly on the sidelines but 2016 is the year that they throw significant resources at it and start to make inroads into the space and cause companies like VMWare and HPE to take notice.”

Sahand: “EU will shake, China will collapse, credit crisis reset.”

Will: “VCs will self-correct and overall valuations will remain steady with less C and D rounds and more seed and A rounds.”

Brett: “Unicorns halved, fewer Silicon navals gazed as tech democratizes and only real world problems get funding to be solved. And robots.”

Paul: “Charter Communications succeeds in acquiring TWC and Bright House; then targets Time Warner to mimic/confront Comcast.”

Andrew: “The U.S. housing market will start to soften.”

Gil: “Anything that makes American’s fatter will increase in revenues and value. Anything that helps American’s feel fitter will increase in revenues and value.”

Nikhil: “The number of unicorn companies gets cut in half, with many of them going public for significantly lower valuations or getting scooped up for parts by larger companies when they fail to secure additional financing.”

Flint: “There will be a widening gap between the uni-cans and the uni-cants with an renewed emphasis on finding long term sustainable business models.”

Justin: “2016 will be a year of reckoning for many private, VC-backed companies, as the desire for liquidity sparks many an IPO priced well below most recent financing rounds, but this will not lead to a catastrophic recession.”

Gary: “Proximity technology will explode… not talking *just* beacons, but also exploiting generic ambient WiFi signal for communication and of course, sales/marketing.”

Alex: “The year of the Fintech Squeeze. As investors realize unit economics aren't sustainable for payment startups that have business models sandwiched between banks.”

Brian: “Debt funding from VCs will become the go-to capital source for later-stage startups with questionable valuations (e.g., Foursquare 2013).”

Brittany: “In 2016, unicorns will enter the extinction phase and VC purses will get tighter; tech companies with little revenue and overvaluation will be shot by Nerf guns and brought down to normal size.”

Mark: “Unicorn paper returns deflate faster than any ball ever thrown by Tom Brady.”

Trace: “Angel/VC capital will continue to flow as these mega-mergers begin to settle and they will acquire more companies to stay competitive, while about 10% of the current Unicorns will IPO successfully.”

Jacob: “Equity markets will be manic and confused as the Fed tries to go higher, with sharp corrections and bizarre relief rallies, while all the real action and attention will shift to the world of distressed credit as opportunities outside the energy complex start to pop up on everyone’s runs.”

Sam: “Volatility continues but Dow sees positive gains for the year. VC activity slows considerably. Oil stabilizes in the 40’s. Mergers and acquisitions continue to rise.”

Rodrigo: “Twitter is acquired by Yahoo! - the company will have two stakes in "infinitely" more valuable businesses.”

Murray: “Mid-market M&A and IPO activity will continue on their divergent paths.”

Jonathan: “Fields of unicorns are turned into a Walking Dead scene after international and strategic capital dries up and no respectable late-stage VC is willing to dive into the empty pool that is a $500M Series Q round. For private equity, firms club up once again — unable to pursue mega-deals independently thanks to regulations on big banks’ lending.”

Frank: “Commodity prices start to rise in mid-2016 which is seen by the markets as a positive development.”

Jordan: “LPs find themselves over-committed and cannot meet the capital calls (this is the same thing that happened with investors that invested in High Yield who reached for yield but in this case they are reaching for total return without the financial means to support their commitment). Many anticipated exits from prior vintages will take longer to monetize and will compound the issues; unsophisticated managers will not know how to maneuver the challenging market and their investments will suffer. LPs who invested with smaller or ‘average’ firms are at a significant risk and will lead to a shakeout of the industry for 2016/2017 as fundraising will be challenging.”

Tom: “As Clubber Lang said in Rocky III: Pain.”

Gil: “There will be hideous acts of violence but the world will rally to support decent people with a simple message of love and kindness.”

Byron Wien, vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Partners BX , today issued his list of Surprises for 2016.

This is the 31st year Wien has given his views on a number of economic, financial market and political surprises for the coming year. Last year’s version can be found here. He defines a "surprise" as an event which the average investor would only assign a one out of three chance of taking place but which Byron believes is "probable," having a better than 50% likelihood of happening. Wien started the tradition in 1986 when he was the Chief U.S. Investment Strategist at Morgan Stanley MS .

1. Riding on the coattails of Hillary Clinton, the winner of the presidential race against Ted Cruz, the Democrats gain control of the Senate in November. The extreme positions of the Republican presidential candidate on key issues are cited as factors contributing to this outcome. Turnout is below expectations for both political parties.

2. The U.S. equity market has a down year. Stocks suffer from weak earnings, margin pressure (higher wages and no pricing power) and a price/earnings ratio contraction. Investors keeping large cash balances because of global instability is another reason for the disappointing performance.

3. After the December rate increase, the Federal Reserve raises short-term interest rates by 25 basis points only once during 2016. This is in spite of having indicated on Dec. 16 that they would do more. A weak economy, poor corporate performance and struggling emerging markets are behind the cautious policy. Reversing course and actually reducing rates is actively considered later in the year. Real gross domestic product in the U.S. is below 2% for 2016.

4. The weak American economy and the soft equity market cause overseas investors to reduce their holdings of American stocks. An uncertain policy agenda as a result of a heated presidential campaign further confuses the outlook. The dollar declines to 1.20 against the euro.

5. China barely avoids a hard landing and its soft economy fails to produce enough new jobs to satisfy its young people. Chinese banks get in trouble because of non-performing loans. Debt-to-GDP is now 250%. Growth drops below 5% even though retail and auto sales are good and industrial production is up. The yuan is adjusted to seven against the dollar to stimulate exports.

6. The refugee crisis proves divisive for the European Union and breaking it up is again on the table. The political shift toward the nationalist policies of the extreme right is behind the change in mood. No decision is made, but the long-term outlook for the euro and its supporters darkens.

7. Oil languishes in the $30s. Slow growth around the world is the major factor, but additional production from Iran and the unwillingness of Saudi Arabia to limit shipments also play a role. Diminished exploration and development may result in higher prices at some point, but supply/demand strains do not appear in 2016.

8. High-end residential real estate in New York and London has a sharp downturn. Russian and Chinese buyers disappear from the market in both places. Low oil prices prompt caution among Middle East buyers. Many expensive condominiums remain unsold, putting developers under financial stress.

9. The soft U.S. economy and the weakness in the equity market keep the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury below 2.5%. Investors continue to show a preference for bonds as a safe haven.

10. Burdened by heavy debt and weak demand, global growth falls to 2%. Softer GNP in the United States as well as China and other emerging markets is behind the weaker than expected performance.

Wien also has a few more”also-ran” surprises to share, but he isn’t quite comfortable with the idea that they are “probable.”

11. As a result of enhanced security efforts, terrorist groups associated with ISIS and al Qaeda do NOT mount a major strike involving 100 or more casualties against targets in the U.S. or Europe in 2016. Even so, the U.S. accepts only a very limited number of asylum seekers from the Middle East during the year.

12. Japan pulls out of its 2015 second half recession as Abenomics starts working. The economy grows 1%, but the yen weakens further to 130 to the dollar. The Nikkei rallies to 22,000.

13. Investors get tough on financial engineering. They realize that share buybacks, M&A, and inversions may give a boost to earnings per share in the short term, but they would rather see investment in capital equipment and research that would improve long-term growth. Multiples suffer.

14. 2016 turns out to be the year of breakthroughs in pharmaceuticals. Several new drugs are approved to treat cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's and memory loss. The cost of developing the breakthrough drugs and their efficacy encourage the political candidates to soften their criticism of pill pricing. Life expectancy will continue to increase, resulting in financial pressure on entitlement programs.

15. Commodity prices stabilize as agricultural and industrial material manufacturers cut production. Emerging market economies come out of their recessions and their equity markets astonish everyone by becoming positive performers in 2016.

Baring Private Equity Asia has become the latest private equity firm to sell a piece of itself, agreeing to sell an equity interest to Florida-based Affiliated Managers Group Inc. AMG .

The public announcement did not contain any specifics, but Fortune has obtained a memo sent earlier this morning from BPEA to limited partners in its funds. The memo says that AGM will acquire a “15% passive minority interest,” with existing firm management to retain the other 85%. Moreover, Jean Eric Salata has entered into a 10-year employment agreement to remain CEO of BPEA and chairman of its investment committees.

From the memo, which was signed by Salata:

BPEA has more than $8 billion in assets under management, having closed its fifth flagship private equity fund last year with nearly $4 billion in capital commitments. It reports having more than 120 employees spread over seven offices, and more than 30 portfolio companies that generated around $30 billion in 2014 revenue. The pan-Asian firm also has a real estate investment practice.

Andrew Ross Sorkin has a column out this morning about “designated lender counsel,” or the practice through which private equity firms select and pay for outside law firms that represent lenders on their deals.

The PE firm defense — all on background, natch — to this blatant conflict of interest is threefold: (1) Banks haven’t complained to us; (2) The law firms still have a fiduciary obligation to the lenders, and would be wary of breaching it for both legal and reputational reasons; and (3) It saves lenders money because someone else picks up their legal bill.

To be sure, leveraged lenders have long been complicit in their own power dynamic loss to private equity firms (remember amend-and-extend? Or as it was often known: extend?). If keeping quiet can better lubricate the fee pipes, then bring on the duct tape.

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But that doesn’t make it right, particularly when dealing with private equity firms that have been shown to engage in all sorts of legal shenanigans when negotiating with their limited partners (who, it should be noted, do not allow GP counsel to represent them). And breaching fiduciary duty is a big proof point beyond simply not objecting to something that could — but not must — be deemed objectionable. As for the legal bills, PE firms could just reimburse lenders as a rule, if they’re so concerned about Wall Street profits.

This is a bad practice borne of bank competition for deals (read: fees), and made even worse by the fact that the banks regularly offload their exposure via syndication. Got to wonder if those buying up these securities are aware of who actually negotiated them in the first place…

Catterton Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm focused on consumer brands, on Tuesday announced a tie-up with luxury product maker LVMH and major LVMH shareholder Groupe Arnault.

The result is that Catterton and L Capital Partners — an LVMH-affiliated investment group — have merged into a single entity called L Catterton, which is 60% owned by the partners of L Catterton and 40% by LVMH and Groupe Arnault. Catterton managing partners Michael Chu and Scott Dahnke will serve as co-CEOs of the new firm, with Chu focusing on Europe and Asia, and Dahnke overseeing U.S. operations.

LVMH has been a limited partner in Catterton funds since 1998, and also serves on some of its LP advisory boards. The relationship seemed to have evolved over time, with merger talks accelerating after Catterton told LPs that it planned to expand into Europe and Asia during its next fund cycle (the firm already is active in Latin America with a dedicated fund). Europe and Asia are where L Capital is most active, so Catterton felt it made more sense to partner with existing teams on the ground than build their own from scratch.

There will not be a global L Catterton fund but, rather, the combined firm will raise several geographically-focused vehicles (plus continue L Capital’s real estate strategy).

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It also is worth noting that the deal does not give LVMH any preferential rights to L Catterton companies, nor does it allow the company to block transactions. Instead, it will remain a standard 2/20 limited partner in the funds.

Catterton currently is investing out of a $1.68 billion flagship fund raised in 2012, and lists such companies as Noodles & Co., Peloton and NJoy among its portfolio companies.

Can you make an introduction to El Presidente?

That was the request made around six months ago by Mike Kerns to the agent for Jared Lorenzen, a former NFL quarterback and contributor to Barstool Sports, the controversial website led by Dave Portnoy (known to the site’s fans as El Presidente). Lorenzen obliged, and Kerns - head of digital for media and technology firm The Chernin Group - soon was on a flight from San Francisco to Boston, to have dinner with someone who he kept coming across via Twitter.

“Both myself and [Chernin Group president] Jesse Jacobs are sports fans, and thought the Barstool guys had a good sense of humor,” Kerns says. “I reached out to better understand his vision for the future, and to see if he’s the type of person we’d want to work with.”

For Portnoy, this was hardly the first time he had been approached by someone with deep pockets. And he had said “no” each and every time, concerned that outside investors would meddle with the site’s editorial content. Lorenzen, however, was a “warm introduction.”

“We weren’t looking for an investment, and I had said that I’d never do a deal unless it was so much money that I could just go live on an island,” Portnoy explains. “But Mike and Chernin Group are the first ones that I felt totally understood the brand and liked us with all of the warts.”

The two sides today announced a deal whereby Chernin Group acquired a majority stake in Barstool Sports for an undisclosed amount, with Portnoy retaining 100% editorial independence. Barstool also will consolidate its geographically-disparate staff in Manhattan, which actually was Boston-based Portnoy’s idea.

“I believe that, in order to take the next step, we should all be working together in the same place,” Portnoy says. “And I had a couple of guys in New York who were more entrenched, with family and stuff, so I’m moving… I love Boston, but it’s a smaller city for the personalities and video and the other stuff we want to incorporate.”

For Portnoy, the deal is a chance to significantly upgrade Barstool. Owing largely to its lack of outside investment, the company doesn’t currently employ anyone who has ever written a line of code, let alone formal product managers. Chernin will provide both capital and know-how. The firm’s founder, Peter Chernin, is a former News Corp. NWS president whose current board seats include Twitter TWTR and Pandora P . Kerns used to be a senior Yahoo exec responsible for the company’s homepage and sports vertical. Jacobs is a former Goldman Sachs GS banker. And Chernin Group itself is sponsored by Providence Equity Partners, an investment firm primarily focused on the media and entertainment spaces.

For Chernin Group, this is an opportunity to keep building out its digital footprint by partnering with unique content providers. “This is one of the rare digital media companies with engagements analogous only to messaging apps and fantasy sports,” Kerns says. “The fact that they have that sort of engagement with their audience without any log-in is amazing.”

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That said, this wasn’t always a slam dunk. That engagement is known to sometimes go to some pretty dark places, including misogynistic harassment of those who raise the ire of Barstool readers. In fact, Chernin Group even briefly discussed holding off on today’s announcement after Sports Illustrated’s “Cauldron” blog published a piece about one such incident (Barstool’s website has already added the critique’s headline - which suggests the company “weaponizes social media” - next to its logo). Portnoy, for his part, said he’d never “let someone… ruin this moment for us, but it does stink that they’ve gotten intertwined.”

Kerns acknowledges that Barstool has been offensive to many in the past, and that Portnoy’s continuing editorial control means it is almost certain to offend in the future:

“We certainly understand that there’s an element of controversial topics and off-color content and programming… and we talked a lot about it. So there is certainly an element that isn’t going to be for everyone… But our general point of view is that a lot of the most unappealing and insensitive comments brought up in the Sports Illustrated piece were from commenters on both the site and on Twitter. You can go to any link at most any website that has a story about Donald Trump or Ted Cruz and find offensive stuff in the first hundred comments. Let alone on Twitter, Reddit or Tumblr.”

Even if Kerns - who will sit on the Barstool board along with Jacobs - knows what he’s getting right now, there is a big question as to whether or not his new investment can achieve its ultimate vision: To become a top comedy brand.

The Chernin Group’s bet here is that Barstool is much more about sensibility than sports, as evidenced by the company’s announcement video:

“In the past, you’d send your resume to SNL or work for an alternative newspaper,” says Portnoy, who adds that he’s unlikely to spend his evenings recruiting at the Comedy Cellar. “We’ve found that standup doesn’t really equate to the type of comedy we’re looking for. When I think about some of our best guys, one was doing real estate, another was doing accounting. I’m not convinced there’s a ‘right’ background, but I do know that there’s a lot of talent out there. We want that next generation here with us.”

Neither Kerns nor Portnoy would disclose financial terms, although Portnoy reportedly said during a Periscope session with fans that the deal valued Barstool at between $10 million and $15 million.

In the summer of 2010, Tarrus Richardson was fired from ICV Partners, the New York-based private equity firm he had co-founded 12 years earlier. Last October, that termination quietly resulted in a $15 million payout for Richardson.

But the money didn’t come from his former employer, which had previously settled via arbitration. It came from the State of New York, whose public pension officials had improperly caused him to lose his job in the first place.

Richardson was a rarity in private equity--a successful African-American living in Harlem who was intent on plotting his own path rather than trying to rise within an established firm. The Purdue graduate had begun his financial career at Solomon Brothers before he helped launch an investment bank in Ghana. He went to Harvard Business School and then joined private equity firm JLL Partners as an associate. Two years later, he teamed up with an old friend named Willie Woods to form ICV Partners, which invested in a wide range of companies whose revenue ranged from $20 million to $150 million. Also helping to launch the firm was another private equity group (American Securities) and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a nonprofit organization founded by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter.

ICV would raise around $443 million for its first two funds. Among its investors was the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the nation’s third-largest pension fund, with over $184 billion in assets through last March.

While Richardson was investing on behalf of ICV, he was also actively seeking to improve the fortunes of other minority and women-owned businesses. In 2006, he co-founded and served as chairman of the influential Council of Urban Professionals (CUP), whose mission is to “seek racial, ethnic, and gender parity in the highest business and civic leadership positions in the U.S.” Willie Woods was also a founding member of CUP.

Political Pushback

[Most of what follows comes from court records.]

In late 2009, New York State Governor David Paterson asked CUP to support legislation designed to increase the use of minority and women-owned businesses in state contracting. Richardson jumped at the chance, helping to fundraise and organize the initiative. ICV Partners was among dozens of businesses and trade associations that signed on to the effort.

The actual legislation was comprised of four bills, introduced in the spring of 2010, which included one that would apply the contracting targets to all of New York’s state pension funds. Two pieces of this proposal were actively opposed by The New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF), which was (and still is) led by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. One was a 15% target (albeit not a required quota) for pension investment contracts to go to minority and women-owned businesses, and the other was that investment managers based within New York would receive preferential treatment. From DiNapoli’s perspective, both amounted to a breach of fiduciary duty to pensioners.

At around the same time, ICV had begun to talk with CRF and other prospective investors about one of its new funds. According to court records, its first two funds had net performance (i.e., after fees) of around 15%, which was solid though not spectacular. But for an existing relationship, probably enough to secure new investment contracts.

For Richardson, however, everything began to unravel after a chance hallway encounter during a conference held at the Westin hotel in Times Square. There, he ran into Tyson Pratcher, a onetime advisor to Sen. Hillary Clinton who was now leading CRF’s emerging managers program. The two men differ on the tone and specifics of the conversation, but both acknowledge that they discussed the two provisions in question. In short, Richardson supported the provisions and didn’t seem inclined to push the bill’s sponsors to make any changes. Pratcher--also an African-American--argued his employer’s side.

That same night, Richardson had a brief conversation with Raudline Etienne, chief investment officer of CRF, as both were attending a gala at the American Museum of Natural History. At issue again was the legislation and, again, the two have very different recollections of the tone of the discussion. Richardson thought he was quiet and respectful, while Etienne felt Richardson was overly aggressive. The two spoke again over the weekend via phone.

On June 17, an outside pension fund advisor recommended that CRF commit to investing in the new ICV fund. That same night, Pratcher put the recommendation on hold. Two weeks later, the bill’s sponsors removed the two offending provisions, and the legislation was soon signed into law by Gov. Paterson with both Richardson and Etienne standing nearby.

Behind the Scenes

What Richardson didn’t know during the signing ceremony, however, was that Pratcher had already reached out to another ICV investor to complain about his hallway interaction, adding that it caused him to question Richardson’s “integrity and his judgment.” That investor called up Willie Woods, who requested a meeting with Pratcher. During their sit-down, Pratcher asked, “How’s [Richardson] doing his job and doing all this legislation? How’s he effective at the firm?"

Soon Woods was meeting with Etienne, who also complained about Richardson and questioned how he could adequately fulfill his responsibilities to ICV while being involved in so many “lobbying efforts.”

(It is worth emphasizing here that plenty of private equity professionals are heavily involved with political and philanthropic endeavors.)

Neither Pratcher nor Etienne told Woods to fire Richardson, who was an at-will employee of ICV despite owning a 28% stake in its management company. Nor did they explicitly say that CRF would not invest in ICV’s new fund if Richardson stuck around, although Pratcher did tell Woods that “it’s going to be tough for us to do business with somebody who has somebody like Tarrus on his team”

Woods felt the implication was clear and gave Richardson two choices: (1) Resign from CUP and only participate in ICV-approved civic and charitable activities; or (2) Resign from ICV.

Richardson chose neither, and he was terminated.

Headed To Court

Richardson would later receive $4.7 million from ICV via legal arbitration, and in November 2012 he filed suit against Pratcher and Etienne for, among other things, deprivation of his First Amendment rights. The complaint was covered by The New York Times but didn’t receive any subsequent media attention.

Pratcher and Etienne lost most of their pre-trial motions and, last May, a New York district court jury found for Richardson under federal law (some of his state claims had been tossed) and awarded him around $10.9 million against Pratcher and around $7.2 million against Etienne.

But neither of them paid the bill. Instead, in October, they reached a $15 million out-of-court settlement whereby the State of New York agreed to pay Pratcher and Etienne’s legal freight. More specifically, $7.2 million was to settle claims against Pratcher, $4.8 million to settle claims against Etienne, and $3 million to cover Richardson’s legal expenses.

A spokesman for the NY Comptroller’s office says that the cash came from a taxpayer-supported “public officers fund,” as state employees are entitled to indemnification if the Attorney General and their direct employer believes they were acting within the scope of their employment and with no intentional wrongdoing.

"The State Comptroller’s office was not a party to this lawsuit, but we believe these employees were doing their job and did not intend to harm the defendant,” the spokesman said.

Moving On

Today, Pratcher remains in his position in the New York State Comptroller’s Office, which does not believe he did anything wrong.

Etienne left CRF in 2011 and currently serves as a senior advisor to consulting firm Albright Stonebridge Group (which was co-founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright). Her departure is said to have been unrelated to the lawsuit.

Richardson is now CEO of IMB Development Corp., which provides companies and government agencies with investment and other advisory services focused on doing businesses with minority and women-owned businesses.

None of the three returned requests for comment, but Richardson’s attorney did send over the following statement:

“Tarrus Richardson, Tyson Pratcher, and Raudline Etienne have entered into an agreement to settle and discontinue ongoing litigation…. All parties are pleased that there is no longer a need to pursue litigation. All parties will resume their professional activities, and move forward in the spirit of the agreement to settle and discontinue the litigation.”

In October we wrote about the legal mess surrounding Capital Point Partners, a Houston-based private equity and mezzanine investment firm that was founded by former pro football player Alfred Jackson (#85 in your musty Atlanta Falcons program).

Specifically, CPP had sold the portfolio assets in its two funds to Princeton Capital Corp., a publicly-traded business development company where Jackson served as chairman - without the approval of limited partners in those two funds.

The LPs (which held a combined 81.59% stake in the funds) later voted to boot Jackson and his colleagues, and filed a lawsuit asking for the asset transfer to be reversed. A Delaware Chancery Court judge upheld the management swap, but had not yet ruled on the transfer reversal request.

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This week, CPP filed documents showing that the LPs have settled with all of the major players, save for Jackson.

No money appears to have exchanged hands, but the LP group now takes de facto control of the business development company (whose stock is down to $0.22 per share, compared to $2.70 per share prior the the asset swap). In other words, the LPs regain control of the assets, with Jackson being replaced as chairman.

The secondary market for private equity is at record levels, and only getting bigger.

That’s the big takeaway of a survey of more than 70 professionals who are in the business of buying and selling stakes in existing private equity funds conducted by the private capital advisory group of Evercore Partners EVR . From the results:

Mountain climbing: The level of dry powder (i.e., committed capital) for secondary buyers is at a record high of $65 billion, which is up from an already-sizable $56 billion in June 2015. Another $40 billion of secondary fundraising is targeted for 2016. Of the current amount, more than 80% is controlled by the top 20 buyers.

Where in the world? North America remains the most attractive region, followed by Europe and Asia.

Deal types: 39% of respondents said they would focus primarily on LP interests, 17% of directs/GP liquidity opportunities and the remaining 44% expressed no preference. In 2014, around 71% of volume was for buyout-related assets, followed by real estate (14%) and venture capital (6%).

Indebted: In 2015, leverage became more important. A quarter of deal volume was leveraged at the SPV level (compared to 17% in 2014), while LTV levels hit 40% (vs. 30%).

Crystal ball: The majority of respondents expect between $35-$40 billion in secondary volume this year, with around half saying that macro developments will be the driving factor (which is apparently separate from “public market performance”--which was the driving factor for 15% of respondents).

Ken Berliner has quietly stepped down as president of investment bank Peter J. Solomon & Co., in order to join rival Centerview Partners.

Berliner had spent 23 years at PJSC, working on such mergers and acquisitions as Staples Inc.’s SPLS pending $6.3 billion purchase of Office Depot ODP , eBay’s EBAY $2.4 billion deal for GSI Commerce and the $3.3 deal transaction that saw Phillips-Van Heusen’s PVH $3.1 billion acquire Tommy Hilfiger.

Centerview -founded in 2006 by Blair Effron and Robert Pruzan - has not yet publicly announced the hire, but Berliner does now appear on its website. PJSC has not yet named a successor for the president role.

Neither Berliner nor PJSC has yet responded to requests for comment.

Update: PJSC says that Berliner officially left last summer, and that his “garden leave” ended at the end of 2015. It adds that “his departure actually is part of an ongoing succession plan for our firm… Along these lines, there will be additional announcements in the comping months.”

Skybox Security, a San Jose, Calif.-based cybersecurity firm with R&D offices in Israel, said Wednesday that it has raised $96 million in funding from Providence Equity Partners.

Providence, which manages $45 billion in assets, invested in the company through its growth equity arm, Providence Strategic Growth. The latest round brings Skybox’s total fundraising to $138 million.

Founded in 2002, Skybox specializes in cybersecurity analytics, integrating threat data from a variety of sources on corporate networks and rating relative risks. The company says it has 120 employees and more than 500 customers in about 50 countries.

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Gidi Cohen, CEO and founder of Skybox, told Fortune that his firm aims to “help make decisions” for security pros, prioritizing critical information so they can ward off cyberattacks and prevent data breaches. “We help our customers deal with complexity and understand their exposures,” he said.

Thomas Reardon, managing director of Providence Strategic Growth and newly named board member at Skybox along with colleague Mark Hastings, praised the firm’s “innovations in network visualization and intelligence” in a statement. "The company is also showing very strong business performance, with impressive top-line growth, profitability and incredibly high customer acquisition and retention rates."

Although Skybox declined to share specifics on its revenue figures with Fortune, it did mention that its most recent year-over-year top-line growth was 55%. The firm said it acquired 108 new customers last year compared to 89 in 2014 and 30 in 2011.

For more on cybersecurity startups, watch the following Fortune video:

Providence, a 27-year-old firm with strong investment roots in media and communications businesses, has some mixed history when it comes to security. Most notably, it lost $800 million on its stake in Altegrity, a company that provided security screenings before filing for bankruptcy a year ago. Skybox--a company situated in a market segment that research firm IDC estimates will reach $6.5 billion in 2018--may represent a shot at redemption.