Brian Sheth, a co-founder and President of the tech-focused private equity firm Vista, has announced his departure from the firm he co-founded two decades ago with the investor Robert Smith. 

Sheth’s departure notably comes on the heels of his partner Smith’s embroilment in a tax dispute with the IRS that saw him cough up a $140 million settlement. More so, Smith is now a cooperating witness in a case against his business associate Bob Brockman, who is battling charges of concealing up to $2 billion of income from US tax authorities in what marks as the biggest-ever tax fraud case against an American individual.

Sheth co-founded Vista in 2000 and has helped build the firm into a private equity juggernaut with over $73 billion of assets under its management. Under the leadership of Sheth and his partner Smith, Vista has deployed $38 billion of capital on investments and returned over $31 billion to investors.

Being a prolific investor in the tech industry, Vista just this month bought a majority stake in the sales CRM startup Pipedrive in a $1.5 billion deal. At around the same time, the firm also led a $100 million round for the cybersecurity startup Menlo Security.

Sheth actually joined Vista as a Vice President when the firm was in its infancy. He was formally awarded the title of Co-Founder in 2010 given his integral role in Vista’s growth and success.

Now out of Vista, Sheth is freed from competitive clauses and can now set up his own investment outfit at wish. For now, he hasn’t stated any plans to do so.

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