Robert F. Smith’s Vista Equity Partners Sells Software Company Apptio To IBM For $4.6B

In addition to having a focus on software, Smith is highly active in the education space with the Student Freedom Initiative (SFI). In September 2022, the organization announced it had joined Connect Humanity, Claflin University, South Carolina State University, and the Orangeburg Department of Public Utilities in a public-private partnership to work toward digital equity.

“We’re bringing solar panel systems to one of the HBCUs, which will actually power 20,000 homes,” Smith told AfroTech. “Our plan is that as we offset our greenhouse gases across our portfolio companies, we actually enable the building and construction of solar arrays in underrepresented minority neighborhoods we use for our HBCU students to learn, train and develop their capacity to participate in that part of the industry as well.”