Led · Equity · Oct 2024

Zephyr acquires local HVAC, electrical and plumbing service providers and integrates them into a unified technology and productivity platform with the technician at the center. The company centralizes recruiting, training, marketing, operations effectiveness, finance and M&A to drive efficiency, retention and profit for local brands. Zephyr emphasizes reimagining the technician experience to improve service quality and enable installation of more energy-efficient mechanical systems. It has closed twelve acquisitions to date across target geographies including Washington, DC; Houston; Palm Beach/South Florida; and Denver. Zephyr plans to use new funding to support additional home services acquisitions, continue investing in its proprietary technology platform, and execute geographic growth plans in new and existing markets. The company expects to eclipse $100 million of revenue this year and is organically growing over 25%.

Participated · Equity · May 2023

Lit Communities builds and operates last-mile fiber networks, leveraging public-private partnerships with local governments and municipalities. Founded in 2019 and led by CEO Brian Snider, the Birmingham, Alabama-based company deploys fiber infrastructure for unserved and underserved communities. Its networks support internet plus ancillary services including voice, telehealth, home security, home automation, small cell, DAS, wireless backhaul, and public safety applications. The company has networks in place, under construction or in planning in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Lit will use the capital to accelerate construction of its fiber-based network across the United States. Existing shareholders — Stephens Capital Partners, The Pritzker Organization and the Lit management team — remain in place and plan to continue supporting the business.

Led · Series A · Aug 2022

Black Buffalo makes smokeless tobacco alternative products that contain pharmaceutical-grade, tobacco-derived nicotine but no tobacco leaf or stem. The company also offers ZERO-branded nicotine-free, tobacco-free products. Its eight core products are the subjects of a bundled PMTA application submitted to the U.S. FDA in September 2020. Products are sold to adult (21+) consumers at over 800 convenience stores and tobacco outlets nationwide and online at blackbuffalo.com. Founded in 2015 and based in Chicago, the company closed a $30M Series A equity round. Black Buffalo intends to use the funds to accelerate every aspect of the business, including hiring in sales, marketing, manufacturing, and finance. Black Buffalo Inc. is a Chicago-based company founded in 2015 that makes smokeless tobacco alternatives. Its product lineup comprises eight SKUs (five long-cut and three pouch varieties) that contain pharmaceutical-grade nicotine but no tobacco leaf or stem. The company says it invested over 20,000 hours of R&D and sells direct-to-consumer online at BlackBuffalo.com to adult consumers age 21 and older. Black Buffalo reported strong sales momentum in 2020, with month-over-month revenue growth of 31% in March and 23% in April. With new capital the company plans to expand marketing, upgrade manufacturing capacity, increase online distribution, and launch into convenience stores and physical retail nationwide. Management is assembling Premarket Tobacco Product Applications for its full portfolio for submission to the FDA and purchased a high-throughput pouch maker expected for Q2 2020 to support demand.

Led · Equity · Aug 2021

Founded in 2015 by CEO Glenn M. Parker, M.D., NationsBenefits partners with managed care organizations to deliver customizable supplemental benefits and member engagement solutions. The company serves millions of members across the United States and offers products including flex card solutions, OTC benefits, food-specific benefits, hearing benefits, and other wellness-related services. NationsBenefits leverages digital health technologies, proprietary systems, and a compliance-focused infrastructure to improve the end-user experience and drive better health outcomes. The company emphasizes a comprehensive approach to member engagement and value-based care delivery. Management intends to use new capital to deepen the company’s technology platform and service offerings and to accelerate ongoing growth initiatives. Barclays acted as the company’s exclusive financial advisor for the transaction. NationsBenefits provides supplemental benefit solutions to managed care organizations, emphasizing consumer-centric technology and clinically focused interventions. The company offers a compliance-focused infrastructure, a care continuum, and service delivery designed to improve outcomes, reduce costs, and engage diverse member needs. NationsBenefits says it serves more than 20 million members across the U.S. and focuses on expanding offerings that promote independence, health, and well-being. Founded in 2015 and based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the company highlights best-in-class service as a core differentiator. Its stated plans for the new funding include enhancing existing service offerings and expanding the company’s capabilities to meet customer needs.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

IMIDomics applies a human-centered, data-driven approach—its Clinical Discovery Engine built on proprietary patient data from the IMID Investigator Consortium—to generate insights into complex immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). The company aligns phenotypic and biomolecular data under a unified protocol to identify disease‑relevant targets and the patients most likely to respond to new medicines. IMIDomics reports that it has identified previously unrecognized targets, six of which have been selected for development within its active drug pipeline. The firm’s platform is positioned to streamline drug development by improving patient stratification and target selection. IMIDomics is pursuing collaborations to advance targeted therapies and diagnostic tools for IMIDs. Recent strategic investment activity (details below) supports its plans to accelerate development. IMIDomics develops new targets and medicines for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases using its Precision Discovery™ Engine. The Engine combines clinical and computational expertise with patient biological samples from the Vall d’Hebron Hospital IMID Biobank, exclusive access to curated, anonymized clinical data from more than 17,000 IMID patients and control subjects across 150 health centers, and proprietary biomolecular signatures. The company aims to discover precise-acting medicines and companion diagnostic tools to improve outcomes for IMID patients. IMIDomics was founded in Barcelona, Spain in 2015 by Dr. Sara Marsal and Dr. Richard M. Myers. Existing investors include DNS Capital, Tao Capital, The Pritzker Organization, and Bristol Myers Squibb. The company announced an equity investment from Evotec SE to further advance the Precision Discovery Engine; financial terms were not disclosed. IMIDomics combines clinical, epidemiologic and biomolecular data via a proprietary digital bioinformatics portal to discover treatments for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) such as lupus, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis. The company hosts the IMID-Biobank with real-world data and biological samples from over 17,000 IMID patients and controls across six indications and holds an exclusive commercial license to that resource. Founded in Barcelona in 2015 and incubated at Vall d’Hebron Hospital, IMIDomics relocated to the United States in 2021 and is headquartered in San Francisco. It runs a Precision Discovery Platform that enables identification of disease mechanisms and potential drug targets and is actively conducting discovery programs for its internal pipeline and with pharmaceutical partners. With the new financing, IMIDomics plans to accelerate its technologies, expand teams in the US and Europe, and further develop its biobank, patient datasets and bioinformatics capabilities.