The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Jun 2023

The Independents is a Paris-based global marketing and communications group serving luxury and lifestyle brands. It operates as a collective of agencies—including Bureau Betak & Bureau Future, Karla Otto, K2, The Qode, Lefty and Prodject—offering strategy, creative, talent, influencer marketing, experiences and communications services. Led by Isabelle Chouvet, Chief Executive & Founder, the group serves leading brands across key territories such as Milan, Paris, London, Munich, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai and Riyadh. The company received a $400M investment and intends to use the funds to expand operations and more than double in size by 2025. Its growth plan centers on a strong acquisition strategy and dynamic international expansion. The financing round followed a recent debt financing led by BIL, Société Générale, LCL, La Banque Postale and CIC Private debt.

Led · Equity · Nov 2021

Battea is a global provider of turn-key expert class, collective, antitrust and securities litigation recovery services. The company analyzes, asserts, and recovers losses from clients’ investment activities when subject to class, collective or opt-out settlements. It serves nearly 1,000 global financial investment and trading institutions, including many of the world’s largest banks, hedge funds, asset managers and buy-side investors. Battea has invested in transaction onboarding automation, transaction identification, loss modeling, audit and process tracking technology, and employs financial markets subject-matter experts across equities, fixed income, derivatives, foreign exchange, commodities and other listed and OTC instruments. The company describes itself as strong and profitable and says the transaction with TowerBrook will reinforce its leadership and commitment to clients. A new board was appointed as part of the transaction, including incumbents Peter K. Hansen and Lars Kragh and new directors Michael Carpenter, Luke Doramus and Jeff Goshay.

Led · Equity · May 2020

CarTrawler operates a B2B marketplace for ground travel, providing an end-to-end car rental platform for travel partners. Its platform opens new revenue streams for clients including American Express, Alaska Airlines, easyJet, Hotels.com, KLM and Emirates. The company said it experienced material trading impacts from COVID-19, and CEO Cormac Barry stated the crisis will pass. CarTrawler has secured a €100 million controlling equity investment from TowerBrook Capital Partners, which gives TowerBrook majority ownership. TowerBrook is headquartered in London and New York and focuses on control investments in large and mid-market companies. Founded in Dublin in 2004, with offices in New York City and Melbourne, CarTrawler plans to use the financing to further enhance its proposition to partners and suppliers and expand around the globe. CarTrawler operates a platform that connects consumers with over 550 car rental suppliers, providing real-time prices and availability directly and via third-party websites. The platform is used by distribution partners such as airlines and online travel agents to improve customer conversion and drive revenues, while supplying rental companies with global distribution. The company plans to use the proceeds from the recent investment to continue growing organically and through acquisition. CarTrawler was founded in 2004 by Greg and Niall Turley and currently employs about 90 people, mainly in Dublin. It also operates an overseas subsidiary, CarTrawler Americas, in Seattle led by CEO Mike Flory. Recent leadership changes include the appointment of Mike McGearty as CEO, with Bobby Healy remaining CTO and Niall Turley remaining Director of Supply.

Led · Equity · Apr 2019

Studio Movie Grill is a Dallas, Texas–based in-theater dining brand that combines first-run movies with full-service, in-theater dining. Established in 1993 by CEO Brian Schultz, SMG operates locations that offer dining during screenings. The company runs legacy outreach programs including Special Needs Screenings, Chefs for Children, and the annual Opening Hearts and Minds Award. In June 2018 SMG launched a loyalty program, SMG Access, which rewards loyal guests and donates free movies and meals to underserved community members. SMG recently received a $100M strategic growth investment from TowerBrook to support its expansion. The company plans to continue opening in-theater dining locations across the United States.

Participated · Debt Financing · Dec 2016

ApplePie Capital operates a franchise loan marketplace that enables franchisees to obtain financing to start or expand their businesses and allows investors to earn fixed-income returns tied to franchise loans. The company offers a proprietary Core loan product and has formed partnerships with 60 franchise brands since it began lending in January 2015. ApplePie emphasizes credit quality—borrowers have an average 770 FICO score and a $2M median net worth—and its Core portfolio showed strong credit performance through the COVID-19 pandemic. ApplePie recently surpassed $1.25 billion in loans originated to franchise businesses. Future plans discussed in the articles include expanding distribution through a commercial relationship with Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG), including potential purchase of its Core product and future securitizations. The company is positioned to capture what it estimates is roughly $105 billion in annual debt capital demand within franchising as the sector rebounds. ApplePie Capital operates a franchise loan marketplace that connects franchisees seeking startup or expansion capital with investors seeking fixed-income returns. The firm focuses on channel-first lending by partnering directly with franchise brands and structuring products tailored to franchisees. Since it began lending in January 2015, ApplePie has formed partnerships with 40 franchise brands, funded over $50 million in loans, and returned over $7 million in principal and interest to investors. Borrower profiles cited include 750+ FICO scores and a $2M median net worth, and the company highlights strong credit performance to date. Recent capital and financing arrangements are intended to scale originations and broaden distribution to accelerate growth. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and added a seasoned franchise finance executive as a strategic advisor to support underwriting and risk management. ApplePie Capital operates a marketplace lending platform focused solely on the franchise industry, originating loans to franchise entrepreneurs and offering those loans to investors whole or fractionally. The firm uses a proprietary multi-factor underwriting model that analyzes historical brand performance, borrower experience, credit quality, and financials to curate high-quality investment opportunities. ApplePie streamlines funding for franchisees by pre-qualifying brands in 2 business days, providing firm commitments within 5 business days, and delivering funds in under 30 days through an automated online application. The company has eleven brands on its marketplace and reported more than $40 million in borrower capital demand to date. Financially, ApplePie closed a $6 million Series A and has secured over $28 million in debt capital commitments to fund loans, and has raised nearly $10 million in equity to date. Management says the Series A plus debt commitments will accelerate growth and increase lending capacity as loan demand scales. ApplePie Capital operates a loan marketplace that connects franchise brands and their entrepreneurs with investors seeking fixed-income returns. Founded in 2013 and led by CEO Denise Thomas and COO Steve Pelletier, the company is based in San Francisco. The marketplace is designed to offer loans of $100K to $1M to qualified borrowers. ApplePie planned to launch the marketplace in the first quarter of 2015 and to serve qualified borrowers across all 50 states. The company raised funding to support the planned launch and early operations.