Charlesbank Named to Inc.’s Annual Founder-Friendly Investors List

Charlesbank Capital Partners (“Charlesbank”), a middle-market private investment firm, is pleased to announce it has been included on Inc.’s Founder-Friendly Investors list for 2024. This recognition honors the private equity, venture capital and credit firms with a track record of backing founder-led businesses by providing valuable expertise and financial support needed to accelerate growth.

“We are proud to be recognized by Inc. for our dedication to forging close, lasting partnerships with founders and management teams to help middle-market businesses scale with purpose,” said Michael Choe, Managing Director & CEO of Charlesbank. “Going back to our roots investing on behalf of Harvard University’s endowment over 25 years ago, our entire business system has been designed around being committed partners to talented management teams seeking strategic and operational support in growing their businesses.”

Charlesbank’s focus on supportive partnerships with its portfolio companies has contributed to another notable year for the firm. Over the last year, Charlesbank announced nine new platform investments, including many founder-led businesses, such as Aprio, Front Row Group, Rise Growth Partners, Searchlight Cyber, Perspective Financial Group and Petra Funds Group. Founded in 1998, the firm has completed more than 80 platform investments since inception. The past year also saw strong fundraising, with the close of Credit Opportunities Fund III and Technology Opportunities Fund II, both above target.

Central to Charlesbank’s partnership playbook is its Portfolio Resources Group (PRG), a dedicated team of industry and functional experts embedded in the firm’s culture and workflow, providing deep expertise to portfolio companies across a wide range of capabilities, led by former GE CEO John Flannery. In addition, portfolio companies benefit from access to Charlesbank’s deep network of executive-level leaders and subject-matter experts that are often leveraged to solve challenges and unlock growth at the company level.

Rich Eknoian, CEO and founder of World Insurance Associates, remarked, “Charlesbank has been an unbelievable partner to World as our first private equity investor. Their team exhibits a distinctive understanding of the needs of a founder-led firm and has provided so much beyond their financial resources. Over our first four years working together, they assisted us with deepening our management bench, building out our M&A team and processes, and implementing best practices in talent management, marketing, operations and technology to help us accelerate World’s growth and attract a new co-lead investment last year.”

To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital and debt firms, including Charlesbank, and shared data on how their companies have grown during these partnerships.

This award was given on October 29, 2024, and was based upon information from the previous year.* To see the complete list of winners, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2024