River Cities Recognized as Service Provider/Financier of the Year by ACG Cincinnati
River Cities received the award for Service Provider/Financier of the Year at The Deal Maker Awards presented by ACG Cincinnati. The Deal Maker Awards Program is presented by the Cincinnati Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth to recognize significant achievements of corporations, entrepreneurs, financiers, and service providers, who participate actively in merger and acquisition activity in the greater Cincinnati area. The evening’s event is an opportunity to highlight those companies and individuals who have been successful in their pursuit of corporate growth through acquisition, joint venture and/or divestiture transactions.
River Cities Capital Funds is one of the most active and experienced growth equity funds in healthcare and information technology (IT). With over $500 million raised and more than 100 investments made, River Cities has established itself as a preferred partner among the entrepreneurial and private equity communities. The firm is currently seeking new investments for its fifth fund and recently marked its first investment out of Fund V in Trax Technologies.
Over the past 15 years, River Cities has been actively engaged in the state of Ohio, helping to build 21 companies of which have, on average, created 75 jobs during River Cities’ investment tenure. Most recently, River Cities celebrated the successful expansion of an Ohio-based company, Orthohelix Surgical Designs, Inc. The firm provided capital and intellectual resources to help this specialty orthopedics company scale from roughly $4 million of revenue at the time of our initial investment to its current $30 million run-rate. During the four-year investment period, Orthohelix’s high-skilled Ohio workforce grew from 16 to 60 employees. In August, 2012, the company agreed to be acquired by Tornier (Nasdaq: TRNX) for total consideration of $155 million. The outcome generated more than 5 times multiple of capital and returned almost 40% of River Cities Fund IV commitments. Tornier plans to bring even more jobs to Ohio by concentrating its entire lower extremities business unit under the Orthohelix leadership in Medina, Ohio.
The firm’s performance is driven by the ability to access, evaluate, transact and build companies that can lead the transformation of specific market segments by pursuing large, established markets with disruptive technologies or service offerings that are significantly “better, faster, cheaper” than incumbent solutions.
The multi-generational team of seven partners has more than 125 combined years of investing experience and several investment cycles working together, which provides the perspective to discern and evaluate the critical elements of a potential investment. In their prior careers, the investment managers developed analytical frameworks through experience in operations, engineering, accounting, legal, strategic consulting and investment banking.
River Cities participates as a trusted partner side-by-side with company executives to provide resources and services to leverage their time and efforts. The firm seeks to be a business partner first and a capital provider second. The firm invests significant human capital to leverage lessons learned, both positive and negative, during the course of more than 100 investments.
The firm’s latest endeavor, Fund V, will continue River Cities’ strategy of making sub-$10 million growth equity investments in capital-efficient, market validated growth stage healthcare and IT businesses that have a material customer base and are nearing profitability. River Cities maintains direct contact with earlier stage investors, CEOs and service providers, sourcing thousands of potential investment candidates each year.