DENVER, Colo., June 8, 2021 – Mountaingate Capital (“Mountaingate”), a Denver-based private equity firm focused on partnering with founders and entrepreneurs to execute transformative growth strategies in the lower middle-market, today announced that it closed its second fund (“Fund II”) at its hard cap with $476 million in capital commitments. With the strong performance of Mountaingate’s first fund and the support of existing investors, the fundraise was accomplished in three months and was significantly oversubscribed.   Fund II was also able to add a diverse set of new institutional investors including university and nonprofit foundations, global insurance companies, as well as domestic and international family offices. Fund II will continue Mountaingate’s strategy of investing alongside founders and entrepreneurs in Mountaingate’s focus sectors of digital, data and tech-driven marketing/business services and value-add specialty manufacturing/distribution.

“The successful closing of Fund II enables Mountaingate to continue to leverage our franchise in the lower middle-market, partnering with founders and entrepreneurs to accelerate growth and build industry-leading companies,” said Bennett Thompson, co-founder and managing director of Mountaingate. “We appreciate the tremendous support from our existing investors, welcome our new investors, and look forward to providing our management partners with the resources they need to accelerate growth while better serving and innovating for their end-customers.”

Announced that concurrently with Fund II’s closing, it completed the Fund’s first investment in The Mars Agency, a leading global commerce marketing agency.  The Mars Agency executes complex, targeted marketing campaigns across online and in-store channels using data, analytics and insights enabled by its proprietary commerce marketing technology platform, Marilyn®.  The Mars Agency serves an impressive roster of industry-leading, global brands and has earned a stellar reputation as a leader in shopper conversion, retail intelligence, technology solutions and as a top place to work. The partnership with Mountaingate will enable The Mars Agency to continue investing and innovating for its clients including the further development of Marilyn®. Mountaingate’s partnership with the management team is rooted in strong alignment around core values and a shared vision for the opportunity in the marketplace which will be pursued by accelerating organic growth and through acquisitions bringing new capabilities and services.

“Our partnership model and the track-record of the Mountaingate franchise in the lower middle-market continues to resonate with founders and management teams,” remarked Mountaingate co-founder and managing director, Bruce Rogers. “We are grateful for the new partnership with The Mars Agency and the opportunity for Fund II to invest in a differentiated business model with a very talented leadership team in a sector in which Mountaingate has deep experience. We plan to leverage our relationships and experience within the digital, data and tech-driven marketing services sector to support management, help accelerate The Mars Agency’s growth and continue to provide industry leading service and innovation for The Mars Agency’s clients.”

Mountaingate Fund II is led by three co-founders and managing directors – Bruce Rogers, Stew Fisher and Bennett Thompson, who have worked together executing a customer-focused buy-and-build strategy in the lower middle-market for the past 14 years. “The caliber of talent, work ethic, and humility across our team is a testament to the Mountaingate franchise and our unique culture and strategy. We operate with a service mindset, treat our management teams as partners, and seek opportunities to support and develop our portfolio companies’ capabilities through the implementation of best practices developed over our extensive investment history at both Mountaingate and our predecessor firm, KRG Capital,” said Stew Fisher, co-founder and managing director of Mountaingate. “We are very excited about the potential for The Mars Agency and Fund II overall.”

Atlantic Pacific Capital, Inc. acted as exclusive global placement agent and advisor for Fund II and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel.   BrightTower acted as financial advisor to The Mars Agency in connection with the investment by Fund II.

About Mountaingate Capital

Mountaingate Capital, based in Denver, CO, is a leading lower middle-market buy-and-build private equity firm focused on partnering with entrepreneurs and founder-owned businesses seeking transformative growth.  Mountaingate’s proven customer-focused buy-and-build approach and shared equity ownership with management are designed to drive more value for the end-customer while also forging strong, collaborative and successful investment partnerships with management teams. Learn more at www.mountaingate.com.

For more information please contact:

Bennett Thompson
Managing Director
Mountaingate Capital
303-390-5001