A New York City private equity and venture capital firm recently opened a Charlotte office with a sharp focus on investing in small, local software companies.
RF Investment Partners opened its office on May 13 in the One South building at 101 S. Tryon St. in uptown. RF, a structured growth capital provider, also established a local team to source and help scale founder-owned businesses, especially those in the software space.
"We have a long-term goal to partner with and support great software companies and hope to continue to grow our team here in Charlotte as the interest in our capital and creative financing solutions is increasingly in demand," said James Bishop, who RF named earlier this month as director of its local office.
Bishop, with nearly a decade of software investing experience, will help bolster the firm's investment initiatives in that space. Prior to joining RF, he spent eight years in leadership roles at Golub Growth, the early-stage software investment arm of Golub Capital. His responsibilities there included originating, delivering and helping drive the company’s equity and debt investments into growth-stage software applications.
Daniel Kim joined the Charlotte team as an RF associate. He is tasked with identifying new investment opportunities and managing portfolio companies. Most recently, Kim worked as a growth equity analyst at Charlotte-based Frontier Growth. He also was an analyst and associate at DealCloud in Charlotte.
Founded in 2017, RF provides capital ranging from $10 million to $40 million to lower-middle-market companies. While it also invests in health-care and business services companies, Bishop said the firm sees the software space as a capital-efficient business that can drive meaningful return on investment.
"RF has built an impressive and successful track record in software, and I’m excited to help further expand our effort and coverage of the space," he told CBJ.
RF is specifically focused on mission-critical software applications that have achieved product-market fit, software companies looking for capital to accelerate growth and providing liquidity to shareholders and leadership teams.
Bishop said through his experience, he has recognized that strong software companies can be built in other areas outside of known meccas like the Bay Area.
"We have witnessed and watched folks migrate out of the traditional software hotbed to more affordable, fast-growing cities like Charlotte," he said.
RF looks to be a differentiator here with its flexible capital offerings. For example, the firm can provide company equity, debt or a mixture of both, which can be less dilutive and controlling than some other financing options, Bishop said.
The company also aims to be a valuable partner to its investment clients with the help of its advisory board.
"As Charlotte grows, I think we will grow alongside it," he said. "We want to roll up our sleeves and help you build your business to that next chapter."
