Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners has launched a new identity.
The Tampa-based investment firm announced this week that it has undergone a rebrand to Topmark Partners and is raising a new growth equity fund. Topmark is in the process of raising $75 million for the fund, and Managing Partner Travis Milks said the firm is more than halfway to that goal.
"We held that first close in late March, right at outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, so we were pretty proud of that," he said. "And we're out actively looking for more."
The firm rebranded as Topmark earlier this year, after operating under the Stonehenge name for more than two decades. Milks said the name was a reference to the navigational beacons that guide boats along the best route.
"We liked the image of guidance, and success," he said.
Milks explained that the decision to change the name in the first place was done to avoid confusion.
"Our heritage goes back to a large financial institution called Bank One, which was the sixth largest bank in United States in 1990s," said Milks. Bank One merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2004. "Several investment firms were spun out of Bank One and a lot of them carried the Stonehenge name. So as we held our first close on newest fund, we thought it was a good time to clarify our brand and our name."
Since the firm got its start in 1999, Topmark has invested in more than 40 companies, targeting businesses with $3 million to $30 million in annual revenue that are at or close to profitability.
"We've been in Tampa Bay a long time, and what's been exciting is watching the progression of the startup and tech ecosystem over the past 20 years," Milks said.
Looking to the future, Milks said Topmark will continue to do what it's done for the past two decades, even if it's never had to do it during a global pandemic in the past.
Topmark said in a release announcing the branding change that it raised money from several large financial institutions and entrepreneurs. Managing Partner Brian Model said the firm saw the pandemic as a possible opportunity for startups.
"The urgent needs of the current pandemic have spurred innovation in key industries, and that is especially gratifying as Topmark Partners has for many years invested in technology companies that focus on solving business problems, including several in the health care field,” Model said. “We feel companies with those attributes will be among the most successful organizations to emerge in this new chapter."
