Private Equity Firm Martis Capital Means Sustainable Business

Martis Capital has cause for celebration. After overtaking their original target of $450 million, they’ve recently closed their third flagship fund at $545 million after hitting their hard cap earlier this month. The private equity firm originally opened their healthcare-oriented investment opportunity in January and exceeded expectations after collecting capital commitments from a diverse group of private and public institutional investors.

Founded by Barry Uphoff and Shahab Vagefi, Martis specializes in buyout, growth equity, recapitalization and middle market investments. Uphoff and Vagefi both graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors from John Hopkins University and worked together at Capricorn Investment Group. They founded Martis Capital, formerly known as Capricorn Healthcare, in 2011 and have raised more than $1.25 billion since the firm’s beginning.

They have made a total of twenty-four investments as a firm and, according to their site, currently hold thirteen portfolio companies under management. This includes Altruista Health, a provider of workflow software for the healthcare industry; Banyan Capital, an alternative credit lending and financing firm specializing in the medical sector; and MetaBiota, a data collection and analytics company that provides disease surveillance and laboratory-based expertise for reporting systems abroad.

Martis prefers to commit between $20 million and $100 million per transaction and specialize in certain health subsectors, such as services and outsourcing; information technology; consumer and wellness; and products and diagnostics. Their last five investments reflect a trend towards growth-stage companies who are already generating revenue and one 2017 startup called Wellhaven PetHealth.

Of their experience with Martis, Wellhaven’s executive team said that their big picture investment strategy differed from other private equity groups who expected high returns on short term commitments. Through their work with Capricorn Investments, the firm’s founders helped manage the fortunes of first eBay president Jeff Skoll. As a celebrated philanthropist, Skoll is committed to “pursuing his vision of a sustainable world of peace and harmony” and it is this philosophy that continues to guide much of the firm’s founders work.

Martis’ approach with their portfolio companies is collaborative in nature and describe their relationships as “aligned partnerships with entrepreneurs and management teams”. They are focused on growth to achieve investment results and will look towards sustainable changes for clinical outcomes, compliances and costs to meet those targets.