New Video: CEOs on How Private Equity Helped Them Grow

Washington, D.C. – Private equity is committed to supporting small businesses and American jobs, even when times are tough. Throughout the pandemic, private equity continued to invest in all sectors, all across the country. Just in 2020, private equity firms invested $561.3 Billion in 4,335 companies. 71% of these deals were valued below $100M, demonstrating the industry’s focus on small and medium-sized businesses.

Click here to read the American Investment Council’s 2020 investment report.

Click here to watch our new video featuring footage from HillTV’s “Investing in America” series, which interviewed CEOs from six private equity-backed companies.

Black Rock Coffee: This Oregon-based business operates more than 70 locations in seven western states. Jeff Hernandez, CEO of Black Rock Coffee, saw private equity as a partner that could deliver capital to help them expand to more markets and provide critical industry expertise and training to new managers.

BJ’s Wholesale: Chris Baldwin, Executive Chairman of this Massachusetts-based company, talked about how private equity helped BJ’s Wholesale restructure the business to allow for more growth and the ability to compete on the national level.

Truck Hero: Bill Reminder, CEO of this Michigan-based automotive accessory manufacturer, says that “partnering with private equity allowed us to have access to capital and expertise to invest and grow the business.” Private equity helped Truck Hero grow from $35 million annual revenue to $1.3 billion and 4,300 employees.

n2y: This Ohio-based educational software firm empowers learning by helping individuals with special needs access general education curricula. CEO Chrissy Wostmann explains how private equity allowed n2y to grow and maintain their mission that everyone can learn and everyone has the right to the best education.

Victory Innovations: This Minnesota-based company is one of the many small businesses that recently partnered with private equity. Victory Innovations manufactures high-grade hand-held disinfectant sprayers that have been critical to prevent the spread of COVID-19. CEO Chris Gurreri spoke about how private equity worked closely with the company to scale up their operations and meet the massive new demand for disinfectant sprayers.

Signify Health: Kyle Armbrester, the CEO of this Texas-based home healthcare provider, spoke about how his company’s partnership with private equity allowed them to expedite and expand Signify’s COVID-19 testing capabilities.

The private equity industry is working to: