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This Company Turns Industrial Spaces Into Vertical Farms!
This Company Turns Industrial Spaces Into Vertical Farms!
vertical farms

This Company Turns Industrial Spaces Into Vertical Farms!

The future of farming is here! Dr. Henry Sztul — the Chief Science Officer of Bowery Farming, a network of “smart” indoor farms located in the East Coast — takes us on a tour of the company’s New Jersey facility that grows produce 365 days out of the year.

“Giving the plants what they need, when they need it,” Dr. Sztul says.

While they specialize in leafy greens and herbs (such as kale, basil and cilantro), the vertical farm — where crops are grown in vertically stacked layers (aka vertical farming) — can truly produce anything.

With their model, Bowery Farming addresses a variety of social issues affecting our world and our food supply.

Bowery Announces Expansion with Giant Food
Bowery Announces Expansion with Giant Food

Bowery Announces Expansion with Giant Food

NEW YORK, NY — Bowery, the largest U.S. vertical farming company serving over 1,800 grocery stores and major e-commerce platforms, today announces the expansion of ready-to-eat salad kits to all 166 Giant Food locations. This rapid growth, due to popular demand, will bring Bowery’s local, pesticide-free, grab-and-go salad kits to Giant supermarkets in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the Washington D.C. area.

Bowery is reimagining the entire fresh food supply chain to be smarter, safer, and more sustainable. In 2022, Bowery expanded product offerings into the ready-to-eat-category with the introduction of three salad kit flavors featuring forkable greens, bold flavor, and crunchy toppings from pepitas to parm crisps. All three varieties of salad kits — including Zesty Caesar, Avocado Ranch, and Balsamic Vinaigrette — are now available in the produce department of all 166 Giant supermarkets.

Vertical farming: We are reinventing "the entire fresh food supply chain"
Vertical farming: We are reinventing "the entire fresh food supply chain"

Vertical farming: We are reinventing “the entire fresh food supply chain”

Kard Raises $23m Series A to Power Card Rewards
Kard Raises $23m Series A to Power Card Rewards
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Kard Raises $23m Series A to Power Card Rewards

Tiger Global leads the round, which will expand Kard’s merchant network and product suite

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kard, the rewards-as-a-service API that connects modern card issuers to the brands their cardholders love, announced today that it has raised a $23 million Series A round led by Tiger Global. Also participating in the round are Fin Capital, s12f, and existing investor Underscore VC, which led Kard's Seed round; as well as a number of strategic angel investors. Kard will use this round to expand its merchant network and product suite, as well as bolster hiring efforts across all departments, including engineering, product, sales, and account management.

Kard is the first rewards platform that specifically services the entire spectrum of card issuers, including traditional banks, neobanks, banking-as-a-service providers, and the broader fintech market — anyone building a unique card experience. Rewards programs have become table stakes for cardholders in a crowded and competitive market, but building a rewards program from scratch requires finding and integrating with retail partners, matching card transaction data to specific locations, negotiating ad rates, managing settlements, and more. Kard's capabilities handle all of this, allowing any card issuer to seamlessly embed a fully customized and tailored rewards solution into its own user experience, optimized for its unique customer base.

Mill Point Capital Partners with Core Technology Solutions
Mill Point Capital Partners with Core Technology Solutions

Mill Point Capital Partners with Core Technology Solutions

Pine Brook, NJ – February 22, 2023 – Core Technology, LLC (“Core Technology” or the “Company”), a national IT lifecycle management company offering field service solutions, announced that it has partnered with Mill Point Capital LLC (“Mill Point”), a middle-market private equity firm focused on control-oriented investments in the business services, IT services and industrials sectors in North America.

The Mill Point team employs an Executive Partner model and has extensive experience investing in the IT services sector. For this transaction, Jeffrey Leventhal, founder of S12F and an industry veteran with over 25 years of operating, management and investing experience, will serve as Mill Point’s Executive Partner. Mr. Leventhal has led multiple software and marketplace companies from idea through exit, driving the vision, product, team, financing and exit strategies. Previously, he founded WorkRails, Work Market, Spinback, OnForce, Hosted Systems, Remote Lojix and LANSafe Network Services. Mr. Leventhal will serve as Executive Chairman of the Company upon the transaction closing.

Core Technology is a leading provider of field service solutions for top OEMs, VARs and Systems Integrators. The Company provides implementation and support services for a variety of end markets including retail, food services, hospitality, banking, telecommunications and data centers. Since inception, Core Technology has been both a top service provider and thought leader in the IT field services industry. The Company is headquartered in Pine Brook, NJ and operates throughout the U.S.

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  • PORTFOLIO
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S12F invests in entrepreneurs from square one to freedom. We leverage our track record of success as operators, investors and advisors to help high potential companies succeed.

CONTACT
I've known Jeff for years and have valued his partnership, experience and advice immensely since the first time we met. Jeff is a true operator and has been an entrepreneur, building companies long before it was commonplace. He gets energy from pulling up a chair and diving into the details to help think through any problem, large or small...
- Irving Fain, Bowery
- Irving Fain, Bowery
I met Jeff when I was an executive at Kustomer where he was our first investor. Since that time we’ve collaborated on business strategy, team building and startups in general. As my company Backbone came to life Jeff and S12F were natural partners to help launch our business.
- Rob Baily, Backbone
- Rob Baily, Backbone
I've known Jeff professionally now for over 6 years, first working for him in an operational capacity, and then as an advisor turned investor in my company. For any early-stage founder, Jeff is about as well-connected and helpful that you could find and has been a valuable resource to me and my team. I'm excited to continue working with him and the S12F team in the future!
- Ben MacKinnon, Kard
- Ben MacKinnon, Kard
We met Jeff prior to starting Kustomer and were thrilled to have him as an early investor in Kustomer
- Brad and Jeremy, Founders Kustomer
- Brad and Jeremy, Founders Kustomer
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PORTFOLIO

LP Investments

a16z

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lh

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usv

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boldstart

firstcheck.vc

reformation

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openview

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brauvin

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lattice VC

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Jayne's Hill

Private

Bolster

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Astra Capital

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Post Capital

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Direct + Co-Investments

kustomer

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bowery

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workrails

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workmarket

Sold: ADP

Security Scorecard

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clay

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skyweaver

Play Game

onforce

Sold: Adecco

parkplace

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paycargo

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sunscoop

Order and Try

kard

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bolster

Build Your Team

coocoo

Sold: SPX

kumospace

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klipfolio

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spinback

Sold: Salesforce

brands

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wonder

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resident

Make Reservation

nulia

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JobPixel

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snyk

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Quanta

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Myntr

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m. solutions

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BDV Solutions

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Board, Advisory + PE

Credit Saint

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cts

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bolster

Build Your Team

backbone ai

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workrails

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bodhala

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bondview

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post capital

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kard

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shiftmart

Enterprise Labor Network

graphite

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str.web

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BDV Solutions

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Mill Point

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INVESTMENT PROFILE

LP Investments
Co-investments
Direct
Secondaries
LP Investments

We make commitments to VC firms with the expectation to invest in current and subsequent funds and to co-invest in select companies.

LP investments

$200k – $500k LP Commitments for venture funds

Sector: Enterprise Software & Technology

Stage: Seed through growth

Geo: USA & Europe

 

 

Co-investments

Ideally, as an LP in several venture funds, we get to see and co-invest in select companies where our experience is a value add to the management team.

cycle

$25k – $250k co-investments

USA

Venture-backed term sheet from a Tier 1 lead

Seed through growth

Generally, we will plan to exercise pro-rata rights

High growth potential businesses with large TAM

Enterprise SaaS, Marketplaces

Direct

We can price and lead direct investments in enterprise SaaS and marketplace businesses.

Seed, Seed extensions 

$500k – $750k lead

Preferred equity, SAFEs, Converts

NYC area, Remote first OK

Enterprise SaaS, Marketplaces

 

 

Secondaries

Occasionally we will consider select secondary opportunities with shareholder and company cooperation.

secondaries

 

 

ACQUISITIONS

We look to acquire easy to understand software and tech enabled service businesses that can exist as a standalone operation with an engaged team for the long term. We will expect our businesses to be or become cash flow positive and we will use a portion of this cash flow to make new investments.

If you engage with us, we will give you fast straight answers as to our process, timing and valuation.

Type
Financial Profile
Transaction
Process
Type

Enterprise & Vertical SaaS

Tech enabled service businesses

B2B marketplaces

Differentiated value proposition, moat

USA, ideally the northeast, southeast, remote first OK

At least 15 employees

Financial Profile

$5-$15m revenue

High margins

Up to $20m of Enterprise Value

Capital efficient business model

Can be cash flow positive or negative

Recurring revenue businesses a plus

3+ years of verifiable history

Transaction

transaction

70-80% Buyout

Cash

Rollover Equity

Debt

Seller Notes

Earn outs

 

 

 

 

Process

process

First 15 Days:

Send company information via PDF

Introductory meeting online

Light diligence & LOI

If there are next steps…

Due Diligence & Planning

QoE, Legal, Risk

Documents & Closing

Onboarding

ABOUT US

S12F (square one to freedom) is a privately held investment platform. We invest in venture capital funds, invest in venture backed businesses and acquire software companies.  We rely on exits and cash flow generated by our fully owned portfolio businesses and advisory work to fund new investments. We are entrepreneurs that happen to be investing. When we invest in your business you get access to our expertise, capital,  connections and talent introductions.

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We seek excellence with all of our efforts and value integrity, good morals and hard work.

The inspiration and purpose for S12F comes from our experience starting several successful “square one” businesses and driving towards the ability to make our own choices and living with our version of freedom. We want to support founders from square one to make their own choices, their own judgements and pursue their own work.

OUR TEAM

jeffrey leventhal

Jeffrey Leventhal

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OUR TEAM

Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and investor. He has led software and marketplace companies from idea through exit, driving the vision, product, team, financing, acquisitions and exit strategies. Jeff’s primary areas of focus include enterprise SaaS and marketplaces.

Prior to S12F, Jeff was the founder of several businesses including WorkRails, WorkMarket (sold to ADP), OnForce (sold to Adecco), LANSafe Network Services, Remote Lojix (sold to AvTel Communications) and Spinback (sold to Buddy Media/Salesforce.com).

In addition to being a founder, Jeff was a venture partner, partner and investor at Boldstart.vc where he sourced Kustomer, Catalytic and Security Scorecard.  Jeff is also a partner with Jayne’s Hill LLC where the firm made early stage enterprise investments in venture firms and startups that generated significant return.

Tony Weiss

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Tony is an experienced executive, entrepreneur and investor. He has launched start-ups, led turnarounds and held executive leadership positions including the CEO of CompUSA. He helped build it into a Fortune 500 company.  His drive, strategic thinking, people skills, operational excellence, and marketing instincts have been proven throughout his 30+ year career. 

As an executive, Tony’s focus revolved around the customer, operations, and marketing. He believes by successfully focusing on those three areas you will have a highly profitable business with high margins and multiple strategic opportunities for value creation. 

Prior to working with S12F, Tony was a founding partner with FMW Investments which invests in multi-family housing and commercial real estate. Additionally he was the CEO of CompUSA, and Vice President of Global S&P for Dell. Currently, Tony serves on boards, invests and performs advisory work across his investment portfolio.   

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

On-demand Executives

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Legal for VC backed businesses & VC funds

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Outside accountants

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Outsourced Dev, QA, DevOps

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PR for fast growth businesses

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Venture Debt

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PARTNER WITH S12F

For investment opportunities please work through your referral network. We do not accept unsolicited introductions. When sending investment presentations please use PDF format.

Let us know how we can help along with information about your business stage, market, and team

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