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Martis Capital Named to Inc.’s 2022 List of Founder-Friendly Investors

Annual roundup highlights the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track records of success backing entrepreneurs

October 5, 2022 – Martis Capital today announced that it was named in Inc.’s 2022 Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the private equity and venture capital firms with the best track records of success backing entrepreneurs. Martis’ inclusion affirms our position as an aligned investment partner specifically to founders and management teams of middle-market healthcare companies looking to scale their businesses.

Additionally, we are excited to note that out of 184 investment firms selected for this designation, Martis was one of only nine healthcare exclusive private equity firms named among this year’s honorees, as well as being one of the three healthcare exclusive firms to be honored for the 2^nd consecutive year.

“We are honored to be recognized by Inc. as a Founder-Friendly Investor for a 2nd consecutive year,” said Mario Moreno, Managing Partner of Martis Capital. “We seek to partner with founder-led healthcare organizations that share our vision for improved patient care, compliance, and costs. We believe honesty, transparency, and reliability towards founders and their teams are the cornerstones of a successful investment partnership, and are grateful for all our founder partners, past and present, who have placed their trust in us. We look forward to more partnerships to come.”

“We chose to unite with Martis given their experience as a trusted partner for businesses seeking to increase access to quality care”, said Jon Harol, Founder and President of current Martis portfolio company, Lighthouse Lab Services. “Their collaboration has been critical to our continued growth, and we congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition”, said Mark Roth, CEO of Lighthouse.

“Fully investing in an entrepreneur, and their innovative vision, involves far more than the financial investment. By developing relationships with and supporting entrepreneurs for the long-term, these private equity firms are more than investors, they’re partners,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. media.

Introduced in 2019, the Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms list quickly established itself as one of Inc.’s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining a meaningful ownership stake. As part of the evaluation process, Inc. interviewed founders to learn about their experiences and collect data on how their companies have grown as a result of these partnerships.

To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2022

About Inc.

The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community they need to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print.

The October 2022 issue of Inc. magazine is available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine

About Martis Capital

Based in San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC, Martis Capital is a team of investment professionals who share a passion for helping build companies that seek to improve the quality of care and address the complex challenges facing the healthcare industry today. Martis seeks to identify exceptional investment opportunities and achieve shared growth objectives with founder-led companies and management teams. Martis Capital manages more than $2 billion of equity capital and is currently investing out of its fourth fund.

Washington, DC, October 03, 2022,  ̶   To stay ahead of the urgent needs of equitable healthcare, Martis Capital, a leading middle market healthcare fund, is excited to announce its investment in Alcanza Clinical Research. Founded in December 2021 and named for the Spanish word “reach,” Alcanza is a clinical research site network platform dedicated to creating a sustainable and inclusive clinical trial environment for all.

As patient advocacy groups, research stakeholders, and regulators urge sponsors to expand clinical trial inclusion, Alcanza is actively transforming the model for research access to underrepresented populations across different races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, disability statuses and more while enhancing clinical research quality and patient recruitment efforts.

As a first step, Alcanza has acquired five high-performing clinical research companies. These include Coastal Carolina Research Center, Boston Clinical Trials, ActivMed and Allcutis Research, Quest Research Institute and Charlottesville Medical Research across eight locations in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Virginia. Each site brings 20 to more than 30 years of experience in clinical research and a strong reputation for clinical and operational excellence, with complementary therapeutic specialization in psychiatry, neurology, vaccines and infectious disease, among others. Alcanza will continue to expand its national site network to provide full-scale Phase I-IV capabilities in multiple therapeutic areas while maintaining a broad client base of blue-chip biopharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs).

Alcanza is led by CEO Carlos Orantes, a recognized industry leader with nearly three decades of experience. Most recently, Orantes led the site operations for Accelerated Enrollment Solutions, the wholly owned captive site network of PPD, a global CRO part of ThermoFisher Scientific. There, he held responsibility for more than 50 sites across the U.S. and Latin America. “We are excited to collaborate with Martis Capital to develop the next-generation site model that combines education, community engagement and exceptional patient care for truly inclusive research,” said Orantes. “Our leadership team looks forward to expanding the reach of clinical research for all.”

“This partnership is a unique opportunity to drive sustainable improvements in the highly fragmented clinical trial space by focusing on improving disparities in clinical research,” said Mario E. Moreno, Managing Partner at Martis Capital. “Carlos and the Alcanza team have a clear vision for how their differentiated approach to clinical research can address these longstanding challenges.”

Martis Capital has made a meaningful commitment to grow and expand Alcanza’s capabilities and will continue to leverage its partnership approach, healthcare relationships and sourcing network to drive additional acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

About Alcanza Clinical Research

Alcanza Clinical Research is the next-generation site network established to support the most significant demands in our industry: diverse patient access, efficient enrollment performance and clinical quality.  It practices inclusive clinical research that delivers education and a range of clinical trial opportunities to all people on their terms.  Located in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Virginia, Alcanza specializes in conditions across psychiatry, neurology, dermatology and infectious disease therapeutic areas.

About Martis Capital

Based in San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC, Martis Capital is a team of investment professionals who share a passion for helping build companies that seek to improve the quality of care and address the complex challenges facing the healthcare industry today. Martis seeks to identify exceptional investment opportunities and achieve shared growth objectives with founder-led companies and management teams. Martis Capital manages more than $2 billion of equity capital and is currently investing out of its fourth fund.

For more information, please visit www.martiscapital.com or follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/martis-capital.

Contact:

Alcanza Public Relations: pr@alcanzaclinical.com

Martis Capital Business Development: bd@martiscapital.com

Clarisse Feng joined Martis Capital as a Senior Associate in the San Francisco office. Previously, Clarisse worked at Perella Weinberg Partners, where she focused on restructuring and capital structure advisory. Clarisse started her career at Temasek Holdings, focusing on direct investments’ execution.

Clarisse received a Bachelors in Business Administration from the National University of Singapore and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.

JC Moore joined Martis Capital as an Associate in Washington D.C. office. Previously, JC worked at Coker Capital where he was part of the healthcare investment banking division of Fifth Third Securities. Prior to that, he was a part of the transaction advisory services group at FTI Consulting, primarily specializing in financial due diligence with a focus on middle-market healthcare services.

JC received a BS in Accounting and Management Information Systems from the Culverhouse College of Business at the University of Alabama and a Master of Accounting from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Martis Capital is pleased to announce three promotions within the firm’s investment team. Aseem Nambiar has been promoted from Vice President to Director, David Zhang from Senior Associate to Vice President, and Charlie Fiessinger from Associate to Senior Associate.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Aseem works closely with DCN Dx, Lighthouse Lab Services, and WellHaven PetHealth. Prior to Martis, he held an operating role at DaVita, following his time at Waud Capital and UBS. Aseem received a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Based in San Francisco, CA, David works closely with Lighthouse Lab Services. He started his career at Barclays, then focused on middle-market buyout investing at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and Calera Capital. David received a Bachelor in Business Administration from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Based in Washington, DC, Charlie worked previously at BV Investment Partners where he focused on tech-enabled business services investments. He began his career at Alvarez & Marsal before joining William Blair. Charlie received a Bachelor of Science in Applied & Computational Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Notre Dame.

“As we enter our second decade as a firm, Martis is experiencing a remarkable period of growth. Aseem, David, and Charlie are great examples of that growth, and we’re thrilled to recognize their professional accomplishments and contributions to the firm.” said Barry Uphoff, Martis’ Founding & Managing Partner.

About Martis Capital

Martis Capital is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. With offices in San Francisco, CA, and Washington, DC, Martis seeks to invest in middle-market, growth-oriented companies that provide innovative and cost-effective products and services within targeted segments of the North American healthcare industry.

For more information, please visit www.martiscapital.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

Martis Capital announced today that it has acquired a majority interest in Lighthouse Lab Services, alongside current investors NaviMed Capital and the Company’s management team. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Lighthouse is an end-to-end provider of turnkey lab build-out and management services to clinical labs across the United States. The Company provides a comprehensive suite of solutions across outsourced lab management, consulting, recruiting, supply chain management, compliance, equipment sales and more. Lighthouse serves over 1,000 laboratory clients including physician office labs, reference labs, and hospital labs.

Mark Roth, CEO of Lighthouse Lab Services, commented, “This is a tremendous milestone for the entire Lighthouse team. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Martis Capital to advance our mission and help laboratories across the country start, run, and grow quality testing operations.”

“The Martis Capital team is very proud to join Lighthouse Lab Services in their journey and support the mission to continuously improve patient access by bringing high quality diagnostic testing closer to the point of care.” Mario Moreno, a Partner at Martis, also commented, “We at Martis Capital are thrilled to partner with such a strong team and support Lighthouse’s service quality and innovation in the diagnostic laboratory end-market by providing high value to patients, providers, and payors alike.”

Financial terms have not been disclosed.

About Lighthouse Lab Services
Lighthouse Lab Services provides an end-to-end suite of services enabling customers to start, run, and grow their clinical labs. Service offerings include assistance with licensure and compliance with accreditation requirements, scientific method development and validation for a variety of applications ranging from toxicology to infectious disease, recruitment of Lab Directors and other lab staff, as well as ongoing operational support. The Company boasts a deep bench of Ph.D. and masters-level analytical chemists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, and laboratory scientists, as well as experienced teams specializing in recruiting and staffing for labs. Lighthouse is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Learn more at www.lighthouselabservices.com.

About Martis Capital
Martis Capital is a private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. The Martis team manages more than $1.3 billion of equity capital and is currently investing out of its third fund. With offices in San Francisco, CA, and Washington, DC, Martis seeks to invest in middle-market, growth-oriented companies that provide innovative and cost-effective products and services within targeted segments of the North American healthcare industry.  For more information, please visit www.martiscapital.com or follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/martis-capital.

Charlie Fiessinger joined Martis Capital as an Associate in the Washington D.C. office. Previously, Charlie was at BV Investment Partners and focused on tech-enabled business services investments. Prior to BV, Charlie worked in investment banking at William Blair & Company. He began his career in management consulting at Alvarez & Marsal.

Charlie received a Bachelor of Science in Applied & Computational Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Notre Dame.

On July 15, 2021, HeartFlow and Longview Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Glenview Capital Management, LLC, have entered into a definitive business combination agreement that will support HeartFlow’s vision of revolutionizing precision heartcare.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3rbbkvm