Mercato Partners Raises $400 Million Growth Fund, Traverse Fund IV

Salt Lake City growth capital partner announces final close of their largest fund to date

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercato Partners today announced the final close of Traverse Fund IV, a $400 million growth fund that will be deployed to high-growth, mature technology and branded consumer companies.

Founded in 2007, Mercato Partners has principally invested in growth companies outside of the traditional coastal geographies. "Dedicated to investing in the next generation of great American entrepreneurs, Fund IV will prioritize those companies being built in cities and states that have historically been overlooked and under-appreciated by growth capital," said Joe Kaiser, Managing Director. "This raise provides us the opportunity to go all-in on our core belief that great businesses can be built anywhere."

The Traverse Fund IV raise was led by commitments from institutional allocators, including public pension funds, university endowments, charitable foundations, health care systems, and insurance companies. In addition to this traditional mix of long-term investors, Mercato Partner's reserved a portion of Fund IV for accomplished service affiliates, executives and business leaders that bring mission-critical access, resources and networking opportunities to the fund's portfolio companies. "We understand that one of the fundamental needs of our portfolio companies is access to the right resources at the right time to fuel growth," said Managing Director Ryan Sanders. "This strategic CXO partnership is the perfect value-add channel to enable that growth support."

Mercato Partners has already added five key investments to the Traverse Fund IV portfolio, including: Atomic, a payroll API that powers banks, credit unions, and fintech; Klover, a permissioned commerce data platform; Lambda, a deep learning AI infrastructure company; Paytient, a category creator that built the Health Payment Account; and Prime Trust, a fintech and digital assets infrastructure provider. These five companies join the 65 other investments Mercato Partners has completed since 2007.

"As we look forward across the investing landscape, we are energized by the explosion of disruptive entrepreneurs building industry-changing companies. In conjunction with the significant investment potential presented by today's economic climate, we are confident that our fourth growth fund will be the best yet," said co-Founder Greg Warnock.

Since its founding, Mercato Partners has raised over $1 billion combined across their venture, growth and buyout practices—Prelude, Traverse and Savory, respectively—and has an active portfolio of 43 investments.

The Traverse Fund is led by seasoned investors, operators, and managing directors Ryan Sanders, Joe Kaiser and Greg Warnock, co-founder of Mercato Partners. Further detail about the firm and its Fund IV memorandum, For the Better, is available on Mercato Partner's website here.

Based in Salt Lake City, Mercato Partners is a multi-practice investment firm that provides funding, guidance and support for rapidly expanding technology, branded consumer, and food and beverage companies. Mercato Partners has over $1.6 billion in assets under management¹. Notable past investments include Central Logic, Cotopaxi, Cradlepoint, DOMO, Ephesoft, Fusion-IO, Galileo Financial Technologies, Goal Zero, Mediconnect, SaltStack, Simplus, Skullcandy, Stance, Swig, and Venafi.

1. Platform AUM as of 12/31/2022

SOURCE Mercato Partners