Greenstone Equity Partners, a licensed fund placement firm in the Middle East, announced their successful fundraise for U.S.-based Mercato Partners’ Traverse Fund IV, a $400 million growth fund.
Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Dubai, Greenstone Equity Partners leveraged its network of GCC-based investors to participate in and support the oversubscribed final close of Mercato Partners’ largest fundraise to date. A 2021 vintage, Traverse Fund IV will be principally deployed to mature, scaling technology and branded consumer companies that sit outside of the United States’ capital-rich, coastal cities. By focusing on these under-served and undercapitalized geographies, Mercato Partners has proven successful at sourcing and investing in mature, growth companies at competitive valuations, key considerations for delivering alpha.
Joe Kaiser and Ryan Sanders, Managing Directors of Traverse, jointly said “When Mercato Partners was founded over 16 years ago there was a lack of private growth capital and appreciation for talent-rich but underserved ecosystems, and non-costal companies faced a difficult journey when it came to raising money. Luckily, the founders of Mercato, Greg Warnock and Alan Hall, shared a bold vision to help fill this void with deep, engaged, and authentic value-add. By providing entrepreneurs and compelling growth companies access to both capital and development strategies, Mercato set out to challenge the status quo and prove that great businesses can be built anywhere. Today, we are excited to carry this vision forward and help support the next generation of disruptive, high-growth, high-potential companies.”
To date, Mercato Partners has 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 Mercato Partners’ 38 other active investments.
Alex Gemici, Chief Executive Officer of Greenstone, said “We are proud to be working with innovative and advanced partners such as Mercato. Their commitment to discovering and scaling game-changing companies in U.S. markets enables them to maintain a competitive advantage and remain ahead of the curve. Our GCC investors continue to be attracted to growth-stage company investments, and we look forward to growing our partnership with Mercato over the coming years.”
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 is available on Mercato Partners’ website here.
