Building Resilience. Creating Value.
We back profitable lower middle-market businesses in consumer, food and agriculture, and energy transition
About
Verdant Growth is a Boulder-based independent sponsor. We make one to two investments per year by design. Concentration is core to our strategy.
Investment Focus
We strive to make investments in businesses that directly or indirectly promote and support human and planetary wellbeing.
We believe that the most durable companies are built in the industries that touch daily life. What people eat and consume, how they live, and how the economy powers itself. We partner with founders and operators in these sectors with flexible capital and longer term investment horizons.
We tend to show up at moments when capital alone isn’t enough. A family owner planning a generational transition. A founder who wants liquidity but isn’t ready to step back. A management team buying out a passive investor or non-operating founders. A company with a roll-up opportunity that needs M&A capital and support.
Consumer
Sectors
Branded consumer products (food, beverage, supplements, beauty, personal care, health & wellness, and pet). Service providers and B2B partners (co-manufacturers, supply chain and logistics, commerce technology).
Food and Agriculture
Ingredients, supply chain and logistics, agri-business, and businesses positioned for the structural shift toward healthier, more transparent, more resilient food systems.
Energy Transition
Efficiency, electrification, critical materials, and resource-intensity reductions in established industries.
Strategy
Key Business Characteristics
We invest in businesses with four common themes:Stable, predictable or recurring revenue with strong visibilityClear, identifiable levers to accelerate growthA defensible value proposition that competitors can’t easily replicateStrong and stable margins that support reinvestment
Owner-led, founder-led, or with strong continuity in the existing management team$1M-$10M of EBITDA$5M-$20M of equity per investment, from Verdant Growth and our co-investorsStrong preference for control or buyout transactions with meaningful founder and management rolloverSignificant minority positions where there is a potential path to controlGeography - United States
Investment Criteria
How We Invest:
We structure capital around the needs of the business:Growth and acquisition capital - growth equity, strategic acquisitions and roll-upsOwnership transitions/liquidity - management buyouts, recapitalizations, shareholder liquidity
Our Team
Ben Fenton
Founder and Managing Partner
Ben is an investor, advisor, and board member with extensive experience across multiple asset classes and growth stages from venture and growth equity to project finance and credit. His career spans Galway Sustainable Capital (Macquarie-backed specialty finance), BFG Partners (founding team at a Boulder VC firm backing better-for-you consumer brands, where he led and supported investments that generated multiple nine-figure exits), UBS Investment Bank, The Yucaipa Companies, Morgan Stanley, Oak Hill Advisors, and Hutchin Hill Capital.
Across these seats, Ben has worked alongside founders and management teams through the full arc. From zero to $10M, $10–$50M, $50M–$100M, and beyond to exit with a deep understanding of the founder/owner journey and what a scaling business actually needs at each stage.
Ben is a passionate endurance athlete (completed 5 Ironmans, over 10 half Ironmans, and two ultramarathons) and amateur landscape photographer. He graduated from Duke University. Ben and his family live in Boulder, CO.
Jason is a leader in the financial services industry with more than 25 years of experience in high-growth and large corporate environments domestically and internationally. He has built and led finance and operating functions and been instrumental in tens of billions of dollars of capital transactions.
Jason is the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and a Co-Founder of Boomtown, a leading technology startup accelerator with more than 200 portfolio companies and the operator of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator. Through his companies, Numeria Ventures and J Curve Ventures, he is also an active personal investor in and advisor to numerous startup and growth- stage technology companies.
Jason is a competitive ultramarathon runner, having completed single-stage races of up to 122 miles and self-supported adventure runs of up to 175 miles in distance. Jason graduated from Kenyon College. He and his family live in Boulder, Colorado, and Austin, Texas.
Operating Partner
Jason Searfoss
Contact Us
Interested in connecting with the Verdant Growth team? Please reach out via LinkedIn or fill the form.