Riverside Partners Named to Inc.'s 2023 List of Founder-Friendly Investors

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Oct 31, 2023, 08:00 ET

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

BOSTON, Oct. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Riverside Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm focused on the technology and healthcare sectors, today announced it has been recognized as an Inc. 2023 Founder-Friendly Investor. Inc.'s list honors private investment firms with the best track records of success backing founder owned businesses. This is the third consecutive year Riverside Partners has been named to this list.

The list, which was published on October 31^st recognizes firms that founders and entrepreneurs view as collaborative and trustworthy as they receive the financial support they need to help drive growth. The firms on Inc.'s list have successful track records of remaining actively involved with their portfolio businesses.

"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.

David Belluck, a General Partner at Riverside Partners, commented on the award saying, "It's an honor to be recognized as an Inc. 2023 Top Founder-Friendly Investor. The award is a tribute to our longstanding commitment to partnering with founders to meet their goals for themselves and their businesses, and to help them accelerate the growth of their companies. For over thirty years, we have been investing in founder owned healthcare and technology businesses. The founders we team up with retain significant equity, play a meaningful role going forward, and care deeply about their employees. We are proud to build close relationships with them based on a high degree of trust, alignment, and collaboration and to provide additional resources to further build their businesses."

Steven F. Kaplan, a General Partner at Riverside Partners, further commented, "The first factor we look at when considering an investment is the chemistry fit between Riverside Partners and the founder and their management team. The second factor is determining whether we are aligned around a shared vision for the company's growth plan. These growth plans often include new product development, market or geographic expansion, and add-on acquisitions. Ultimately, founders and entrepreneurs rely on our deep experience helping scale businesses."

When asked about his experience partnering with Riverside Partners, Dr. Afshin Safavi, founder of BioAgilytix, a recent Riverside Partners' portfolio company, said the following, "Riverside Partners was an exceptional partner for BioAgilytix. The Riverside team professionalized the company and brought a value-added approach that was essential to prepare us for the next phase of growth. They provided deep domain expertise, constant operational and strategic support, introductions to customers, and significant investment for expansion - all of which helped establish the foundation for us to grow into a global leader within the pharma services industry."

Upon hearing about Riverside Partners' selection as an Inc. 2023 Top Founder-Friendly Investor, Joe Spytek, co-founder and CEO of ITC Global, had the following to say, "Riverside Partners helped me drive a major transformation of ITC Global. My co-founders and I had built a niche satellite communications business focused on serving the global mining sector. With Riverside's help, we expanded into the much larger oil and gas sector, acquired two companies, one in Europe and one in Africa, and grew into the number two player in the space. In addition, we expanded our global operations from 20 countries to more than 90 in a short timeframe. Riverside helped build our team, including guiding the hire of our first CFO, a very strong executive who had previously served as CFO of another Riverside portfolio company. Finally, Riverside was instrumental in driving and negotiating our ultimate sale to Panasonic Corporation. This recognition is well deserved."

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 an ownership stake.

To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2023

The November 2023 issue of Inc. magazine is available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine and will be on newsstands beginning October 31, 2023.

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. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 list gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

About Riverside Partners
Founded in 1989, Riverside Partners is a middle market private equity firm with total capital commitments of $1.6 billion raised since inception. The firm focuses on growth-oriented companies in the technology and healthcare industries. Riverside Partners is particularly experienced at partnering with founders, owners, and management teams and brings substantial domain expertise and operating experience to its portfolio companies. For more information, visit www.riversidepartners.com.

Legal Disclosure
Industry recognitions or awards should not be construed as an endorsement or a recommendation to retain the Adviser by the ranking entity or any regulatory authority. Any rankings or awards cited were provided by independent third parties based on their predetermined evaluation criteria. Although Adviser provided compensation to the ranking entity to be included in the survey, it did not exercise any influence or control over the criteria used or the results generated, other than providing or making available, directly or indirectly, objective numerical data that could have been used by third-party as input variables. Statements by Dr. Afshin Safavi and Joe Spytek are endorsements made by executives of former portfolio companies invested in by Adviser. No direct or indirect compensation has been provided for such statements.

SOURCE Riverside Partners