Smart Business Dealmakers: The Middle-Market M&A Podcast

Sylvester Hester, a 30-year veteran of the automotive industry, has recently launched LM Manufacturing, a company that provides manufacturing, assembly, sequencing, supply chain and logistics management primarily in the automotive vertical. It's a joint venture with Magna International, a $40 billion mobility technology company that has thrown its support behind LM, which expects to generate some 400 jobs as it lays down roots in Detroit. Hester talks about the process of launching the business, how the opportunity came about, and the importance of being a job creator in Detroit.

Financial Health Network opens the financial services industry to underserved consumers across economic, geographic and cultural spectrums. Founder, President and CEO Jennifer Tescher talks about FHN's Financial Solutions Lab Accelerator, its cultivated network and its investment in 50-plus finhealth solutions.

Vytalize Health has been raising funds successively and successfully for the past few years, drawing in $5.5 in 2020, $17 million in 2021, $50 million April 2022, and now a $100m Series B in February. Company CEO and co-founder Faris Ghawi and Chief Marketing Officer Matt Buder Shapiro stop by to talk about the big raise, how they'll apply it, the growth its perpetuating and what comes next.

Setting the appropriate working capital target is a significant part of any deal, and it's often something sellers just don't understand. Tony Montanaro, partner in the forensic, litigation & valuation department at Louis Plung & Company, talks about the intricacies of working capital in an M&A deal.

John Estafanous is leading RallyBright, the second company he's founded. He's recently raised investor capital — his first experience with the process — as he looks to accelerate growth for the company, which offers a software platform designed to improve team performance. John stops by the pod to talk about how founding the first company has informed building the second, what he learned selling that first business, his experience raising capital, and the importance of connecting with the right investors.

Liana Douillet Guzmán joined, FOLX Health as CEO in February 2022 and was tasked with growing the business to all 50 states. FOLX Health, operator of a digital health company intended to serve the LGBTQ+ community, has raised nearly $60 million since its founding through seed, Series A and Series B rounds, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $95 million. Guzmán discussing the growth of FOLX and how raising capital has changed dramatically in the past two years.

Eric Satz is the co-founder, president and CEO of Alto, developer of an alternative asset investment platform intended to connect everyday investors to alternative investment opportunities. Satz and his team raised $39.94 million of Series B venture funding in 2022, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $250 million. He talks about the capital-raising process and what the future holds for Alto.

Provide, an integrated suite of financial products for healthcare practitioners, was acquired by Fifth Third in 2021. Launched in 2013, the company made its way through pivots and financing rounds to ultimately become an independent business line of the bank in a deal that could accelerate the growth of an already growing company. Provide Chief Business Officer Andrew Bennett stops by to talk about the acquisition and what it means for the future.

Dave Tolmie is a senior partner at The Edgewater Funds, a private equity firm he co-founded in 2001 and has helped grow to more than $3 billion in committed capital. The former CEO of Yesmail, Inc., a company he led through a successful IPO and subsequent sale for $720 million, and previous Senior Vice President of Operations for Bally Total Fitness, a company he joined after building and selling a regional health club to Bally for $90 million, talks about what he looks for in the entrepreneurs who will lead his portfolio investments. He walks through the major stages of that investment and how that affects CEOs as they sell to PE, aggressively build and then sell again.

Dick Simon, a serial entrepreneur and leader in advancing psychedelic-assisted therapies, is the co-founder and CEO of Sensorium Therapeutics. The company identifies new, promising drug leads for therapeutics inspired by psychoactive plants and fungi to address mental health issues such as anxiety. Dick talks about the business, how it's grown, and its recent fundraising, which brought a $30 million Series A into the business in 2022.