Camden Partners Closes Fund VI with $100 million in Commitments from Investors

• The Baltimore-based private equity firm founded in 1995 has closed its sixth fund
• Strategic Partners Fund VI will make investments in technology-enabled services and software, education, and business services companies in the lower-middle market

June 24, 2020, (Baltimore,MD) – Camden Partners (“Camden”) announced that it has held a final close on its sixth private equity fund. Strategic Partners Fund VI (“Fund VI”), the latest fund in Camden’s Strategic Partners fund series, wrapped up its fundraising efforts this month with $100 million in commitments from limited partners which include Pension Funds, Endowments & Foundations, Family Offices, and Fund of Funds (private equity funds that invest their assets into other private equity funds).

Founded in 1995 by David Warnock after leaving T. Rowe Price, Camden has become one of the oldest and longest-tenured private equity firms in the Baltimore area, having invested in more than 80 private businesses since inception. In addition to Mr. Warnock, who is still with the firm, the investment team is led by Partners Jason Tagler (joined 2005), Meghan McGee (joined 2006), and Todd Sherman (joined 2007), who have worked together for over 13 years. Camden has also added additional talent including Baltimore-native Calvin Young (joined 2018), Vice President on the Investment Team and, more recently, Sean Long (joined 2019) as Head of Business Development and Investor Relations to lead strategic development of Camden’s institutional client business.  

For 25 years Camden has consistently focused on investing in smaller, often founder-led, growth-stage companies, leveraging domain expertise in tech-enabled services and software, business services, and education. Mr. Sherman commented, “In addition to providing growth capital, our aim is to be along-term partner to our businesses, aiding them in building sustainable value while helping management teams navigate the unique challenges of operating a growing company.”

Camden invests in companies all over the United States, as evidenced by recent deals – Ingo Money (Alpharetta, GA) a digital payments company; RedPoint Global (Wellesley, MA), a marketing analytics solution for Chief Marketing Officers; DialSource (Sacramento, CA), the developer of sales automation software; Techtonic (Boulder, CO) a workforce development company. However, Camden still keeps its eye on businesses close to home, as it recently invested in Baltimore-based Catalyte, which provides outsourced software development services and technology consulting using its proprietary artificial intelligence platform and talent transformation program.

Having become an established presence in the Baltimore business community, Camden hopes to give rise to other private capital businesses in the city. This month, it spun-off its Nexus Management division (now Catalio Capital), which makes venture capital investments in a diversified portfolio of biomedical technology companies founded by world-renowned, serial scientist-entrepreneurs. “Since its founding, Camden Partners has been dedicated to building impactful businesses in Baltimore, including companies such as Paragon Bioservices, Towne Park and Pinnacle Automotive,” said Mr. Warnock. “By spinning off Nexus, we hope to allow the platform access to additional capital and talent, as well as continue to make Baltimore a center for biopharma investing.”

As a result of the transaction, Camden will return to focusing solely on its flagship Strategic Partners strategy. Currently investing out of Fund VI, Camden has raised over $700 million and invested in more than 80 portfolio companies generating $1.2 billion in cumulative distributions across its Strategic Partners fund series.

‍About Camden Partners

Founded in 1995, Camden Partners is a Baltimore-based lower-middle market growth equity firm. For 25 years we have consistently focused on investing in growth-stage companies with enterprise values ranging from $10 million - $150 million. Leveraging our domain expertise in tech-enabled services and software, business services, and education, we partner with our portfolio companies to grow revenue and increase cash flow by setting organizational strategy and providing the growth capital to expand operations. Our target equity checks range between $5 million and $15 million, allowing us to be a preferred partner of choice for owner-operators of businesses who may be dilution sensitive. For more information, please visit Camden’s website: www.camdenpartners.com‍