Alternative Investments

The Alternative Investments team is focused on direct investments in four key asset classes.

Each vertical has a dedicated team but leverages expertise across the entire organization and the firm’s broader network to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns with differentiated value-add strategies.

Private Equity

Lower Middle Market

Venture Capital

Growth

Real Estate

Value-Add & Core Plus Multi Family
and Industrial

Private Debt

Yield and Income Diversification

Our Edge

Our edge comes from a hands-on and value-add approach to how capital is deployed within each of the core verticals.

  • Nimble and flexible approach
  • “Consulting Bench” of operating partners unrivaled amongst our peers
  • Focus on transparency and partnership

Private Equity

Based in Los Angeles, Manhattan West Private Equity targets the most attractive underserved sectors in media, entertainment, and sports. We are active value-add investors in lower middle market companies partnering with entrepreneurs to drive exponential growth.

With over two decades of investment experience, we leverage our deep industry knowledge and ecosystem of industry operators/investors to partner with businesses led by exceptional management teams undergoing a strategic inflection point.

Favorable Sector Focus

The Fund has a disciplined investment thesis behind specific trends in three key sectors:

Proprietary
Sourcing

As part of a specialized investment firm, we have exclusive access to a client network of executives, entertainers, and athletes who provide evergreen deal flow focused on media, entertainment, and sports sectors where we have extensive deal experience and relationships.

Unique
Value-Add

We seek operational involvement in portfolio companies where we can “roll-up-our sleeves” and leverage our client network to create value through investment structures that provide substantial protection without limiting “home-run” potential.

Limited
Competition

Disciplined focus on value-add lower middle market companies where we can “move the needle” with operators and fill a void in the market as a sophisticated investment fund targeting smaller deal sizes.

Lower Middle Market
Focus

Focus on the lower middle market where returns are typically larger, management teams tend to be more entrepreneurial, less private equity competition exists, operational improvements can be more abundant, and larger strategic buyers can drive outsized returns upon exit.

Investment Criteria

CHECK SIZE
$5-25 million

Upper end through co-invest

OWNERSHIP
25-100%

Mix of primary or secondary capital

REVENUE SIZE
< $100 million
 
FINANCIAL PROFILE
Strong Cash Flow

Unique growth in resilient industries

Our Edge

NIMBLE AND FLEXIBLE
  • Advantage as a smaller manager given most larger managers are unable or unwilling to deliver sophisticated solutions to the lower middle market at our deal size
  • Ability to underwrite and close quickly due to our execution efficiency
Exclusive Sourcing Network
  • Unique investment opportunities are sourced through our exclusive relationships built over years of specialized deal experience
  • Proprietary deal flow is also sourced through the firm’s client network of executives, entertainers, and athletes, many of whom are investors in our fund
Operational Engagement
  • Operational, not passive investing, is a key driver for outperformance and creates a “target-rich” investment landscape when evaluating opportunities
  • Active involvement at numerous levels of portfolio companies helps to control the outcome

Select Portfolio Investments

Formula 1 Exhibition

Manhattan West Private Equity is the majority investor in the F1 Exhibition, a first-of-its-kind immersive and interactive exhibition that brings to life motorsports’ greatest spectacle.

The exhibition is being produced in partnership with Round Room Studios (an Entertainment One company), Formula 1®, and Manhattan West.

Formula 1® is the world’s second largest sport with over 500 million fans. Each championship takes place over 23 races across 5 continents. It is the world’s most prestigious motor racing competition.

This transaction was sourced through Manhattan West’s proprietary relationships and is an example of our value-add approach as we partner with management to develop and execute on growth opportunities for the business.

Vino Vault Wine Storage

Manhattan West is the lead investor in Vino Vault, a leading provider in the U.S. for wine storage and a full suite of value-added ancillary services, including a digital marketplace for consumers, concierge-style wine storage, expert inventory management, collection analysis, logistics, and turnkey auction management services.

The Company’s management team is comprised of former Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM) senior leadership with extensive M&A experience, completing and integrating ~70 acquisitions during their tenure.

Vino Vault’s mission is to become the nation’s largest, most comprehensive, and leading tech-enabled service in the wine industry to general enthusiasts and serious connoisseurs.

This transaction was sourced through Manhattan West’s long-standing relationship with a senior member of the management team and reflects our value-add approach through operational support, advising on M&A, and marketing to our deep relationships of high-net-worth individuals.

Venture Capital

The Manhattan West Venture Capital platform embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of the firm and the team’s experience building new platforms and working with independent or emerging managers to align our strategies with entrepreneurs and emerging funds.

The team focuses on building close partnerships within the space which leads to consistent and differentiated deal flow and opportunities to access and work with both top tier managers as well as the next generation of industry leaders.

  • Invest directly in the crypto & blockchain ecosystem
  • Co-invest with best-in-class venture capital managers
  • Access to late stage high growth pre-IPO companies
  • In-depth network of relationships in venture community
  • Specialized teams and sector/stage focused strategies

Venture Strategies

We invest through the Late Stage in both direct investments and funds and leverage our integrated platform approach and deep networks throughout the broader alternatives space to access unique deal flow usually seen by much larger platforms.

Digital Assets

Invests in the blockchain ecosystem through a hybrid approach that combines direct early-stage investments alongside Tier 1 funds, core positions in long-term hold currencies and investing in the top emerging crypto funds.

VCGO

Invests in unique high-pedigree and hard to access emerging funds, direct investments, and special VC growth opportunities.

Late Stage

Invests in mature venture-backed companies that are demonstrated market leaders, typically targeting an exit via IPO or M&A in the next 1-3 years. Focus on primaries, secondaries, and co-investments across sectors.

Where we invest

The team invests globally but has a focus on emerging VC ecosystems in New York and LA. Our LA ecosystem in particular has a long history of producing large venture-backed outcomes across a variety of sectors and verticals. ‘Unicorn’ outcomes are becoming more and more frequent in SoCal.

The firm works with well-known names in the LA sports, media, entertainment, and tech industries, and these individuals act as advisory resources and also generate unique deal flow.

Our Edge

Institutional Experience
  • Our Venture team has deep experience in public and private markets gained from several top tier buy-side and sell-side global institutions
  • Specific experience in institutional asset management includes building alternative portfolios, including running due diligence processes, manager selection, portfolio construction and risk management
Diverse Network
  • Our ecosystem includes a broad and diverse network of institutional LPs, Family Offices, top-tier venture capitalists, emerging fund managers, entrepreneurs, and operators.
  • Each team member brings their own unique sourcing network which creates a broad sourcing engine that generates deals
Flexible Capital
  • When a compelling opportunity presents itself, we are adept at structuring vehicles to capture them.
Operational Speed
  • Our team members leverage their public markets experience, macroeconomic perspectives, bottoms up fundamental analysis tools, and years of qualitative manager assessments to make quick decisions without sacrificing the quality of our convictions.
  • Speed is never a gating factor and our high-touch, highly communicative partnership approach helps further facilitate this optimized investment decision making process.

Why Emerging Managers

New and emerging managers are consistently ranked among the top 10 performing managers every year and present a compelling opportunity for limited partners to achieve top venture returns. This is largely because emerging funds are often led by partners with better track records.

We identify trends, not just follow them

The team has been early in researching and being active in emerging spaces, disruptive sectors, and where long-term secular shifts are developing in the markets.

Tailwinds support these sectors for long-term growth and the development of larger investable markets that align perfectly with the investment criteria of our venture capital investment strategies.

Portfolio Investments

Investment Criteria

Digital Assets

The Digital Assets Fund will access the asset class through a hybrid approach that combines direct early-stage investments alongside top-tier funds, core positions in long-term hold currencies and associated revenue-generating mechanisms (staking, liquidity provisioning, etc.) and investing in the top emerging crypto funds.

  • Portfolio

    30–40 Investments

  • Average Initial Investment

    $100-$250k

  • Verticals

    Web3, DeFi, Staking, Yield Farming, NFTs

  • Portfolio

    Global

    • VCGO

    The VCGO Fund will leverage MW’s broad industry relationships, differentiated sourcing channels and hybrid investment approach to provide investors with diversified exposure to newer, smaller, unique, emerging and often hard to access venture capital strategies and direct investments.

  • Portfolio

    40 – 60%: Fund Investments
    30 – 60%: Direct Investments
    0 – 20%: Special Opportunities
    Average Initial Investment: $2 – $5M

  • Current Themes

    Ag-Tech, Consumer-Tech, Fin-Tech, Health & Wellness, Sports-Tech, Media, Entertainment, Space-Tech, Web3

  • Geography

    Global

  • Geography

    SoCal, NYC

    • Late Stage

    Investing in mature venture-backed companies that are demonstrated market leaders. Typically targeting an exit via IPO or M&A in the next 1 to 3 years.

  • Target investments

    Mature venture-backed companies that are demonstrated market leaders

  • Potential Exit

    IPO, M&A or Secondary Sale
    Verticals: Sector agnostic, with sector expertise in Consumer, Fin-Tech, Gaming

  • Geography

    Global

    • Real Estate

    Based in Los Angeles, Manhattan West Real Estate is uniquely positioned as a vertically integrated owner, operator and manager of multifamily and industrial properties. We aim to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns for our investors while simultaneously creating a positive impact for the tenants and residents of our buildings. Our unique strategy is focused on executing value-add and opportunistic investments in supply-constrained, employment-rich markets in the Western U.S., with a particular focus on Southern California.

    With almost two decades of experience, our principals have significant hands-on experience across all product types and all phases of the development cycle. We leverage our relationships with local brokers, contractors, engineers, and architects to deliver the best product for our investors and tenants. Our hands-on experience with the design and construction of institutionally sized real estate assets provides a competitive advantage over others who lack this experience.

    Our Edge

    OWNER, OPERATOR, MANAGER
    • Our goal is to have clear financial transparency in our real estate investments, the only way to achieve this is to have complete control of our assets, which is why we act as sponsors and operate all properties with in-house property management, asset management, and accounting.
    DUE DILIGENCE
    • We utilize an institutional-quality due diligence process to scrutinize every deal, including a proprietary 150-point checklist we use to make sure we consider and mitigate all potential risk factors of each transaction.
    OPERATIONAL EXPERIENCE
    • Our principals have significant hands-on experience across all product types and all phases of the development cycle. In particular, Mr. Norvell’s 17-year career spent entirely as an owner/operator is unrivaled in terms of total volume. Mr. Norvell has been a part of over $6 billion of real estate acquisition and development projects.
    LOCAL PRESENCE
    • We bring local market knowledge curated over an entire lifetime living in Los Angeles. Not only did our real estate team grow up in Los Angeles, we have deep connections within the local real estate community through the USC alumni network that allows us to generate unique investment opportunities that most groups in Los Angeles cannot access.
    FAVORABLE FOCUS
    • The Real Estate team focuses on multifamily and industrial investments. Returns for these product types are expected to outperform all others given increasing tenant demand post-COVID. Within these product types we aim for higher yielding value-add and opportunistic strategies where we can leverage our extensive development and operational expertise.

    Investment Criteria

    Product Type

    Multifamily & Industrial

    Deal Size

    > 50 units or 50,000 sq ft

    Location

    Southern California, Nevada, Phoenix

    Strategy

    Value-Add or Development

    Portfolio Investments

    Private Debt

    The Private Debt team seeks to generate income and capital gains through direct and indirect investments in com­mercial loans to businesses located in the United States. Such investments may include, among other things, loan par­ticipations, asset-based loans, and individual or syndicated loans.

    Geographic loan dispersion across the U.S.
    Diversity in small business enterprise types
    Loans underwritten to institutional standards
    Act as a partner to understand each borrower’s set of working capital needs

    Our Edge

    Our Edge comes from a hands-on and value-add approach to how capital is deployed within each of the core verticals.

    • Nimble and flexible approach
    • “Consulting Bench” of operating partners unrivaled amongst our peers
    • Focus on transparency and partnership