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Closed Loop Partners
Closed Loop Partners manages VC, PE, and catalytic credit solely for the circular economy, with 90+ investments across 10 countries.
Closed Loop Partners
Founded in 2014 by Ron Gonen, the former Deputy Commissioner of Sanitation for New York City, Closed Loop Partners emerged from a practical observation: the transition to a circular economy required dedicated capital infrastructure. The firm structures itself around three segments — Closed Loop Capital Management, Circular Services, and the Center for the Circular Economy — each reinforcing the others. While most impact investors bolt ESG screens onto a generalist portfolio, Gonen’s team started with the waste streams themselves, crafting an investment firm that views recycling, reuse, and material recovery as an asset class. Capital deployment spans venture capital, lower mid-market buyout private equity, and catalytic private credit strategies. Investment stages reach from seed to pre-IPO, with the firm underwriting direct co-investments and project finance alongside limited partner capital from global corporations, financial institutions, and family offices. Confirmed portfolio companies include Supersede, Agri-Cycle, and TemperPack. The catalytic credit arm has deployed multi-million-dollar loans to scaling infrastructure, while the private equity group has acquired regional recyclers to build national platforms in organics and materials recovery. Geographic reach extends across North America and into Europe, with disclosed investments in 10 countries. Closed Loop Partners has grown to a team whose senior ranks draw from former industry CEOs, CFOs, and government executives, averaging over 20 years of operational and investment experience. In 2023, it acquired Agri-Cycle through its private equity group to accelerate national organics recycling expansion. The firm reports that its portfolio has kept 15.9 billion pounds of materials in circulation and avoided 25.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Its Circular Services unit sits alongside the capital management arm, operating as a distinct business that provides recycling infrastructure for municipalities and corporations. Structurally, Closed Loop Partners separates itself by operating an in-house innovation center — the Center for the Circular Economy — that publishes data, runs the Composting Consortium, and coordinates the Beyond the Bag Initiative with retailers including Target and CVS Health. This innovation-and-research function creates a pipeline of deal flow and policy influence that a standalone fund manager would lack. The firm’s blend of private equity control investments, catalytic credit, and venture capital, combined with a subsidiary operating company and a research center, makes it less a traditional asset manager and more an integrated circular-economy holding platform.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, United States
Principals
Ron Gonen
Co-Founder & CEO
Tazia Smith
Chief Operating Officer
Jessica Long
Managing Director, Chief Strategy Officer
Kate Daly
Managing Director, Head of the Center for the Circular Economy
Talia Jarvis
Managing Director, Private Equity
Danielle Schaefer
Managing Director, Venture Capital
Bridget Croke
Managing Director, Head of Partnerships
Danielle Joseph
Managing Director, Catalytic Capital
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Closed Loop Partners source proprietary deal flow?
The firm’s Center for the Circular Economy functions as a proprietary origination engine. It convenes corporate coalitions like the Beyond the Bag Initiative with Target and CVS Health, runs the Composting Consortium, and publishes data that surfaces infrastructure gaps — each generating investment leads for the capital management arm. This integration means deal flow often originates from operational partnerships and pre-commercial municipal pilots rather than from traditional auction processes.
Is Closed Loop Partners a family office or an asset manager?
Closed Loop Partners is a registered asset manager, not a single-family office. It raises capital from a broad LP base that includes global corporations, financial institutions, family offices, and foundation endowments. The firm manages pooled vehicles — not a segregated single-family balance sheet — across its venture capital, private equity, and catalytic private credit strategies.
What investment structures does Closed Loop Partners use?
The firm operates three primary investment structures. Closed Loop Venture Capital takes minority equity stakes in early-to-growth-stage companies. The Private Equity group pursues lower mid-market buyouts, establishing controlling positions in recycling and circular infrastructure companies. The Catalytic Capital & Private Credit group extends secured loans and project finance to scaling circular-economy enterprises that may not yet qualify for conventional bank debt.
How is Circular Services different from the rest of Closed Loop Partners?
Circular Services is a wholly-owned operating company that provides private recycling and circular economy services to municipalities and businesses — it is not a fund. While the capital management divisions invest in external portfolio companies, Circular Services directly operates recycling infrastructure. This structure gives the firm an operator’s view of material flows and end-market pricing that informs its fund investments.
Which sectors does Closed Loop Partners explicitly avoid?
The firm pursues a positive mandate — it invests only in technologies, infrastructure, and business models that advance the circular economy. Its stated universe excludes extraction-heavy linear-economy businesses, fossil-fuel-dependent supply chains, and any company whose core model relies on single-use virgin materials without a verifiable pathway to circularity. The catalytic credit arm’s capital is reserved for enterprises that meet clearly defined circular-economy criteria.
How does Closed Loop Partners measure impact across its portfolio?
The firm publishes an annual impact report and conducts an ESG survey across portfolio companies aligned with the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. It tracks material-specific metrics — pounds of materials kept in circulation and metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided — rather than relying on generic ESG scores. In 2024, the reported totals were 15.9 billion pounds of materials circulated and 25.2 million metric tons of GHG emissions avoided.
What is the relationship between Closed Loop Partners and the Center for the Circular Economy?
The Center is an integrated business segment within Closed Loop Partners, not a separate nonprofit. It conducts pre-competitive research, publishes guidelines for composting and packaging, and manages multi-stakeholder consortia. Its work includes the Composting Consortium and the Beyond the Bag Initiative — both designed to drive systemic change while generating investment pipeline for the firm’s funds.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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