First Nations Capital Partners

John H. Upshur, the firm's Managing Principal, leads all investment activity. He is a CPA and MBA who has managed both FNCP I and the FNCP II pledge fund since inception in 2008. Upshur personally sources and negotiates each acquisition and oversees the operating managers installed at portfolio companies post-close.

The firm targets family- and founder-owned specialty manufacturers in the Western US that have never taken outside institutional capital. Deals are sourced through Upshur's long-developed network of contacts and ongoing market diligence, rather than competitive auctions. The firm describes its target companies as businesses where equity is available for 'good and verifiable reasons,' often involving succession or growth-capital needs.

It is a private equity firm, but one with an unusual ownership structure. The Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians and the Colusa Indian Community Council are anchor sovereign investors alongside Wells Fargo Bank. FNCP I was a committed fund; FNCP II, formed in 2014, is a pledge fund where each investor decides on a deal-by-deal basis whether to participate.

The firm's stated geographic mandate covers the eleven Western states, and all disclosed portfolio companies are located in California, Washington, and Oregon. Industry focus is traditional manufacturing: plastic card printing, rope and twine production, composite shipping containers, automotive aftermarket parts, and material handling systems for wood processing.

FNCP II operates as a pledge fund, meaning investors who support the platform receive a first look at each transaction and decide individually whether to commit capital. This structure allows tribal sovereigns and institutional LPs to co-invest on the same terms without pooling capital into a blind pool. The firm itself acquires controlling interests directly.