Keyframe Capital Partners

Co-Founders John Rapaport and David Barksdale serve as Managing Partners and are the key decision-makers. Rapaport brings experience from his prior role investing in energy and infrastructure at Fir Tree Partners, a multi-strategy hedge fund. Barksdale's operational experience in transportation and logistics shapes the firm's hands-on approach to mobility assets.

Keyframe deploys cross-cycle capital — a combination of equity, structured credit, and direct asset ownership — into energy transition and mobility infrastructure. The firm targets capital-intensive assets that fall between the mandates of traditional venture capital and infrastructure private equity. Investments include distributed power generation, electric vehicle fleets, battery storage systems, and related enabling infrastructure.

No. Keyframe deliberately avoids a traditional 10-year drawdown fund structure, operating instead with a hybrid balance sheet that combines permanent capital characteristics with opportunistic deployment. This architecture allows the firm to own assets, extend credit, and hold equity positions over indefinite horizons without facing forced-exit timing pressure.

Two confirmed holdings are Revel Transit, the all-electric ride-hailing company that also builds and operates urban fast-charging hubs, and Highland Electric Fleets, which provides turnkey electric school bus electrification services to school districts across North America. Both represent Keyframe's focus on the intersection of climate infrastructure and operational businesses.

The firm's primary investment footprint covers North America and Europe. It operates from offices in New York City, Park City, Utah, and London, enabling sourcing and asset management across both regions. The European presence supports the firm's mandate in energy and transportation infrastructure within developed-market regulatory environments.

Keyframe's sourcing model is built on its position in a funding gap. By offering structured capital — debt, equity, and hybrid instruments — that traditional funds cannot easily provide, the firm attracts complex, capital-intensive opportunities. Its focus on asset-heavy, operationally intensive businesses in energy and mobility means that many opportunities come through direct relationships with founders and asset developers rather than competitive auctions.

Keyframe Capital Partners is structured as an asset manager, not a family office. It invests third-party capital alongside its principals' own commitments, though the specific investor base is not publicly disclosed. The firm's hybrid balance sheet approach and thematic focus on energy transition position it more like a specialty investment firm than a conventional private equity fund manager.