# Knox Lane

Knox Lane is a Private Equity based in San Francisco, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Private Equity
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** San Francisco, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 2019
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** knoxlane.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/knox-lane

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 306657
- **SEC file number:** 801-118099
- **Registration status:** Registered
- **Reports private funds:** Yes
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/306657

## About

Knox Lane is an SEC-registered investment adviser in San Francisco, CA, registered since 2020. The firm manages approximately $3.4 billion in regulatory assets. It has 30 employees and 16 investment advisers.

## Sectors

- Consumer & Retail
- Services
- Healthcare Services

## People

- John Bailey — Co-Founder & Managing Partner
- Shamim Kazemi — Co-Founder & Managing Partner

## Questions

### Who founded Knox Lane and what is their background?

John Bailey and Shamim Kazemi co-founded the firm in 2019. Bailey previously led consumer investing for TPG Growth, the middle-market and growth-equity arm of the $230 billion-plus TPG platform. Kazemi was a senior investor at TSG Consumer Partners, the consumer-focused private equity firm. Their combined tenure investing behind consumer brands — from food and beverage to multi-unit services — informs the concentrated sector mandate.

### What size of equity check does Knox Lane write?

Knox Lane targets $50 million to $150 million per investment from its $610 million debut fund. The firm pursues majority or control positions, often stepping in as a company's first institutional capital partner. The check size sits above what lower-middle-market funds can write but below the threshold at which mega-funds can move quickly on a sub-$200 million equity deal.

### What types of deals does Knox Lane pursue?

The firm's mandate covers traditional buyouts, management buyouts, PIPEs, public-to-private transactions, and corporate spin-offs. In practice, the primary sourcing channel is founder-owned and family-run businesses seeking liquidity, a succession solution, or growth capital alongside an ownership transition. That deal-type breadth provides flexibility for structuring acquisitions where the seller's tax, governance, or timeline requirements demand non-standard terms.

### How does Knox Lane source investment opportunities?

Sourcing relies on the partners' networks built over 15-plus years inside two of the most active consumer-focused investment platforms in the United States — TPG Growth and TSG Consumer Partners. The mandate concentrates on companies that are not running formal auction processes but are instead exploring a first institutional partnership. The firm's model depends on intermediary relationships and founder referrals rather than broad-auction participation.

### What sectors does Knox Lane invest in, and are any explicitly avoided?

The firm concentrates on consumer, retail, and services — with confirmed investment in the horticulture and branded plants sector through its acquisition of Monrovia Plants. Technology, healthcare services, financial services, and energy have not appeared in the firm's disclosed deal activity. No formal exclusions list has been published, but the partnership's background and fund size strongly anchor the mandate to founder-led consumer and service platforms.

### How is Knox Lane's investment decision-making structured?

Investment decisions are made by the two co-founders, John Bailey and Shamim Kazemi, who constitute the firm's investment committee. There is no broader partnership vote, no external investment board, and no parent-organization approval layer. The structure gives the firm speed on proprietary transactions but also concentrates reputational and financial risk on two decision-makers overseeing one fund.

## Related profiles

- [Knox D'Arcy Investment Management](https://altss.com/profile/knox-d-arcy-investment-management)
- [Knuru Capital](https://altss.com/profile/knuru-capital)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

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