MKB

MKB

MKB was founded in Montreal in 2007 by Kenneth MacKinnon and W. John Bennett, two operators who built the firm with a single thesis: that the energy transition would become the defining capital allocation challenge of the coming decades. The firm initially flew below institutional radar screens, but it has since assembled a 16-person team — anchored by Managing Partner Antonio Occhionero and Partners Chanel Damphousse and Jesse Teichman — and a roster of advisors that includes Katherine Hamilton and Philippe Dunsky. Its origin is purely entrepreneurial; no disclosed single-family wealth source underpins the vehicle. The firm writes growth-stage equity checks into companies that decarbonize mobility, clean energy, the built environment, and industrials. Its portfolio spans hardware, precision manufacturing, and enabling infrastructure. Confirmed positions include Rockit Motors, a precision electric-motor manufacturer serving electrified transportation and renewable energy infrastructure across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico; Cascadia Windows & Doors, a high-performance fenestration business in which MKB led a round alongside Blue Earth Capital and the Canada Growth Fund; and Circuit, an electric-shuttle network. MKB structures its investments as significant minority positions, coupling capital with operational guidance delivered through its in-house team of finance, engineering, and corporate-development professionals. The firm concentrates geographically on North American opportunities. MKB operates from a single office at 1 Place Ville Marie in Montreal. It closed its third dedicated energy transition fund, although the precise vehicle size remains undisclosed. In early 2026, the firm promoted James Palucci to Group Chief Financial Officer, signaling a build-out of the corporate infrastructure that supports portfolio-company finance. The firm’s investment team includes a bench of Principals and Associates with backgrounds in investment banking, corporate finance, and engineering. MKB’s architecture is unusual for a growth-stage manager: it functions as a sector-specialist platform rather than a generalist pool of capital. Nearly every resource — from its Advisors to its limited partner base, which includes the Canada Growth Fund — is organized around the single decarbonization theme. This narrow mandate has allowed it to originate proprietary access in Canadian and cross-border climate-hardware deals that large multi-sector funds often overlook.