OceanSound Partners

The firm's Investment Committee includes CEO and founder Joe Benavides, President and co-founder Ted Coons, and Partner and co-founder Jeff Kelly. Additional partners Ariel Garcia, Addison Nordin, Ted Shanahan, and David Stein are also involved in decision-making. The three founders collectively represent over 85 years of experience investing in government and enterprise technology markets.

OceanSound relies on the sector relationships of its founders and partners, who have spent decades in technology and government end-markets. The firm targets situations where its past experiences are directly relevant — principally companies undergoing ownership transitions, carve-outs, or growth inflection points. OceanSound's lean team and industry concentration allow it to pursue deals that larger, generalist funds may overlook.

OceanSound Partners is a private equity firm, not a family office. It manages third-party institutional capital and makes control investments in middle-market technology and technology-enabled services companies. The firm was launched in 2019 by Joe Benavides, Ted Coons, and Jeff Kelly, all with prior institutional investment backgrounds.

OceanSound's disclosed activity focuses on direct control investments in portfolio companies, with no indication of fund-of-funds commitments or passive LP positions. The firm makes buyout, growth, and recapitalization investments directly into operating businesses across government and enterprise technology sectors.

OceanSound targets middle-market companies that have achieved meaningful scale but require capital and operational support to accelerate growth. The firm's deal types include buyouts, growth investments, divestitures, public-to-private transactions, and recapitalizations. Its portfolio companies now generate over $3.9 billion in aggregate revenue.

OceanSound has not publicly stated sector exclusions. Its stated focus is exclusively on technology and technology-enabled services companies serving government and enterprise end-markets. Investments outside of aerospace, defense, critical infrastructure, digital government services, healthcare technology, and financial software have not been disclosed.

OceanSound's Portfolio Ownership Group is a distinct team of 14 professionals separate from deal origination, dedicated full-time to portfolio company operations. Led by principals Chris Perkins and Jason Sharma, this group embeds within companies to drive strategic initiatives while leaving day-to-day operations to management. This formal separation of deal execution and post-close value creation is uncommon among middle-market PE firms.