OKRP

The three founding partners — Tom O'Keefe, Mary Beth Reinhardt, and Kent Peterson — collectively govern the investment committee. Each principal brings distinct operating and investing experience, but all investment decisions require consensus among the three name partners. This concentrated governance means founders negotiating with OKRP speak directly to the individuals who control capital allocation, without layers of delegation.

OKRP sources investments through deep regional networks built over two decades in the Midwest and Southeast, particularly among founder-led businesses that have not historically engaged venture or growth-equity intermediaries. The firm's Chicago–Kansas City dual-office structure gives it persistent presence in industrial and enterprise-software corridors that coastal generalists rarely cover. Partners maintain direct relationships with sector-specific executives, accountants, and lawyers who refer pre-institutional companies.

OKRP writes equity checks typically between $10 million and $75 million, targeting growth-stage companies with established revenue, proven unit economics, and capital-efficient operating models. The firm does not invest at the seed or early-venture stage. It prefers companies that have reached $5 million to $30 million in revenue and need expansion capital, operational support to professionalize management, or a partial liquidity event for founders.

OKRP does not invest in hard-tech, biotech, consumer brands, or capital-intensive infrastructure projects. The partnership has consistently stayed within enterprise software, fintech, digital health, industrial technology, and tech-enabled business services — sectors where the partners have direct operating and board-level experience. Speculative or pre-revenue science risk falls outside the firm's mandate.

OKRP operates through a traditional commingled fund structure, raising blind-pool capital from institutional limited partners and deploying through direct minority and majority equity investments. The firm does not operate as a fund-of-funds or co-investment club. Each investment is made directly into an operating company, with OKRP principals typically taking board seats alongside management.

OKRP is primarily a lead or control investor and has historically not built its model around passive co-investment alongside other GPs. The partners prefer situations where they can influence strategic direction through board participation and operational engagement. On certain larger transactions, the firm has accommodated limited co-investment from its own limited partners, but it does not routinely syndicate with competing growth-equity firms.