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Rosewood Capital
Rosewood Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity firm. It invests in growth and mature companies in the US midwest, northeast, southeast, and west.
Rosewood Capital
Rosewood Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity firm. It invests in growth and mature companies in the US midwest, northeast, southeast, and west. Rosewood Capital focuses on transactions such as acquisition financing, buyouts, recapitalization, and shareholder liquidity.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1985
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
San Francisco
Corporate office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Byron Alsop
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Kenneth Sawyer
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is Rosewood Capital's investment strategy?
Rosewood Capital pursues a concentrated growth equity strategy in consumer products, specialty retail, and e-commerce. The firm typically takes minority or control stakes in companies at inflection points where capital can accelerate store growth, brand development, or digital transformation. Its model emphasizes close operational involvement rather than passive portfolio management.
Who makes investment decisions at Rosewood Capital?
Investment decisions have historically been led by co-founders Byron Alsop and Kenneth Sawyer. The firm operates as a tight partnership where senior partners originate, evaluate, and manage each portfolio position without a separate investment committee layer. Key operational hires have supplemented the founders on deal execution.
What are Rosewood Capital's most notable portfolio companies?
Confirmed positions include Peet's Coffee & Tea, Restoration Hardware, and Shutterfly. These three investments span the firm's core consumer and early-stage e-commerce thesis. Peet's returned capital via a 2012 trade sale, while Restoration Hardware and Shutterfly both completed public offerings.
Does Rosewood Capital still actively invest new capital?
Rosewood's most recent confirmed fund activity dates to the mid-2000s with Rosewood Capital V. The firm has not publicly announced a new fund close or active investment vehicle since that period, and its current deployment posture is not publicly disclosed. The partnership's long-term activity depends on the co-founders' ongoing involvement.
What differentiates Rosewood Capital from other growth equity firms?
Rosewood differentiated itself by maintaining a strictly consumer-focused mandate across three decades, well before consumer-tech became a mainstream venture category. The firm prioritized brand equity and unit economics over pure revenue growth, a lens shaped by its principals' early investments in brick-and-mortar retail chains that later scaled online.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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