Sleeping Bear Capital

Ranvir Gujral, the firm’s founder and managing partner, leads investment decisions. His background includes private equity roles at Silver Lake and Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and serving as co-founder and CEO of Chute, a marketing SaaS business backed by Y Combinator, Foundry Group, USVP, and Salesforce Ventures, which sold to a private equity firm in 2018.

The firm focuses on control acquisitions of orphan and aging venture-backed technology and e-commerce companies, as well as business-unit spinouts from larger corporations. It targets defense, technology, manufacturing, and eCommerce sectors where mature founder-led businesses need a new capital stack and hands-on operational support to reach their next growth phase.

It operates as a private equity firm executing control buyouts, not venture capital. However, it brings an operational, founder-minded approach rather than relying on financial engineering. The firm’s principals have direct operator experience in early-stage sales, go-to-market strategy, and brand development, deploying that expertise post-acquisition.

The firm’s portfolio includes at least two defense-technology holdings. One unnamed portfolio company completed a sale to Redwire, and Adaptive Energy was acquired by Edge Autonomy for accelerated technology development (per the firm). Both exits align with its stated focus on defense and technology businesses.

The firm does not publicly disclose its assets under management, limited partners, or fund structure. It does not reference formal fund vehicles or external capital commitments in its public materials, consistent with a closely held or independent sponsor model operating on a deal-by-deal basis.

Its Partner, Kate, was Head of Revenue at Nova, joining as the fourth employee and growing revenue 300% year-over-year before its acquisition by AngelList. The team explicitly assembles operator talent with early-stage sales and go-to-market pedigree, rather than exclusively hiring from investment-banking or consulting backgrounds.

No separate philanthropic foundation, family office, or adjacent vehicle is disclosed. The firm presents itself solely as a private equity asset manager executing control investments from its San Francisco office.