Private Equity

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Trivest Partners

Trivest is a private equity firm exclusively focused on the growth and support of founder-led and family-owned businesses. Since 1981 it has been a leading...

Trivest Partners logo

Trivest Partners

Trivest is a private equity firm exclusively focused on the growth and support of founder-led and family-owned businesses. Since 1981 it has been a leading private equity source for founder and family-owned businesses and is the oldest private equity firm in the Southeastern United States. It offers control and non-control investments through four dedicated funds and serves as active board members rather than using an operating partner model.

General information

Firm type

Private Equity

Year founded

1981

Location

Region

North America

Country

United States

City

Coral Gables

Corporate office

2811 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Ste 400, Coral Gables, FL 33134, United States

Additional offices

Charlotte · Chicago · Los Angeles · New York · Toronto

Principals

Jamie Elias

Partner

Dave Gershman

General Counsel

Jorge Gross Jr.

Partner — leads Trivest Recognition Fund

Brian Connell

Partner — emphasis on Trivest Discovery Fund

Sector focus

Business ServicesIndustrialsConsumerHealthcare ServicesEnterprise Software

Frequently asked questions

Who runs investment decisions at Trivest?

Day-to-day investment leadership sits with a group of long-tenured partners including Jamie Elias (joined 1997), Dave Gershman (joined 2002), and Jorge Gross Jr. (joined 2006). Each leads a distinct strategy — Gross runs the Recognition Fund, Brian Connell focuses on the Discovery Fund, and Elias heads TGIF, the non-control investment strategy. The firm maintains a formal Investment Committee that includes these partners.

What investment stages does Trivest typically target?

Trivest targets founder-transition situations: buyouts, recapitalizations, and growth equity placements. The flagship buyout fund acquires majority stakes in mid-market companies, the Discovery Fund handles smaller lower-middle-market founder exits, and TGIF writes non-control growth checks. The firm does not pursue early-stage venture or distressed turnarounds.

Where does the underlying capital come from if it's not a single family?

Trivest raises capital from a broad base of institutional limited partners. The firm discloses the existence of an 'Investors' section on its website and a non-solicitation disclaimer, but as an asset manager it has never publicly attributed its AUM to a single family or individual wealth source.

What is Trivest's known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?

Trivest operates as a lead or control investor and does not position itself as a co-investment or fund-of-funds platform for external managers. Its referral programs for independent sponsors and intermediaries are designed to source proprietary deal flow for Trivest funds, not to allocate capital to other GPs.

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