Our Approach
C&E seeks high-growth companies (including minority-owned and women-owned businesses) that possess the ability to be transformational for the benefit of economic development in Tennessee, and also generate high returns on invested capital for C&E’s stakeholders, including the State of Tennessee. C&E utilizes its broad network of industry relationships and its depth of operational experience to help portfolio companies flourish and grow.
We Make Investments In Multiple Industries
We adopt a generalist approach to investing and consider companies across many different industries. Although we are especially familiar with healthcare, services, and information technology businesses, we do not limit our investment focus to these markets.
We invest at multiple stages of the company growth cycle
We consider opportunities along multiple points of the development spectrum, from seed and early stage businesses to expansion capital for growing companies.
We often partner with other capital sources
While we are comfortable investing alone, we often partner with other investment funds to maximize the amount of equity capital available to complete an investment. We also work closely with lenders to help our portfolio companies access the credit they need.
We are actively involved post investment
Post-investment, our team remains actively engaged with the management teams of our portfolio companies, often with representation on the board of directors. We leverage our deep network of relationships with industry operators to help our companies succeed.
Investment Criteria- What we look for in companies we invest in.
Exceptional Management Team
Does the management team have relevant industry experience and the demonstrated ability to scale an organization? Are key new hires and additions to the team necessary?
Large Market Opportunity
Does the proposed product or service target a sufficiently large addressable market to achieve superior financial returns? Can this become a transformational business?
Attractive Unit Economics
Is revenue sold at verifiably high margins? Does a high percentage of revenue come from recurring and repeating customer purchases?
Scalable Business Model
Will the business be successful on a reasonable amount of invested capital? Does the company have a lot of near-term momentum?
Appropriate Concept Risk
Is the amount of concept risk too great to evaluate in a manner consistent with an appropriate tradeoff between investment risks and rewards?
Satisfy TNInvestco Requirements
Does the company maintain its headquarters and primary place of business in Tennessee? Are there 100 employees or fewer? Are at least 60% of the employees in Tennessee? Read more…