Kinzie Capital Partners LP (Kinzie) is a private equity company founded in 2017. The firm engages in growth capital, buyout, and structured equity transactions focused on the business services, consumer, and manufactured products sectors. Kinzie acquires controlling stakes in companies with a sale value of $250 million and EBITDA between $3 million and $15 million. The firm invests up to $50 million in its portfolio companies. ^{1 2}

Companies controlled by Kinzie include Illinois-based Colony Display LLC, New York-based Chelsea Lighting, LLC, and California-based GT Golf Holdings Inc. Its investment fund offerings target high-end individuals, family offices, pension funds, endowments, and foundations. Suzanne Yoon, its chief commercial officer, is a National Philanthropic Trust board member. ^{2 3}

Business Model

Kinzie focuses on making short term operational improvements in its portfolio companies. It does so in alliance with Clarity Partners LLC, a Chicago-based consulting firm offering technology, operations, and industry expertise. Clarity provides both technical consultation and investment capital. ^{4 5} Kinzie Capital Management LLC is a relying advisor providing advisory services based on specific investment objectives. ⁶

Kinzie has opened two publicly disclosed funds to wealthy investors. The first attracted $20 million from high-net-worth individuals and family offices. The second, Kinzie Fund II, raised $150 million from foundations, pension funds, endowments, and family offices. ² The funds included vehicles exempt from registration under the Investment Company Act. ⁶

In January 2024, Oighir L.P., a pooled investment fund directed by Suzanne Yoon and with the same address as Kinzie, filed a Form D with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ^{7 8} Form D is a disclosure document that allows companies to offer stock to finance their businesses without “going through the IP process and selling stock to the public.” ⁹

Kinzie’s offerings are examples of pooled investment funds available only to large investors able to receive distributions many years after the initial investment. According to ProPublica, such firms “market their funds as high-yield vehicles for institutional and private investors, claiming the potential for returns higher than public stock indices” and with less volatility. ¹⁰

Philanthropy

Over 50 community organizations have received donations and volunteer support from Kinzie.  These include the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, the Chicago Children’s Choir, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Council of Korean Americans, First Tee, HFS Chicago Scholars, the Big Shoulders Fund, and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC). ¹¹

Suzanne Yoon, Kinzie’s Founder, chief commercial officer, and managing partner, is the board chair of the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT), the largest donor advised fund provider and the third-largest grantmaking organization in the world. In 2023, it awarded 107,000 grants totaling $4.45 billion while serving more than 15,000 individual donors. In 2023, it reported $10 billion in revenue. ^{12 13}

Fellow NPT board members include Connie Collingsworth and Jeffrey Armbrister. Collingsworth is the former chief operating officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who led the Foundation’s collaborations with for-profit companies in the big pharma, biotech, and edtech industries. Armbrister is the chief financial officer of Hamilton Lane, an international private markets investment management firm active in impact investing, investment to generate financial returns while creating social and environmental impacts. ^{14 15}

Leadership

Suzanne Yoon founded Kinzie in 2017. Previously, she was the managing director at Versa Capital Management, senior vice president of CIT Group, and co-founder of LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO’s Corporate Restructuring Group and worked in distressed loan portfolio management at LaSalle Bank and Ernst and Young’s Corporate Finance Group. She sits on the board of the National Philanthropic Trust, the Council of Korean Americans, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and HFS Chicago Scholars and is on the steering committees of Private Equity’s Women Investor Network (PEWIN) and the Women’s Association of Venture and Equity (WAVE). ¹⁶

1. Kinzie Capital Partners. “Kinzie Capital Partners.” Accessed July 10, 2024.  https://www.kinziecp.com
2. Businesswire. “Kinzie Capital Partners Closes First Institutional Fund at $150M in Commitments.” May 30, 2023. Accessed July 10, 2024.       https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230530005222/en/Kinzie-Capital-Partners-Closes-First-Institutional-Fund-at-150M-in-Commitments/
3. Dorbian, Iris. “Kinzie Capital Amasses $150m for Inaugural Institutional Fund.” Content. Buyouts (blog), May 30, 2023. Accessed July 10, 2024. https://www.buyoutsinsider.com/kinzie-capital-amasses-150m-for-inaugural-institutional-fund/
4. ^[1] Cason, Channing. “SHE SAW A NEED AND SOLVED THE PROBLEM: THE STORY OF KINZIE CAPITAL.” Championing Women in Finance (blog), January 13, 2020. Accessed July 11, 2024. https://kayoconferenceseries.com/kinzie-capital-founder-story/
5. Clarity Partners. “A Chicago-Based Management and Technology Consulting Firm.” Accessed July 11, 2024. https://www.claritypartners.com/
6. “Radient – Investment Analytics Simplified.” Accessed July 12, 2024. https://radientanalytics.com/firm/adv/kinzie-capital-partners-305445
7. StreetInsider. “Form D OIGHIR LP.” Accessed July 12, 2024.   https://www.streetinsider.com/SEC+Filings/Form+D+OIGHIR+L.P./22689218.html
8. “OIGHIR L.P. – Fund Raising Filing.” Accessed July 12, 2024. https://www.formds.com/issuers/oighir-l-p
9. UpCounsel. “Form D: Everything You Need to Know.” Accessed July 13, 2024. https://www.upcounsel.com/form-d
10. Petty, Chris Morran, Daniel. “What Private Equity Firms Are and How They Operate.” ProPublica, August 3, 2022. Accessed July 13, 2024. https://www.propublica.org/article/what-is-private-equity
11. Kinzie Capital Partners. “Community.” Accessed July 13, 2024. https://www.kinziecp.com/community/
12. Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Alec Glassford, Ash Ngu, Brandon. “National Philanthropic Trust, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica, May 9, 2013. Accessed July 13, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237825575/202431429349301368/full
13. “National Philanthropic Trust Names Suzanne Yoon Chair of the Board of Trustees.” Kinzie Capital Partners (blog), May 19, 2020. Accessed July 13, 2024.  https://www.kinziecp.com/national-philanthropic-trust-names-suzanne-yoon-chair-of-the-board-of-trustees/
14. Businesswire. “National Philanthropic Trust Welcomes Three Board Members.” January 3, 2024. Accessed July 13, 2024. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240103652385/en/National-Philanthropic-Trust-Welcomes-Three-Board-Members
15. Hamilton Lane. “Impact Investing.” Accessed July 14, 2024. https://www.hamiltonlane.com/en-us/strategies/impact-investments
16. Council Korean Americans (CKA). “Suzanne Yoon.” Accessed July 14, 2024. https://councilka.org/cka_member/suzanne-yoon/