Joe Gaffigan and Chris Randall started
MFC Capital Funding in February 2005 with
just three employees in one small, temporary office and no revenue.
The idea for the business came while the
two were waiting in the ornate lobby of
a recently opened niche private equity firm.
Gaffigan and Randall decided to raise money
to start a new finance company focused on
providing senior debt to lower-middle-market
private equity sponsored portfolio companies. Larger competitors existed and thrived,
including GE and Merrill Lynch, but experts
said the lower middle market was not a
proven market. It was widely thought the
companies were too small and unsophisticated for this type of lending.
Gaffigan and Randall knew better and
knew that if they could get funded that they
could prove the market existed and was
lucrative. With the help of Triton Capital
Partners, they talked to more than 200 potential funding sources, including hedge funds,
insurance companies and numerous financial institutions. Their luck turned when
they met with the Pohlad family in late 2004.
They convinced the family to provide
enough debt and equity capital to create a
successful company.
MFCCF hired a small Chicago advertising
agency to help tell its story in a very creative
way to the private equity community. The
financial risks were high, as the two founders
paid for the investment banker out of their
own pockets to help them find capital.
HOW TO REACH: MFC Capital Funding, www.mfccapitalfunding.com
