Capital Advisory & M&A

Advisory built around transactions that cross borders and resist easy categorization.

Travis Ridge is a principal-led firm. We advise on capital raises, leveraged buyouts, and M&A transactions in the middle market — every engagement handled directly by a senior partner from first call through close.

Services

What we do

Travis Ridge offers a focused set of services built around capital transactions and M&A in the middle market. We do not run generalized outreach or maintain broad broker lists.

Middle Market M&A

We advise founders, family owners, and operators on the sale or acquisition of middle market businesses — typically $10M–$500M in enterprise value. Engagements are handled directly by a senior partner, with a focus on off-market opportunities, discreet positioning, and buyers or sellers who are genuinely committed to closing.

Sell-Side Representation

We represent business owners and shareholders through a sale process — from initial positioning and valuation through buyer identification, negotiation, and close. Our approach is focused and discreet: we bring a transaction to the right buyers, not every possible buyer, and we stay at the table through the final signature.

Cross-Border Debt & Equity Placement

We place both debt and equity across borders on behalf of international platforms and operating businesses. On the equity side, we access North American family offices, multi-family offices, wealth managers, and fund of funds. On the debt side, we work with institutional lenders, direct lenders, and credit funds across North American and European markets — coordinating both simultaneously where the capital structure demands it.

Leveraged Buyout Advisory

We advise management teams and existing shareholders on LBO and management buyout feasibility, capital structure design, and execution — including transactions spanning multiple jurisdictions where debt and equity must be sourced and coordinated simultaneously across markets.

Buy-Side Search & Acquisition

For buyers with a defined acquisition mandate — a PE firm, family office, or strategic — we identify, approach, and qualify middle market targets directly. Every search begins with specific criteria and is run by the same partner who will see the deal through to close.

Venture Capital Raises

We advise early and growth-stage companies on venture and growth equity raises — from Series A through late-stage rounds. We help founders define the right investor profile, prepare materials that hold up in diligence, and access institutional venture funds, corporate venture arms, and family offices deploying venture-stage capital.

Our approach

How a mandate becomes a close

We don't run generic outreach. Every engagement — whether a capital raise, a buyout, or an M&A mandate — begins with a client who is already committed to the transaction. The same senior partner stays on it through close.

01

Qualify the transaction

We review the data room, stress-test client-provided assumptions against independent sources, and identify the structural questions — vehicle design, currency, governance, debt coverage — that will determine which investors are genuinely accessible. We do not advance a mandate with unresolved structural problems.

02

Define the universe

For capital raises, we build a specific, prioritized investor list matched to the asset and transaction type — not a recycled contact database. For M&A mandates, we research and compile a target list of companies or buyers that fit the criteria precisely. Either way, we make the matching call before the first outreach.

03

Build materials and anchor the raise

We write the investor-facing narrative, prepare the data room, and approach anchor candidates directly through existing relationships. An anchor commitment credentials the broader process and materially reduces execution risk for every subsequent investor in the book.

04

Build the book and close

With an anchor in place, we run sequenced outreach across the full target universe. Management engages only with pre-qualified counterparties. We remain on the mandate through signed documentation and closing mechanics — no handoffs.

The firm

An independent, principal-led firm

Travis Ridge is a principal-led advisory firm focused on capital raises, M&A, and leveraged buyouts in the middle market. We are active in the same family-office, infrastructure, and institutional capital markets that cross-border transactions require.

Partner

Brooke Borden

More than 40 years across private equity, M&A, and strategic finance. Career spans management of over $3B in cumulative AUM raised from sovereign funds, banks, and family offices across four continents. FINRA-registered.

Partner

Tom Suhadolnik

Serial entrepreneur and investment banker with more than $300M raised across equity and institutional debt — venture financings, private credit placements, and cross-border capital raises. Six companies founded, four successful exits. FINRA-registered.

Partner

Dr. Chris Palmisano

Leads Travis Ridge's debt capital practice. Senior operating and go-to-market roles across technology and financial services, including Google and a founding-COO run at fintech Rocket Dollar (acquired). Former US Marine officer. PhD; holds several FINRA registrations.

Partner

Thomas Young

Leads origination and business development, identifying opportunities and opening the conversations that become mandates. Co-founder and VP of Marketing at fintech Rocket Dollar, where he led growth, brand, and strategic partnerships. Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Principal-owned
Cross-border mandates
FINRA registered
Austin, Texas

Have a mandate, or a transaction you're weighing?

Whether you're a business owner considering a sale, a buyer with acquisition criteria, a platform seeking North American equity, or a management team evaluating a leveraged buyout — we'd welcome a direct conversation. Full contact details are on the way as we launch.