Dec 17, 2015

Brian Matthews of Cultivation Capital Dilip Vishwanat A Charlotte-based financial technology startup called DealCloud has raised $5.3 million from a group of investors led by St. Louis-based venture capital firm Cultivation Capital and private markets firm Hamilton Lane . Cultivation officials did not disclose how much the firm put in the deal, but Managing Partner Brian Matthews said it represented Cultivation’s largest first round investment to date. Brian Matthews of Cultivation Capital Dilip Vishwanat Other investors in the deal include St. Louis’ Holekamp Ventures and Holton Capital Group; Rick Kushel , the former CEO of iLevel Solutions; and Joe Maxwell , the former CEO of Shareholder InSite. Kushel will join the company as its new CEO while DealCloud co-founder Ben Harrison will remain on as president of the company. And as part of the deal, Rick Holton , a general partner with Cultivation Capital and Holton Capital Group, will join DealCloud’s board of directors. Holton said the company has high-upside with its Software as a Service platform that acts similarly to Salesforce but without all the add-ons. “Most companies pay for Salesforce but then get all these bolt-ons,” he said. “This is all-encompassing and costs the same amount of money and is built for private equity firms and M&A departments. Philadelphia-based Hamilton Lane is a private markets firm with more than $34 billion in discretionary assets under management and more than $200 billion in advisory assets under management. “We are excited to partner alongside Cultivation Capital and the investor group to fuel the next stage of growth for DealCloud,” said Erik Hirsch , chief investment officer of Hamilton Lane, in a statement . Tech, Venture Capital, Startups, Real Estate, Sports Business Home of the Day