About

Rizoma is a results-driven investment bank that views M&A as a tailored process which requires incisive analysis, creative positioning, and thoughtful negotiation strategies. Our specialized experience and deep network of strategic and financial buyers allow us to take on the most complex, unique, and innovative clients, serving companies that transform industries through processes that are customized to their needs and objectives. We work with clients across the globe to advocate on their behalf, evaluate strategic alternatives, unlock financing, and maximize value.

Rizoma has three key practices:

  • Climate Tech & Services
  • Specialty Industrials
  • Biotech & Healthcare

We specialize in delivering seamless M&A and capital raise solutions with continuous, individualized support. You focus on your business while we handle the transaction process. Our services include:

  • Positioning your business in a compelling way via our offering materials.
  • Identifying and evaluating prospective buyers and investors around the world.
  • Maximizing value through a proactive marketing process designed to provide you with multiple strategic options.
  • Collaborating with your counsel to negotiate key legal terms and ensure the cleanest possible transaction.
  • Managing due diligence workstreams, including third-party advisors.
  • Protecting value through closing and delivering the best outcome for all stakeholders.

Team

Claire Veuthey

Claire has worked in sustainability product and investment roles at startups, scale-ups, and Fortune 100 firms for close to 20 years. She has experience in product, research, investment, and sales, and has advised private market investors on their sustainability strategies. Claire is responsible for sourcing and executing M&A transactions on behalf of Rizoma's clients, and takes pride in getting entrepreneurs a sustainability premium.

Claire earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley) and the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting (FSA) Credential. She is also a Terra.do fellow and Course creator, and the co-author of The Grassroots DEI Organizer Playbook. She speaks French and Spanish and has lived in 7 cities in 6 countries on 3 continents. Claire serves on the board of Turning Green, an environmental nonprofit working on changing our food systems.

Wesley Newburg

Wesley Newburg is responsible for originating and executing merger and acquisition transactions at Rizoma. He brings more than a decade of experience in software including sales, product, strategy, and investing work. Wesley manages our process while helping clients demonstrate the value of their technology to buyers and investors.

Wesley’s data startup MediaHound was acquired by United Talent Agency in 2022. Wesley has advised a variety of startups and backed early-stage clean energy and mobility founders as the GP of a small venture capital fund called Helene Ventures. His academic affiliations include USC, Columbia University, and Terra.do.

Will Bower

Will Bower is a Principal at Rizoma where he primarily leads sell-side and capital raising engagements. Will has 15 years of investment banking experience advising public and privately-held companies on a variety of transactions including healthy and distressed M&A, debt and equity capital raises, and restructurings. He has completed over 60 middle-market transactions as exclusive financial advisor to his clients including the sale of Bright Event Rentals to Trivest, the sale of Brooklyn Bedding to Cerberus Capital Management, the sale of Zio Studio Services to Hudson Pacific Properties, the sale of Lenthor Engineering to Fralock, a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital, the sale of Ecoplast and Envision Plastics to Consolidated Container Company, and the recapitalization of CarbonLITE.

Prior to Rizoma, Will was a Managing Director at B. Riley Securities and FocalPoint Securities, where he advised middle-market companies in a variety of industrial and technology-related sectors including recycling, advanced materials, specialty manufacturing, transportation & logistics, equipment rental, and a variety of technology-enabled business services niches. Will also works with venture-stage founders, investors, and operators, having advised on over 20 financing or sale transactions as either exclusive financial advisor or advisor to the Board of Directors. He graduated from the University of Southern California and has his Series 79 and 63 licenses.

Rob Kenny

Prior to Rizoma, Rob spent more than 10 years partnering with founders at high-growth, mission-focused healthcare startups in executive roles. He possesses deep operational experience in debt and equity capital raises, and restructuring processes.

He has helped founders raise more than $100 million in financing rounds ranging from a $4M Seed to a $33 million Series B. Rob successfully secured venture debt financing for Hello Alpha and drove the end-to-end process for Lemonaid Health’s $400M acquisition by 23andMe.

Rob earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley as well as an MS and BS in Applied Mathematics from Queen’s University Belfast. He is an avid sports fan and won a national collegiate championship in rugby in 2007.

News

ISS Acquires Carbon Accounting Software Company SustainaBase (advised by Rizoma) - ESG Today

ISS Acquires Carbon Accounting Software Company SustainaBase

October 9, 2024

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) announced today the acquisition by its governance, compensation, sustainability, and cyber risk business ISS-Corporate of SustainaBase, a Florida-based provider of carbon accounting and data management software solutions for corporate sustainability reporting.

Launched in 2020, SustainaBase makes software that tracks company greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and data. As regulatory, competitive, and supply chain pressures to measure and track GHG emissions have increased, SustainaBase has been working with companies that need to deliver carbon data and reporting to their stakeholders. Many more companies are expected to require these services in the coming years, as new regulations, including California’s recently passed SB 253 and the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), come online. Both these standards will require companies to report on their own direct and indirect (Scope 3) emissions.

With the acquisition, ISS-Corporate will offer its clients a platform to automate GHG emissions reporting and help users develop an organized infrastructure for their energy and activity data. The system will assist clients comply with regulatory issues on climate risk, strategy, target setting and reporting, ISS-Corporate said. Over the coming months, the offering will be integrated into ISS-Corporate’s platform alongside other services to help clients with their climate and broader sustainability reporting demands.

Marija Kramer, head of ISS-Corporate, said:

“We are incredibly excited to welcome the SustainaBase team to the ISS-Corporate family and to rapidly integrate their offering into our growing suite of sustainability solutions. SustainaBase’s SaaS platform will deliver a holistic carbon accounting solution to our clients, providing an additional pillar of support over the course of their sustainability journey.”

SustainaBase’s team, with extensive experience in carbon accounting, data collection, and reporting, will join ISS-Corporate and focus on the continued expansion of client engagement and product capabilities, ISS-Corporate added.

Gaida Zirkelbach, co-founder and CEO of SustainaBase, said:

“We are thrilled to partner with Marija and the entire ISS-Corporate organization to help thousands of companies develop, manage, report and act on their carbon footprint with credible, auditable data. With this exciting combination, companies will have precise GHG data they can count on to make informed business decisions, along with a full suite of solutions to meet growing regulatory and voluntary needs.”

Read the Original Article Here