Throughout 2026, new member participants in the Illinois Venture Capital Association (IVCA) will keep it expanding. These new members also will give the current membership new opportunities for networking … in addition to optimizing support and partnerships … which leads to guidance and new ideas for Venture Capital, Private Equity and the support industries. The latest new member is Twin Bridge Capital Partners, “an established Private Equity investment firm, majority owned by its employees, investing through buyout funds, direct equity co-investments, and GP-led secondary investments, partnering with talented sponsors and management teams building sustainable, growing businesses.” The following is a Q&A profile with Twin Bridge Capital Partners , which explores the firm’s background and their expectations for interacting with the IVCA. New Member: Twin Bridge Capital Partners Representative: Zach Schneider, Partner IVCA: What is a brief history of and background of Twin Bridge Capital Partners ? Twin Bridge Capital Partners: Founded in Chicago in 2005 with the backing of a Fortune 500 insurance company, Twin Bridge Capital Partners was established to invest across the North American buyout market. The Firm initially focused on primary fund investments and equity co-investments alongside leading North American buyout managers. Over the past two decades, Twin Bridge has expanded its capital base, product offering, team and investment capabilities. Today, the Firm has more than 20 employees, has raised more than $5.4 billion of capital, and offers three distinct investment products focused on North American buyouts. IVCA: Why did the firm decide to join the Illinois Venture Capital Association? Twin Bridge: Twin Bridge is focused on continuing to build its brand, network, knowledge base and reach as we grow the business, and we believe the IVCA provides an attractive platform to advance these objectives. We also seek to be active participants in the communities in which we operate and believe we can both contribute to and benefit from the IVCA and its member firms. More broadly, we look forward to leveraging the IVCA’s reach to help support the continued growth and development of Illinois’ Private Equity and Venture Capital community. IVCA: Your firm's focus in on North American small and lower middle market businesses. What is the current status of those types of American enterprise, and how do you research the marketplace? Twin Bridge: The North American small and lower middle market buyout landscape remains as dynamic as ever, with more capital and opportunity than at any point in our firm’s history. As a result, competition for attractive investment opportunities, strong returns and talented professionals has also never been greater. In this environment, our investment team remains highly focused on research and relationship development, supported by our proprietary in-house analytics and relationship intelligence platform, TBHub. Our team spends significant time meeting with managers, intermediaries and other institutional investors to stay current on market trends, developments and emerging opportunities. We combine these market insights with our proprietary data and relationship intelligence to identify and underwrite opportunities that we believe can generate attractive long-term investment outcomes. IVCA: The firm lists six guiding principles ... Partnership Approach, People First, Focused Strategy, Unwavering Alignment, Long-Term Focus and Commitment to Integrity. How did the firm evolve to these important six, and what do you feel is the one principle that shapes and guides the rest of them, and why? Twin Bridge: These six principles reflect who Twin Bridge has evolved to be and the qualities we value most in our partnerships. They guide our daily activities and underpin the decisions we make across the Firm. If we had to identify one overarching principle, it would be Trust. Without trust, we believe the other principles cannot fully take hold. Trust is embedded in each of our six guiding principles and is fundamental to how we seek to build lasting partnerships with all of our stakeholders – including our employees, investors, sponsor partners, portfolio companies and their management teams, and intermediaries. At its core, ours will always be a relationship business. We believe enduring relationships are built on trust, and that trust is earned over time through consistency, integrity and alignment. IVCA: The firm's experience is touted in identifying select sponsors who align with long-term investment philosophy. What is your vetting process for that identification and what is an example of an instinct based on experience that yielded a long-term sponsor alignment? Twin Bridge: We combine robust data and analytics — the ‘science’ — with deep relationship building – the ‘art’ – throughout our sourcing and underwriting process. This approach often leads us to identify ‘diamonds in the rough’ where others may not yet see the opportunity. Over more than two decades and 150+ fund investments, we have developed relationships with many sponsors based on information that others may have found less compelling, but where our experience and analysis led us to believe the future could look meaningfully different from the past. While we certainly do not get every investment right, some of our longest-standing sponsor relationships originated from precisely these situations. We believe our experience helps us recognize those opportunities, and we remain focused on finding the next one. IVCA: The firm's portfolio lists a wide variety of business concerns. Whether it's a fitness company or a biosciences practice, what commonality is the firm seeking to create the synergy of an offer to invest? Twin Bridge: While our portfolio companies operate across a broad range of industries, we are ultimately seeking the same fundamental characteristics … high-quality businesses, strong and capable management teams, attractive market positions and opportunities for sustainable long-term growth. We believe our value is less dependent on investing in a particular industry and more dependent on identifying strong businesses and high-quality sponsor partners where our experience, relationships and investment approach can add value. That sector flexibility, combined with a disciplined focus on the small and lower middle market, allows us to pursue opportunities across a diverse range of industries while maintaining a consistent investment philosophy. IVCA: What does Twin Bridge Capital Partners hope to achieve in their interaction with the VC/PE community within the IVCA? Twin Bridge: Twin Bridge looks forward to engaging with the IVCA community to share best practices, build relationships and exchange ideas and knowledge with other investors and market participants. We also see the IVCA as an opportunity to broaden Twin Bridge’s relationships and visibility across a wide range of participants in the Private Equity and Venture Capital ecosystem. Ultimately, we hope to be both an active participant and contributor to the community – learning from our peers while sharing our own perspectives and experiences to help strengthen Illinois’ broader Private Equity and Venture Capital ecosystem. For the website of Twin Bridge Capital Partners click here . The 2026 IVCA CFO Summit is now open for registration and is FREE to all IVCA members, and will take place on October 22nd, 2026. Click on CFO for more information and instructions to register.