Managing Director
We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.
A Missourian through-and-through, Managing Director Joe Kaiser is a staunch advocate of the snap button-up shirt, and the hungry and humble entrepreneurs of the Midwest. He believes in the power of investing in cities and states traditionally overlooked by VCs—a belief that has led to multiple investments in companies based in Chicago, Columbia and Columbus.
Joe began his career in investment banking at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. before joining the regional private equity firm, Erie Management Group, where he evaluated, structured and managed growth-stage investments. He later left Erie Management to earn his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Upon graduation, Joe joined The Blackstone Group where he advised investors and corporate clients; managed mergers and acquisitions, and structured finance transactions, including Blackstone’s acquisition of Vivint Solar and its parent company, Vivint, Inc. This successful acquisition led to Joe joining Vivint Solar—which IPO'd in 2014 for $1.6 billion and later sold for $3.2B in 2020—as the Director of Capital Markets. During his time at Vivint, Joe raised in excess of $1 billion in project financing to facilitate the deployment of residential and commercial solar assets.
Joe currently serves on the board of directors of Attain, Beam Benefits, Kalderos, MNTN, Paytient, Summersalt, and Cylinder Health, and invests in the Midwest.
