Bochi Investments, a private equity firm based in Oregon, uses Carta to manage its operations and reduce overhead costs, allowing it to invest in promising companies earlier than larger firms could justify. Founded in 2019, Bochi maintains a lean team and prioritizes flexibility, investing from $500,000 to $20 million for up to ten years or longer in lower-middle market brands.
The firm relies on Carta’s special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to make deals more viable. The vehicles allow Bochi to take on more investors, quickly raise capital, and turn to Carta for support any time. As a result, co-founder J.B. Handley can focus on finding new opportunities without the constraints of a larger firm.
J.B. HandleyI chose Carta because it has the most credibility behind it. … When I ran my first SPV through Carta, I almost couldn’t believe how easy it was.
Co-founder, Bochi Investments
Bochi Investments represents a return to private equity for Handley, who retired after more than two decades running Swander Pace Capital, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm based in New Jersey. While in retirement, Handley invested his own money and eventually decided to launch a new firm—without recreating the complex infrastructure of the previous one.
“I could neither afford nor did I want to create my own back office again,” Handley says. “I realized that in the five years I’d been retired, the world had changed quite a bit. People had found novel ways to effectively provide a virtual back office for a guy like me.
“I looked at various platforms, knowing I was likely to organize many SPVs. I chose Carta because it has the most credibility behind it—timeframe, professionalism, venture backing, and ease of use.
“When I ran my first SPV through Carta, I almost couldn’t believe how easy it was. And I honestly say, if it weren’t for Carta, I probably wouldn’t be back in business as a smaller firm because of how daunting the legal and compliance side of things can be.”
J.B. HandleyYou bring Carta into the fold, and the time and energy to do any one deal goes way down.
Bochi operates at a scale that would typically require significant infrastructure, completing approximately 20 investments worth $50 million in 2024 with just four team members.
Without Carta, some of these deals couldn’t have happened. Handley estimates traditional legal and compliance costs would have run from $100,000 to $200,000 per deal. But Carta’s cost-effectiveness lets Bochi provide flexible investments Handley couldn’t entertain earlier in his career.
“When I ran Swander Pace Capital, we couldn’t do a lot of small growth equity investments in compelling, emerging brands due to scale. The amount of time and energy it takes to complete those deals is very similar to the amount of time and energy it takes to complete a much larger deal,” Handley says.
“You bring Carta into the fold, and the time and energy to do any one deal goes way down. Now when small, exciting companies come along that maybe only need a half-million dollar investment, I’m more than willing to do that because I know creating an SPV is not going to cost me much time at all.”
Democratizing private equity with SPVs
Carta enables Bochi to democratize private equity for investors, too. Handley estimates a third to half of the firm’s investor base had no exposure to private equity prior to joining one of Bochi’s SPVs.
SPVs allow more people to invest by pooling funds. Carta handles administrative aspects like partnership agreements, wire transfers, compliance requirements, and tax documentation, including K-1s. Carta’s institutional SPV also lets Bochi invest in limited liability companies (LLCs), further expanding the firm’s reach and opportunities.
“We have certain SPVs with three to four dozen investors. The thought of managing agreements and wires overwhelms me, but our investors are used to the process with Carta,” Handley says. “Most people sign their partnership agreements in under five minutes. They get their wire instructions from Carta and they know how to do it. Knowing how easy Carta is has actually allowed me to drop my minimums and include more people in my deals.”
Staying focused on sourcing deals
Most of Bochi’s investors know Handley personally, helping to build trust in the firm. Carta provides additional credibility, helping Handley to manage investor relations and resolve questions without stress.
“I love the transparency, accountability, and third-party nature of Carta. I just know if there’s ever an issue, I don’t have to get in the middle of it,” Handley says. “It’s like, ‘You have your Carta account. It’s all there or you can talk to Carta, and they will tell you everything you need to know.’”
The support keeps Handley focused on leading Bochi and creating opportunities for greater ownership and investment.
“None of this administrative work makes me a better investor. My core skill is to find good companies to invest in. It’s not a good use of time to spend hours worrying about compliance or administration. Just knowing that the compliance side of my business is basically covered by Carta is really comforting.
“We wouldn’t be nearly as prolific with our investments if it weren’t for Carta. It wasn’t until I realized what Carta makes possible that I opened my mind to doing what Bochi now does.”
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