3 Family Offices Making Late-Stage Investments in Manufacturing Companies

Founded in 2007, The Westly Group (Steve Westly Family Office) is a Menlo Park, CA-based single-family office managing the capital of entrepreneur, former eBay executive, private investor, and former Controller for the State of California, Steve Westly. The Westly Group invests in both public and private equity across a range of sectors, regions, and asset classes, with an interest in venture capital investments. The firm focuses on early and mid-stage companies, ultimately seeking entrepreneurially-minded opportunities that are well-positioned for growth. The Westly Group seeks to be a value-added investor to its portfolio companies, providing a permanent and patient capital base, business operating expertise, and strategic guidance.

Industries and sectors of interest for The Westly Group include clean tech, internet, clean energy, water, healthcare, consumer services, manufacturing, and green building materials, among others. The firm takes a global outlook on its investments and has no fixed time horizon or outside investment mandate. The Westly Group will write checks in sizes from $10 and $20M. The Westly Group is also open to a wide variety of investment strategies.

In July 2008, The Westly Group made an $18.5M Series D investment in Eka Systems, a Mountain View, California-based manufacturing company. Eka Systems builds energy data communications networks that enable energy management and utility operations. Eka is a global manufacturer and supplier of self-managing smart networks that offer utilities monitoring and control of metering and data for electric, water, and gas. 

In December 2010, The Westly Group made a $40M Series C investment in View Inc., a Milpitas, California-based nanotechnology company creating smart and connected buildings to improve people's health and wellness, while simultaneously reducing energy consumption. View’s Dynamic Glass lets in natural light while blocking glare, to enhance mental and physical well-being by significantly reducing headaches, eyestrain, and drowsiness.

In 2012, View invented the first and only predictive control for dynamic glass, View Intelligence. With Intelligence, windows respond predictively with no intervention, meaning occupants enjoy the views and daylight without lifting a finger. View’s windows are digital, connected, and can be controlled from anywhere — no blinds or shades required. View Inc. has installed dynamic glass in 35 million square feet of building space, continually advancing predictive control. In June 2012, The Westly Group made a $55M Series D follow-on investment in the same company. 

In July 2013, The Westly Group made a $15M Series C investment inIOXUS, an electronic manufacturing company based in Oneonta, New York. Significant design efforts, along with advanced research and development, have allowed IOXUS to enhance products with various cell balancing techniques to solve problems for the hybrid automotive, hybrid bus, wind turbine pitch control, UPS, and industrial markets. The IP-protected technology improvements offer markets a high-performing product that is easier to use and more cost-effective to implement. IOXUS is devoted exclusively to providing environmentally friendly products for a range of applications, including UPS, wind turbines, industrial and automotive needs. By simplifying integration with packaged modules, IOXUS is assisting customers in generating end products faster, allowing for faster market adoption of the ultra-capacitor technology. In April 2014, The Westly Group made a $21M Series C investment into the same company. 

Today, Vulcan Capital invests across all stages of corporate development through leveraged buyouts, growth capital, distressed/turnaround, early-stage venture capital, and public equity value investing. The firm's portfolio spans a range of industry sectors, including media and communications, real estate, energy and natural resources, financial and information services, technology, manufacturing, and life sciences, among others. Direct investments are used as an integral part of its investment plans, often allocating capital directly to private companies on a cash growth basis. The group is an active investor in private equity, including start-up funds raising their first fund.

In June 2012, Vulcan Capital made a $23M Series C investment in Sand 9, a fabless micro-electromechanical system company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sand 9 developed a piezoelectric MEMS resonator to serve as an alternative for quartz timing devices in applications, such as smartphones, low-power wireless devices, and communications infrastructure equipment. The company designs and makes hardware for applications in GPS, LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, networking, and industrial sectors. Sand 9 serves customers worldwide.

Vulcan Capital has made several other direct transactions in manufacturing companies, including SiOnyx, Blokable, Modumetal, Rad Power Bikes, Rebellyous Foods, and Springboard.