News

Firm relocates to new, expanded offices in downtown Chicago

2017 marks Victory Park Capital’s 10th anniversary. Since its launch by founder Richard Levy, CEO, and co-founder Brendan Carroll, senior partner, the firm has identified opportunistic and non-traditional investment opportunities across a diverse marketplace. VPC is proud of its first decade’s achievements and its recent relocation to new Chicago headquarters at 150 North Riverside Plaza.

Creating a foundation built on sourcing unique and non-conventional investment opportunities.
At the outset, VPC focused on providing private debt and equity investments during a time when many traditional capital providers backed away from the marketplace. The firm made investments in companies across a range of business sectors, including financial services, consumer, restaurants, retail, and industrials.

Driving economic impact through hometown investments. 
Not long after its inception, VPC identified investment opportunities within its hometown of Chicago. In 2011, the firm purchased Giordano’s, an iconic Chicago restaurant brand, and supported and restructured the business out of bankruptcy.  VPC was also an early capital provider to Avant, a Chicago based online lender that was No. 6 on Forbes’ America’s Most Promising Companies list in 2015 and Forbes’ list of Next Billion Dollar Startups. The firm continued its focus on local businesses with an investment in Renovo Financial, a private real estate lender, which ranked No. 2 in Crain’s 2017 Fast 50, a list of the fastest growing companies in the Chicago area.

Expanding opportunities to finance small businesses. 
In 2012, VPC received approval from the U.S. Small Business Administration for its license as a Small Business Investment Company (SBIC). As a registered SBIC, VPC began to actively identify additional opportunities through investments in smaller businesses. This allowed the firm to provide financing to companies such as KBP Foods, Joe’s Jeans, and johnnie-O.

Growing opportunities in financial technology and non-bank lending. 
VPC continued to evolve its investment strategy and take advantage of market opportunities by being one of the earliest and most active providers of capital to financial technology and non-bank lending businesses in the United States and abroad. The firm has invested in over 35 companies within the sector including Elevate, Kabbage, Square, Fundbox, LendUp and many others.

Victory Park Capital today.
Based in Chicago and operating from additional offices in New York and Los Angeles, VPC employs more than 50 team members with deep expertise and diversified backgrounds. To date, the firm has committed and invested over $6.5 billion across 90-plus investments.

“We’re proud to be one of the largest and most active non-bank financial services investors in the market,” said Richard Levy. “Brendan and I want to thank all of our portfolio companies, partners and colleagues for their dedication over the last 10 years to make it happen. Our growth strategy will continue to be based on emerging opportunities that we identify as market needs shift, particularly within the financial services space. We look forward to the next 10 years.”