Andrew Nicholson
Senior Associate
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- Full Name
- Andrew "Drew" Nicholson
- Title
- Partner
- Firm
- New Harbor Capital
- Firm Type
- Private Equity
- Investment Stage
- Lower middle-market growth buyouts and recapitalizations; majority control positions with founders and management; select minority and customized structures
- Check Size
- Targeted New Harbor equity investments of $10-40 million
- Target Company Profile
- Scalable companies with $2-15 million of EBITDA; large, growing and fragmented industries; compelling customer value proposition; multiple growth avenues; sustainable competitive advantage; focus on quality and compliance; attractive financial metrics and cash flow; limited concentration risk
- Sector Focus
- Healthcare, education, and technology-enabled services
- Geographic Focus
- United States
- Location
- Chicago, Illinois
Background
Drew Nicholson is a Partner at New Harbor Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm focused on lower middle-market, growth-oriented healthcare, education, and business services companies. New Harbor lists him on its investment team and says he is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and executing new investment opportunities, as well as working with portfolio companies on their investment management plans.
Nicholson joined New Harbor in 2017 as an associate, according to a Wall Street Journal Pro item announcing the firm's new hires. Before New Harbor, he worked in Bank of Montreal's Sponsor Finance Group, where his work focused on middle-market leveraged finance transactions. Earlier in his career, he worked in the Expert Testimony Group at Ocean Tomo.
He earned a BA in Economics with General Honors from the University of Chicago. New Harbor currently lists his select corporate directorships as Bloom Health Centers, Escalon Services, and FYZICAL, with Fix-It Group as a former directorship.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- New Harbor is not a seed or angel investor; its stated mandate is lower middle-market private equity, typically backing established companies with $2-15 million of EBITDA and $10-40 million of New Harbor equity.
- The firm favors healthcare, education, and technology-enabled services, using a thesis-based, research-driven model to identify sectors with sustained growth potential.
- New Harbor looks for founder- and management-partnership situations, including growth buyouts, recapitalizations, majority control investments, and select minority/custom structures.
- Key diligence themes include fragmented markets, quality and compliance, multiple paths to growth, sustainable competitive advantage, strong unit economics and cash flow, and an ability for New Harbor to add value through experience, resources, and executive advisors.
- Nicholson has published specifically on healthcare consumerization, writing that New Harbor's healthy living and wellness thesis seeks to support "increasing consumer access to innovative care models."
- In that same healthcare thesis, he highlighted FYZICAL as an example of consumer-led preventive health, balance therapy, and wellness services.
Notable Investments
- Bloom Health Centers: Comprehensive mental healthcare group in the Mid-Atlantic; New Harbor partnered with Psych Associates of Maryland in July 2021, later combining PAM with Comprehensive Behavioral Health to form Bloom.
- Escalon Services: Tech-enabled provider of essential business services, including accounting, finance, tax, HR, payroll, and insurance support for SMBs; New Harbor invested in October 2022.
- FYZICAL: Franchisor and operator of physical rehabilitation centers specializing in balance therapy and wellness programs; New Harbor invested in December 2017, and Nicholson later cited the company in his healthcare consumerization thesis.
- Fix-It Group: Former directorship; home maintenance, repair, and replacement services platform. New Harbor invested in May 2020 and exited in January 2025 through a sale to funds managed by Two Parks Capital.
- MD Esthetics: New Harbor platform investment in a multi-state medical aesthetics and wellness company announced in June 2025; relevant to the firm's healthy living and wellness focus, though not listed as one of Nicholson's directorships.
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