John Weber

John C. Weber Jr. is a founding partner of Laurel Capital Partners, a Pennsylvania-based private equity firm founded in 2007. Public investor databases list him as John Weber / John C. Weber, while a 2015 Agilence financing release quotes him as Jay Weber, Founding Partner of Laurel Capital Partners.

Before co-founding Laurel, MarketScreener’s profile says Weber was a partner at MVP Capital Partners, which he joined in 2003. At MVP, he reportedly led three platform investments totaling $20 million in transactions valued at more than $70 million, sourced proprietary opportunities, conducted diligence on platform and add-on acquisitions, recruited senior executives, and raised $40 million for portfolio companies.

Earlier in his career, Weber worked as a business analyst in the investment division of Mirant Corporation, focusing on operations, strategy, and planning. Public profiles also identify him as an MBA and show board roles with Agilence and Tangent Energy Solutions; The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in May 2012 that he joined Tangent Energy’s board as Laurel Capital’s representative after Laurel led a recent investment in the company.

Laurel Capital Partners appears to be an inactive investor in some databases, but its historical strategy was lower-middle-market private equity: growth equity, buyouts, minority investments, and co-investments in profitable companies with platform potential.

• Laurel’s stated target was “reasonably-valued, profitable, smaller businesses” with $5 million–$50 million in revenue and EBITDA up to about $5 million.
• The firm looked for companies with “platform potential” where capital plus outside expertise could accelerate growth.
• Laurel focused on the Eastern U.S. lower-middle market, with stated sector targets including business services, financial services, healthcare services, private aviation, and niche manufacturing.
• The firm’s investment size was listed as $1 million–$5 million, using equity for growth and buyout transactions; it could act as lead investor, co-invest, and take minority interests.
• In software, Laurel backed Agilence, a retail analytics / exception-reporting SaaS company. Weber said he had watched Agilence become an “industry leading provider of SaaS-based reporting tools” before Laurel led its 2015 round.
• In clean energy, Laurel financed Tangent Energy-related solar projects, including a DuPont Parlin, New Jersey photovoltaic array and an Assurant Springfield, Ohio solar installation owned by Laurel and operated by Tangent.