Michael Tedori

Michael Tedori is a Vice President at Auxo Investment Partners, a Grand Rapids, Michigan–based private equity firm founded in 2016 by Jeff Helminski, Jack Kolodny and Fred Tedori. At Auxo he focuses on sourcing investment opportunities, qualification and analysis, and the ongoing management of North America–based middle-market portfolio companies, while also helping to establish and maintain new limited-partner relationships. The firm describes him as bringing more than 12 years of experience helping venture and middle-market private companies reach their growth potential.

Before Auxo, Tedori built an investing career across several private equity, venture and family-office platforms. He was involved in origination and evaluation of venture and private equity transactions at The Gores Group — where he sourced industrial opportunities for a roughly $2.1 billion operationally focused fund — as well as at Blackford Capital and Quasar Ventures, concentrating on business development, investment analysis and investor relations. Immediately prior to joining Auxo, he led healthcare investing for Grupo Diarq, a Mexico City–headquartered family office, where he drove wellness real-estate development and other wellness investments across North America, Latin America, Japan and Europe.

Tedori was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies and Japanese Language, and later an M.B.A. from Penn's Wharton School. His East Asian studies and language background aligns with his cross-border investment experience spanning Latin America, Japan and Europe during his time at Grupo Diarq.

He also shares a surname with Auxo co-founder and Managing Partner Fred Tedori, indicating a likely family connection within the firm, though his role at Auxo is that of a deal-team Vice President rather than a founding partner.

• Control buyouts of the lower middle market, not early-stage venture: Auxo acquires established, cash-flow-positive companies rather than funding startups.
• Profitability screen: the firm prefers businesses generating roughly $2M–$20M of EBITDA.
• Owner/succession angle: Auxo has a stated "special interest in owner-operators seeking retirement or facing succession issues," and pursues growth capital and family-succession transactions.
• Sector concentration in manufacturing, industrial services, value-added distribution, transportation/rail, and business services, with selective activity in HVAC and healthcare services (e.g., home health, EMS).
• Operationally focused approach: the firm positions itself as hands-on operators, with principals citing "over 80 years of investing and operating experience" and a network of strategic advisors and industry experts who support management teams post-close.
• Geography: North America–based businesses across the U.S. and Canada.