Philip Yates
Partner
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- Full Name
- Philip (Phil) Yates
- Title
- Founding Partner
- Firm
- Bregal Sagemount
- Firm Type
- Growth equity / private capital firm (not an angel investor — the stub's "Angel Investors" label is inaccurate)
- Investment Stage
- Growth equity / growth buyout (established, revenue-generating companies — not seed)
- Check Size
- ~$20M–$400M equity investments (Basecamp small-cap fund ~$20M–$75M; flagship fund ~$75M+)
- Target Company Profile
- Founder-owned and bootstrapped market leaders with strong recurring revenue, durable growth tailwinds, resistance to market volatility, and proven go-to-market
- Sector Focus
- Software, information/data services, financial technology & financial services, healthcare IT & services, digital infrastructure, business & consumer services, and technology-enabled logistics/supply-chain
- Geographic Focus
- North America (primarily U.S.)
- Location
- New York, NY (212 area code / Sagemount HQ)
Background
Phil Yates is a Founding Partner of Bregal Sagemount, the growth-focused private capital firm he co-founded in 2012 alongside Gene Yoon, Daniel Kim, Adam Fuller, and Michael Kosty. Now in roughly his 21st year as a growth equity investor, he focuses on originating and underwriting investments across the firm's services and technology sectors. Bregal Sagemount has invested in more than 90 companies, has approximately $3.5 billion in AUM across three flagship equity funds (the most recent at $1.5 billion), and in 2024–2025 added the ~$500M "Basecamp" small-cap fund to return to its original ethos of backing bootstrapped, founder-owned businesses.
Before co-founding Bregal Sagemount, Yates spent nearly a decade at Great Hill Partners (2003–2012), where he focused on growth investments in software and technology-enabled services across the healthcare, payments, business services, and consumer verticals. Earlier in his career he was at Carousel Capital, a middle-market private equity firm headquartered in Charlotte, NC, working on transactions in franchising, healthcare, industrials, and communications. He began his career in the Consumer and Business Services investment banking group at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Yates holds a BS in Business Administration, with honors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was named to GrowthCap's "Top Software Investors of 2025" list (announced September 2025), and Bregal Sagemount as a firm was named to GrowthCap's Top Growth Equity Firms of 2025.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests at the growth stage, not seed — targeting companies that already have strong fundamentals rather than taking early-venture risk.
- Prefers founder-owned, bootstrapped market leaders with recurring revenue, strong growth tailwinds, resistance to market cycles, and proven sales/marketing motions.
- Provides flexible capital (both minority growth equity and control) plus strategic/operational assistance; check sizes span roughly $20M to $400M depending on the fund.
- Sector emphasis on software, fintech/financial services, data & information services, healthcare IT, digital infrastructure, and technology-enabled business services — with a personal track record in logistics and supply-chain technology.
- On being recognized in 2025, Yates framed the firm's approach around partnership: *"At Sagemount, we are grateful to the founders and management teams who entrust us as partners. This recognition reflects their dedication and achievements."*
Notable Investments
- Truckstop.com — Freight marketplace / load board; Sagemount growth investment (Yates active in the logistics/supply-chain vertical).
- GPS Insight — Fleet and field-service management software; investment led by Phil Yates and Michael Kosty, both of whom joined the board.
- Buyers Edge Platform — Foodservice technology and group-purchasing/data platform.
- Corcentric — Procurement, accounts-payable and B2B payments/spend-management software.
- Procure Analytics — Technology-enabled group purchasing for tail-spend/MRO categories.
- Trade Global (TradeGlobal) — E-commerce fulfillment and omnichannel logistics services.
- irth Solutions — SaaS for damage prevention and infrastructure asset risk management.
- BiteSquad — Food-delivery marketplace.
- Keg Logistics — Keg leasing and beverage supply-chain logistics.
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