A year after regulators took over Signature Bank of New York, more information is unfolding about a fund two of its well-known bankers in Durham are starting.
A securities filing for a new entity called Conductor Capital describes a fund targeting $35 million. It lists Dhruv Patel, who until last year was a senior vice president at Signature’s venture banking group. Patel and longtime Triangle banker Zack Mansfield are in the process of launching a startup venture debt fund. Mansfield is the former managing director of Signature’s venture banking group.
So far, the fund has yet to close on a single dollar, according to the SEC filing. Patel declined to give details Monday, saying that as the new firm is in the midst of fundraising there are regulatory limitations on what he can say.
But he’s expecting a first close to happen soon. The name “Conductor” is “an homage to this idea that we view ourselves as essentially a vessel, or material that helps or enables — our capital helps entrepreneurs, that’s the way we think about it."
The company's website describes it as providing “growth oriented debt capital for high-growth technology companies,” looking to invest between $2 million and $10 million in growth-stage tech companies.“
"Our capital solutions are more flexible than bank debt, less dilutive than venture equity, and designed to help companies with well-defined unit economics to scale efficiently,” the website says. It lists a group of co-founders in addition to Patel and Mansfield, including people like Kyle Porter, founder and board chair of Salesloft; Tope Awotona, founder and CEO of Calendly; David Cummings, CEO and founder of Atlanta Ventures; and Nat Turner, CEO of Collectors.
Others in Conductor’s “founders circle,” include a long list of well-known entrepreneurial power hitters, such as Henry Kaestner, managing principal of Sovereign’s Capital and former chairman of Bandwidth (Nasdaq: BAND); and Michele Perry, operating partner of Elsewhere Ventures.
Patel and Mansfield have worked together for sometime, both having left Square 1 to help Signature kick off its venture business five years ago.
Signature Bank of New York was one of the banks caught up in a string of failures last year. Customers Bancorp, based in Pennsylvania, bought its assets.
“When the dust started to settle we were forced to start thinking about what to do next, as a group we had spent the last four years building was gone,” Patel wrote on Linkedin last year.
Mansfield has described the new fund’s mission as “building a new venture debt fund to fund high quality technology companies backed by sponsors.”
