The Rebrandifesto:
Why Plymouth Growth is Becoming Straylight
In optics, "stray light" is light that enters a system but isn't supported by the intended design. It's considered a flaw, something to be filtered out. But we've built our entire investment philosophy around finding the stray light–the brilliant founders and teams building valuable businesses that don't fit the intended design of coastal venture capital or private equity.
Today, Plymouth Growth becomes Straylight Capital, and we're doubling down on backing the companies that everyone else thinks are too gritty, too small, or too different to matter.
A legacy of independence
When our Founder, Ian Bund, started Plymouth Venture Partners (which would later become Plymouth Growth) over two decades ago, he already had a reputation for being tough, loyal, and not beholden to the conventions of industry tradition. Plymouth never intended to be dogmatic about strategy, and early on he infused Plymouth's DNA with creativity and innovation.
Carving a different path
As the firm grew and evolved, we used this creativity to explore our niche in what has become a crowded global venture capital and private equity industry–an industry replete with copy-paste strategies and structures based on traditional molds.
We've spent the last two decades exploring, iterating, and finding our home within this niche–a niche built upon the principle of supporting founder-led companies that don't (or don't want to) fit neatly into the modern boxes of venture capital or private equity.
The founders of our portfolio companies have even been known to describe our position in the market as "tweener capital." And this niche strategy–one that looks like it goes against the grain compared to much of the rest of the industry–has allowed us to invest in dozens of amazing teams and companies that were looking for a different kind of partner.
Principles that guide us
We believe in constant improvement, and we always strive to be trusted, best-in-class, and disciplined–values that this firm has had for decades and will continue to have for decades to come.
We believe in supporting high-growth companies, but we never bring a "boom or bust" venture mindset. We believe that smaller, high-growth companies can benefit from the substantial operational resources provided by private equity firms, but we don't subscribe to a one-size-fits-all playbook.
We believe that the adversity faced by gritty, founder-led companies is a far better predictor of success than raising endless amounts of capital at unsustainable valuations based on the latest market fad.
Building the team, executing the strategy
We've spent the last several years building our team, executing this strategy, and generating market-leading results. After the launch of our most recent fund, we envisioned a brand that matches the uniqueness of our modern offering, approach, and team.
The beauty of Straylight
We fell in love with the concept of stray light because it reflects our gritty founders and teams building successful and valuable businesses outside the intended systems of coastal venture capital and private equity.
We think there is beauty in challenging the system, and we've learned how to identify and build value in the stray light.
You are different, so are we
Straylight Capital exists to provide growth equity for the magnificent middle–B2B technology companies with dynamic $3-$13M businesses that are building real value yet remain underserved by traditional venture capital and private equity. No matter who you are, we hope you'll join us on your journey, and meet us in the middle.
stray light / scientific term for light entering an optical system that isn't supported by the intended design
Straylight / backing gritty founders and teams that aren’t supported by the traditional systems of coastal venture capital and private equity
Meet us in the middle,
