U.S. lauds Main Line investor for creating 7,000+ jobs at 27 firms

NewSpring Capital, of Radnor, has been named "Small Business Investment Company of the Year" by the Small Business Administration for investing and lending steadily in small firms, getting paid back, creating jobs, and yielding the U.S. taxpayer a profit, in exchange for government guarantees of loans up to triple the capital invested by the firm and its clients, since NewSpring joined the SBIC program in 2000. 

NewSpring has managed three SBICs and plans another, NewSpring Mezzanine III.  The first fund, equity fund NewSpring Ventures, in 1999, "invested $99 million in 27 companies, fully repaid all SBA leverage, and paid SBA $10.1 million in profit particpation," the SBA reports. "Its portfolio companies have employed nearly 7,000 people."

NewSpring equity plus SBA loan guarantees on two later funds raised and invested more than $350 million in total, managing partner Michael DiPiano told me. NewSpring is co-managed by Steven Hobman, Gregory Barger, Marc Lederman and Brian Murphy. The firm shared "SBIC of the Year" honors for 2015 with Monroe Capital Partners, Chicago. There are more than 350 SBIC sponsors across the U.S.

"The SBA measures returns, and ours has been solid," DiPiano added. "They measure your audits, and we've never had an (adverse) finding. And they measure, are you putting people to work? Our tally is over 7,500 jobs thorugh the companies in our program.

"I don't say 'we created jobs,' DiPiano added. "We've had a hand backing entrepreneurs that created jobs. It's all about a team. It's about having the kind of people who respect entprerenuers who build rare businesses."

One of the biggest employers backed by a NewSpring SBIC is GCA Services, a facilities management firm in Bala Cynwyd, which employs 700.

"It's been fun," DiPiano concluded. "You bet we're going to keep doing this." NewSpring has also raised more than $900 million for clients of its venture capital funds.