Montgomery & Co.
Montgomery & Co. is an investment bank with offices in Santa Monica, California, San Francisco, California, and New York City that primarily advises growth companies with a focus on the Communications, Healthcare, Media, and Technology industries. Montgomery & Co. specializes in financial advisory services such as mergers and acquisitions, private placements, private equity, and private investments in public entities. Founded in 1986. Over the years Montgomery & Co. has developed strategic partnerships with companies such as Tudor Ventures, West River Capital, and The Hillman Co.
History
Founding and early history: 1986–1996
Founded by James Montgomery in Los Angeles the original mission was to provide strategic counsel to high technology companies. James Montgomery accompanied by his brother Michael Montgomery expanded the firm in terms of its industry focus, its geographic focus, and the expanse of services.
From 1986 to 1991 the firm primarily focused on strategic advisory services for global technology, media, communications, and aerospace companies. Concentrating on large corporations the firm advised on growth strategies and new market development.
1996–2001
In 1996, the firm expanded into investment banking. James Montgomery co-founded Palomar Ventures in 1998 and Montgomery & Co. remains a General Partner in this entity. In 2000 and 2001 there was a technology downturn and consolidation in the banking industry, which the firm capitalized on and recruited a series of top tier bankers.
Early 2000s
Montgomery & Co. increased its banking expertise within the healthcare and media industries and opened an office in San Francisco after it was strengthened by investments from West River Capital of Seattle and the world's largest bank, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.. In 2004, the firm launched the annual Montgomery Technology Conference, which continues to highlight the successful private and public companies in the U.S. and draws senior level attendees from around the world.
The firm further established its direct private equity investment program in 2004. In 2005, Montgomery & Co. received an investment from Tudor Investments, the Boston- based venture capital and private equity arm of Tudor Investment Corporation, an internationally recognized investment management firm with $11.7 billion in assets. Montgomery's footprint on the east coast was additionally strengthened in 2006 by the additional support from The Hillman Co., a privately held investment firm based in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2005 Montgomery & Co. also participated in a panel at Stanford called the AlwaysOn Innovation Summit where Montgomery officers participated as judges in the "CEO Pitch."
The 2005 sale of IntermixMedia (Myspace) to News Corp. made Montgomery & Co. known as one of media's leading advisors. Further, Montgomery reached a benchmark by leading the 2007 Series-A funding of $70 million for Vantage Media Corp. This was the largest Series-A venture financing recorded in the U.S. and Europe since 2005.
Montgomery & Co. became the "go to bank" of choice for growth companies due to its growing transaction log and relationships with corporate heavyweights such as Sony, Viacom, Disney, Yahoo!, Google, SAP, and others.
2007 and beyond
In April 2007 Montgomery & Co. announced the opening of its New York office. Located in Santa Monica, California the 2009 Montgomery Technology Conference featured numerous start-up companies and was broadcast by CNBC. The 2011 Montgomery Technology Conference featured 170 startup companies who presented to an audience of venture capital investors, media and tech executives.
Montgomery & Co. celebrated its 25th anniversary on January 18, 2011 at the NASDAQ MarketSite.
Investment banking
Mergers and acquisition sdvisory
Montgomery & Co's expertise include executing mergers and acquisitions for growth companies. Some of their advisories include public-to-public mergers, tax-free subsidiary spin-outs, divisional divestitures, fairness opinions and strategic evaluations.
Private placements
In addition to mergers and acquisitions, Montgomery & Co. also acts as an agent in the private placements of equity and debt-securities for the technology and healthcare sectors. Specifically, they have established themselves in the biotechnology and life sciences field. As of the last couple of years, they have raised over $300 million in private financing for biotechnology companies.
Industry focus
Technology
- Enterprise Software
- Infrastructure Software
- Vertical Applications including
- Healthcare IT and Human
- Capital Management
- Business Intelligence
- IT Security
- Wireless
- IP Infrastructure and Services
- Semiconductors / Enterprise Hardware
- Technology-enabled Services
Media
- Advertising & Marketing Services
- Digital Media Services
- Entertainment, Games, Content and Distribution
- Mobile Media
- Online Services
Montgomery Technology Conference
Since its inception in 2004, The Montgomery Technology Conference has established itself into the premier conference for emerging growth private companies in the internet, wireless, information technology, communications and related media and technology sectors. The conference features about 150 private companies to an audience of nearly 1,000 technology and media executives, and venture and private equity investors. Over the last 8 years, the conference has hosted over 1,000 presenting companies that have experienced tremendous growth and success. Some of these past previous presenting companies have included Facebook and Twitter. The format of the conference includes company presentations, panels on key industry trends, and one-on-one meetings to discuss investments, acquisitions, and alliances.