Cornice Capital is an operator-led investment firm targeting the lower-middle market. We partner with essential businesses to build enduring value—without the artificial timelines or pretension of traditional private equity.
We founded Cornice Capital to solve a specific problem: Good companies are often ruined by bad capital.
Traditional private equity works on a clock. The standard "10-year fund" model forces investors to sell businesses just when they are getting started, often prioritizing financial engineering over operational health. We operate differently.
We structure our platform investments as independent holding companies. We are not forced to sell in 3-5 years. We have the flexibility to hold and grow businesses indefinitely.
We don’t run companies from a spreadsheet in a high-rise. We have founded billion-dollar companies, navigated turnarounds, and worked in the trenches.
We take our work seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We believe partnership is built on handshake deals, mutual respect, and straight talk. We leave the "sharp elbows" in New York.
We do not rely on auctions or generalist trends. We identify structural macroeconomic dislocations and deploy capital into four specific pillars where our operational expertise creates a competitive moat.
The collision of aging infrastructure and the AI/Data Center boom has created a historic "Power Bottleneck" in North America.
The StrategyWe acquire and consolidate the specialized engineering, maintenance, and service firms that serve as the "gatekeepers" to grid expansion.
Geopolitical instability is forcing a massive reshoring of the A&D supply chain to ensure sovereignty.
The StrategyWe are rolling up the fragmented tier of high-precision component manufacturers, providing the capital and management structure needed to service Prime contractors at scale.
The next wave of value creation isn't in building new AI models, but in applying them to "unsexy" legacy industries.
The StrategyWe acquire profitable, traditional service businesses (Agriculture, Mining, Rail) and embed proprietary technology to revolutionize safety, efficiency, and yield.
The end of the zero-interest-rate era has created a cohort of "Venture Fallen Angels"—fundamentally sound technologies with broken capital structures.
The StrategyWe utilize our deep restructuring experience to acquire IP-rich companies at a discount, fixing the balance sheet and pivoting operations toward profitability.
Selling your business is the most significant decision of your professional life. You deserve a buyer who sees the people behind the profit.
We buy businesses because we like what they are today. We are not here to gut your team or rebrand your trucks on Day 1.
We believe in broad-based ownership. We often implement Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) so the people who built the business participate in its future growth.
Whether you want to stay on as CEO or retire to the mountains, we design a transition plan that fits your life.
Cornice Capital is led by Wes Goldstein and Mark Watt. We are not an arranged marriage of capital allocators; we have worked side-by-side for over a decade, founding companies, navigating crises, and generating returns across the venture and industrial landscape.
Wes is an operator and investor who specializes in bridging the gap between legacy infrastructure and modern technology. Prior to founding Cornice, Wes was a Founder and Managing General Partner of Kilonova Capital.
Previously, he was instrumental in launching Energy Impact Partners (EIP), a $4B+ utility-backed investment platform. As an entrepreneur, Wes founded EnerNet Global, a microgrid development company, and co-founded Above Data with Mark.
Mark brings over 25 years of experience scaling deep-tech and industrial companies globally. Prior to founding Cornice, Mark was a Founder and Managing General Partner of Kilonova Capital.
His operating roots run deep: he served as Co-Founder and CFO of Firefly Aerospace, scaling the company to 500+ employees and raising $250M+. He co-founded Above Data with Wes and has led multiple successful exits, including Murka and Maxymiser.