How Evolution Strategy Partners Transformed Deal Execution: A Top-Ranked Independent Sponsor's Journey with Verivend

Evolution Strategy Partners, recognized among Axial's 2025 Top 20 Independent Sponsors, reveals how Verivend's platform transformed their capital management and investor relations across multiple deals. Author: Jim Burke

Last updated: Sept 2025

Estimated read time: 6 minutes

Executive Summary 

Evolution Strategy Partners, an Austin-based private equity firm recently named to The 2025 Top 20 Independent Sponsors on Axial, has built a reputation for principled investing in community infrastructure and essential function businesses. With a focus on industrial, and commercial service companies, Evolution has distinguished itself through its authentic, relationship-first approach and operational expertise. 

However, like many successful Independent Sponsors, Evolution faced operational challenges in managing capital calls, investor communications, and deal execution logistics. The manual processes that worked for early deals became increasingly burdensome as the firm scaled, particularly with their active side-car investment vehicle. 

 We sat down with Ken Nguyen, Principal at Evolution, to explore how Verivend's integrated platform advanced Evolution's operations, saving substantial time while enhancing the investor experience and deal execution reliability. 

The Silver Tsunami

Evolution Strategy Partners: Top 2% Performance Through Authentic Partnership 

Market Specialization and Deal Activity  

Evolution Strategy Partners is an Austin-based Independent Sponsor focused on founder, family, or entrepreneur-owned businesses generating $3-10M EBITDA with under $75M revenue. "We aim to empower the next generation to make evolutionary step-change investments to grow the businesses, and then hold for the long term or sell," Nguyen explains. 

Completing 1-2 deals annually with a banner year of five deals in 2024, Evolution's track record stands out in a market where deal execution separates the top performers from the rest. Being ranked among the Top 20 out of 1,098 active Independent Sponsors on Axial places Evolution Strategy Partners in the top 2% of the industry. 

What Makes Evolution Different  

True Alignment Through Personal Investment   Evolution represents 20%+ of the equity invested in each deal—far exceeding typical Independent Sponsors who take a 2% fee and write a 1% check. "We are always the largest personal investors behind our portfolio companies," states Stenning Schueppert, Managing Partner. "We believe in our companies and put our 'back pocket' money to work with them." 

Cultural Authenticity   Evolution's Texas-based culture provides genuine competitive differentiation. "We're not a sharp-elbowed culture," Nguyen explains. "We fit better with a lot of the businesses we target, which are generally blue-collar businesses." 

“This authenticity extends to presentation: Rather than showing up in slacks and loafers, we're generally showing up in jeans and sneakers, which makes a difference in first impressions as our intent is to relate with those who we are meeting." 

Succession Solution Specialists  Evolution addresses the "silver tsunami" of retiring business owners lacking succession plans. Business owners they speak to often haven't prioritized succession planning, maintaining only vague notions of potential successors without having formalized or communicated these transition plans.  

Evolution works with the entrepreneur and their leadership team on the succession plan and aligns themselves with teams committed to a second life for the company. 

Elevation Strategy  Unlike many firms that install outside leadership, Evolution elevates existing talent. "We rely on the next level of management because they've been in the business longer. They know how to run the business much better than we could," Nguyen explains. Evolution's approach accelerates natural succession timelines. For example, “something that would take ten years, we get it down to two or three years. In other instances, the business owner might have been planning to wind down the business, thinking they didn’t have another choice.”    The Capital Management Challenge 

Despite investment success (completing 1-2+ deals annually), Evolution faced operational friction in deal execution and investor management that slowed down the process. 

Pre-Verivend Pain Points 

Capital Call Complexity: "Before, we were doing everything manually," Nguyen recalls. "When it came to capital calls, it was an ordeal because I'd have to email everyone, aggregate the information, and make sure everyone wired on the same day—typically a day or two before close." 

Document Management Chaos: The firm relied on basic tools for investor communications. "By tax season when you have to individually email everyone their tax documents, it becomes an administrative burden." 

Banking Coordination Risk: Deal timing risks emerged around bank account setup. "When funding a new deal, the bank account creation process can be stressful because it may take days, and there might be delays at the bank to open that account." 

The Side-Car Multiplication Effect 

Evolution's challenges were amplified by their side-car investment vehicle, which invests in other sponsors' deals or funds where Evolution aligns with the strategy, requiring multiple capital calls per fund. "We invest in funds with multiple capital calls and have multiple funds in our portfolio," Nguyen explains. "We'll invest in a fund that has six capital calls throughout the fund life, requiring us to make six capital calls to our investors."  

The Verivend Transformation 

Implementation and Immediate Impact 

Evolution's decision to implement Verivend came through proactive outreach rather than active vendor search. "We had thought about trying to improve our operations, but we were just caught up in the day to day. We really weren't looking," Nguyen admits.  

The onboarding process proved manageable: "Once you're a Verivend investor, the process is easy. It takes our investors ten minutes or less to get set-up." 

Key Operational Improvements 

Administrative Burden Shift: "Verivend shifts some of the administrative responsibility to the investor versus Evolution," Nguyen explains. "Once we have someone onboard, they're entering their own information into a secure database. They know their information better than we do, so it’s a lower lift for them and a win-win for both parties.”  

Reduced Data Custody Risk: Verivend securely stores investor information, removing Evolution from custody of sensitive personal information while maintaining visibility on the progress of document collection and distribution.  

Entity Management Simplification: The platform automatically handles complex investor structures: "Some people invest individually, some through entities. It would take mind space for us to continually track that. But when someone onboards at Verivend, they input what they're investing through—entity or individual." 

Capital Raising & Payments   

Wire Anxiety Eliminated: Investors link accounts once during onboarding, then execute capital calls with simple clicks rather than manual bank logins and wire confirmations, removing the stress of coordinating same-day wiring from multiple investors before deal close. 

Banking Detail Reconfirmation Eliminated: The platform maintains current investor banking information, eliminating the need to individually track down and reconfirm account details that may have changed between deals.  

The Vault Feature: Deal Risk Mitigation 

Verivend's Vault functionality addresses banking coordination risks. "With Verivend's Vault, we can preemptively fund before the bank account is set up," Nguyen explains. "The bank might delay setup, which slows down everything. We don't worry about that because everyone can fund to the Vault, and Verivend wires money to recipients when needed." 

This provides crucial deal timing flexibility: "Having that mechanism where everyone funds to the Vault and we can have it funded the day of close is terrific in terms of stress saved." 

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Quantified Impact and Ongoing Benefits 

Time Savings 

The time savings have been substantial: "It saved me legitimate hours dealing with investors and manual processes every deal," Nguyen notes. “Verivend saves me crucial hours when it matters most, getting a deal across the finish line.” 

Enhanced Investor Experience 

Centralized Access: "Verivend provides a centralized location for investors in multiple deals with us," Nguyen explains. "They can log on and see the five or six deals they're invested in. It's easier having one location for all our materials." 

Streamlined Funding: "During onboarding, they link bank accounts to the Verivend platform. Capital calls are easy—just click a couple buttons versus logging into their bank, wiring money, and confirming wire information." 

Distribution Efficiency 

The distribution process transformation has been particularly impactful: "Before, I had to track down each investor and reconfirm banking information because it could have changed. If there are changes, investors would update through the portal versus sending me sensitive information." 

Current real-time example: "We're sending a tax distribution to over a dozen different investors. I've linked the Verivend portal to the portfolio company's bank account, which will then ACH pull the funds. Then I go into Verivend, input the numbers, and hit send." 

Technology Stack Integration 

Evolution maintains a lean technology approach, making Verivend's integration particularly valuable. "Verivend is an important component of our technology stack.”  

Support Experience and Partnership 

The human element of Verivend's service has proven equally important as the technology. "The support team has been helpful with any issues," Nguyen emphasizes. "It's been great working with Auria and her team. They're quick to communicate about issues. It's easy to pick up the phone and call her. She can address issues in a timely matter." 

This support model aligns with Evolution's relationship-focused approach: "Having a platform where it's easy to get connected with someone quickly and have issues resolved has been helpful." 

Looking Forward: Scaling with Confidence 

As Evolution continues growing and increasing deal velocity, Verivend provides the operational foundation for scalable growth. The platform has transformed what was once a source of stress and manual coordination into a streamlined, professional process that enhances rather than detracts from investor relationships. 

For Independent Sponsors operating in the competitive lower middle market, Evolution's experience demonstrates that operational excellence can be a significant competitive advantage. By removing friction from capital management, firms can focus on their core strengths: identifying great businesses, building relationships with founders, and creating value through authentic partnership. 

Scale with Verivend

Evolution Strategy Partners' recognition among The 2025 Top 20 Independent Sponsors on Axial reflects their commitment to operational excellence and principled investing. Their partnership with Verivend exemplifies how the right technology platform can amplify a firm's core strengths while eliminating operational friction. To learn more, please visit Evolution’s website or LinkedIn.