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Overview:
Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H) is a private credit firm that exclusively funds and converts profitable, privately held service businesses into 100% employee-owned enterprises through Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOP) via Employee-Led Buyout (ELBO) transactions. Apis & Heritage Capital Partners is an LLC structured as a private investment manager overseeing funds dedicated to making debt-based investments in ELBO transactions. To date, A&H has launched two funds, the Legacy Fund I ($55MM raised) and Legacy Fund II ($181MM of $250MM raised). Their mission is to transfer wealth to workers, preserve jobs, and create long-term economic mobility while generating competitive returns for investors.

Through the ELBO model used by A&H, a trust is established to hold the ESOP retirement plan on behalf of employees and distribute shares to them annually. Once an employee is ready to retire, they will sell the shares they have accumulated for cash. The money needed for the trust to acquire shares from an owner, and eventually the rest of the company, comes from various parties, including:

1. Leverage taken by the company seeking to establish an ESOP plan. They’ll typically take on leverage from a bank or an outside firm and issue a loan to the trust, which then uses those funds to acquire shares in the company. 

2. Cash from the company seeking to establish an ESOP plan. These funds are typically directed from the company’s balance sheet.  

3. Mezzanine debt issued by an external lender, such as A&H.

4. A seller's note from the owner. A seller note is an arrangement in which an owner sells their shares back to their company and receives a promissory note from the company, rather than a lump-sum cash payment, to fund the purchase.  The company typically provides some initial cash as a partial payment, repays the remaining balance over time, and also issues warrants to maximize upside. 

Thesis:
The A&H Legacy Fund II (LFII) will build on the impact of Legacy Fund I (LFI) by continuing to finance ELBOs for profitable, lower-middle-market businesses with large workforces of low- to moderate-income employees. The Legacy Fund II is differentiated through its size, EBITDA requirements, and sectors of focus. LFII aims to invest in 10-15 companies.

LFII is a private credit fund that finances ELBOs for profitable SMEs with revenues ranging from $20MM to $100MM and EBITDA from $4MM to $10MM across essential services, manufacturing, construction, landscaping, security, and hospitality. The fund will deploy a unitranche finance strategy involving a senior debt tranche at 5-7 year term and 9% interest (reserved for Calvert Impact, A&H, and other institutional investors/banks), a Mezzanine tranche at a 5 year term at a 13% rate (reserved for A&H), and a seller note tranche at a 5 year term at 7% paid annually (reserved for the owner).

Leveraging a unitranche capital stack, with senior-level debt support, enables A&H to execute deals faster, work with larger, more sophisticated companies, and reduce risk/cost.

Track Record:
A&H raised raised $58MM for their Legacy Fund I and deployed $33MM across 6 investments. The portfolio's value is $40MM. A&H has received $9.1MM in total distributions from interest and principal repayments (as of June 2025) and has achieved a gross IRR of 16%.

For LFII, the A&H team has secured $181MM of their $250MM goal, has another $14MM committed, and structured a strategic partnership with Calvert Impact to provide funding for their senior debt tranche. Aside from their fund and impact performance, A&H was also awarded the Social Innovation award from the Skoll Foundation in March of 2025.

Mission Alignment:

There is strong alignment between Apis & Heritage and Inspire Access's mission to provide capital to underrepresented founders and support underserved communities. Apis & Heritage, through their Legacy Fund I and Legacy Fund II, are directly creating a pathway to retirement and wealth creation for low- to moderate-income workers, who are generally people of color. 

Their model promotes equity for working-class communities and sustainable succession for business owners.

Opportunity:
Donor Investors may purchase “Interests in the LFII LLC. There's a 10-year investment term with projected gross returns of 17%-20% and a Net IRR of 12%-15% for investors. 

Team:

A&H is partner-managed, with investment decisions, fund operations, and portfolio oversight executed by a team of senior professionals with expertise in private credit, ESOP transitions, and lower-middle-market investing.