2025 Dealmakers of the Year Honorees
Presented By: Sales Xceleration
Yash Daftary
CEO
FanBasis
FanBasis, a Miami, FL-based provider of an end-to-end ecosystem powering digital businesses, raised $20M in Series A funding. The round was led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from Ryan Serhant, The Sidemen (via Upside Ventures), Gerard Piqué, and Connexa Capital. The company has grown to run rate over $1B in revenue this year and is the fastest growing company in the internet economy.
Alexander Esposito
Co-Founder & Co-CEO
Circuit
The company raised $17mm as part of its Series B led my MKB in February. Tribeca Venture Partners, Groundswell Ventures, K Street Capital, Impact Engine and other undisclosed investors also participated in the round. The funds will be used for the company's expansion, to further enhance its proprietary tech platform, and to strengthen partnerships with cities, properties, and businesses.
Dan Florian
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
M. Steven Liff
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Palm Peak Capital
Palm Peak Capital is an emerging private equity manager founded in the fall of 2024 and headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. The operationally focused firm invests in leading lower middle-market industrial and business services companies across North America, leveraging its proprietary Peak Performance operating system to drive growth and value creation. Palm Peak was founded by M. Steven Liff, formerly a Senior Partner and Head of North American Private Equity at Sun Capital Partners, together with Jeremy Stone and Dan Florian, both former Senior Managing Directors and Partners at Sun Capital Partners. The growing team successfully completed two platform investments and one add-on acquisition in 2025.
Peter Goldstein
CEO
Emmis Acquisition
Emmis Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: EMIS) raised $100 million in its initial public offering through the sale of 10,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit. The underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full, purchasing an additional 1,500,000 units for $15 million, bringing total IPO proceeds to $115 million. Concurrently, the company received $3.68 million in development capital through a private placement (PIPE) from its sponsor.
Together, these fundraising efforts totaled approximately $118.68 million, marking key milestones in Emmis Acquisition Corp.’s (NASDAQ: EMIS) capital formation and financial strategy.
Benjamin Gordon
Managing Partner
Cambridge Capital
Benjamin co-founded and invested in a company called Greenscreens.ai, which is focused on AI-powered predictive pricing for trucking. They grew the company from 0 to $8M of ARR, and just sold it for $160M to Triumph. J.P. Morgan served as financial advisor and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is acting as legal counsel to Triumph Financial in connection with the transaction. DLA Piper is acting as legal counsel to Greenscreens.ai in connection with the transaction.
Jeff Magny
Founder & Managing Partner
Lincoln Road Global Management
Lincoln Road Global management has had numerous investments over the last 24 months. Monroe Capital LLC acted as administrative agent and sole lead arranger on the funding of a senior credit facility, in addition to an anchor equity co-investment to support the acquisition of Silversand Services and SLI Landscape by private equity sponsor Lincoln Road. Silversand and SLI were combined with Lincoln Road's existing portfolio company, Zodega Landscaping.
Social Impact Investing
Kevin Elwell
Co-Chair
Russell Kreutter
Co-Chair
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Palm Beach County, Private Equity Community Build
Kevin and Russell, along with the team at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Palm Beach County, started PE Build three years ago. The event engages 100+ participants in the PE Community in South Florida and has raised over $600,000 in its first two years. Five local PE firms participate along with dozens of participants from other financial, accounting, legal, insurance, and other advisory firms. In 2026, they aim to spread this event to two new cities, Nashville and Los Angeles, with the goal of raising $1M across the events.