NEWS
ProService Hawaii Acquired Makai HR
May 24, 2023
ProService Hawaii, experts in bundled HR solutions, acquired Makai HR which serves over 200 Hawaii based employers and their 4,000 employees. ProService is employing Makai’s staff and executive team who will continue to serve their clients. “I am so proud of this team of individuals in what they have accomplished through so much change and growth,” said Dustin Sellers, Partner at Koa Capital and Founder of Makai HR.
NEW PRESIDENT OF ACCEL EVENTS
Nov 1, 2023
Koa Capital Partners is proud to introduce Rowena Browne as the new President of Accel Events and Rentals.
A returning Kama’aina who grew up in Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu, Rowena was most recently the Chief Development Officer for an international organization presiding over a $50m revenue enterprise.
KOA CAPITAL WOMEN ON MODERN WAHINE
May 23, 2023
Brook Lee of Modern Wahine Hawaii speaks with Gabrielle Richter, President of Accel Events and Tents, Liwei Kimura, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Koa Restoration and Maintenance, and Marci LaRouech, President of Makai HR regarding Women in Business.
HAWAII’S TOP EMPLOYERS PROFILES 2018 — PREMIER RESTORATION HAWAII
March 29, 2018
No matter when, Premier Restoration Hawaii is available to serve the needs of its community. The restoration and reconstruction company is always on call for emergency response and provides end-to-end project management to help reduce cost and repair time for customers. With a solid track record of ...
RENTAL BUSINESS HELPS PEOPLE THROW MEMORABLE PARTIES, EVENTS
December 7, 2017
Scott Rabe was 14 years old when his dad handed him the reins to his own event rentals business. Rabe’s dad, who owned a catering company in Hawaii, saw a need for a business that could provide serviceable equipment for his events. So in 1994, he decided to start the business himself.
PREMIER RESTORATION HAWAI‘I CRACKS HAWAII BUSINESS MAGAZINE’S TOP 250 ONE YEAR AFTER LAUNCHING ON OAHU
August 30, 2017
Thirteen months after Koa Capital Partners announced the purchase of Maui Fire & Flood, the re-branding of the company as Premier Restoration Hawai’i (“Premier”) and the opening of its fully operational facility on Oahu, Premier has cracked the Top 250, coming in at #223.
THE EVOLUTION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH ACQUISITION
July 1, 2017
As 2016 draws to a close, the Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) community is in a unique situation. “Search funds,” the predominant model historically and the focus of this report, has had an amazing run under a mostly consistent model, through a relatively finite set of investors are funding more entrepreneurs more than ever, and this trend is gaining momentum.
WHAT FUELS HAWAI‘I’S DEAL FLOW
December 26, 2016
Hawai‘i and private equity are not often heard in the same sentence. And yet, as Honolulu-based private equity investor Dustin Sellers explains, the state’s huge tourism and real estate industry and the presence of the U.S. military have sustained generations of middle-market businesses, many of which find themselves in need of growth capital.
KOA CAPITAL LAUNCHES HAWAI‘I’S FIRST ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM
February 19, 2016
Koa Capital Partners has launched Hawai‘i’s first Entrepreneur in Residence program, targeting entrepreneurs looking to buy small businesses and revamp them. During the six month program, Koa will provide the EIR with guidance, stewardship and equity funding.
KOA CAPITAL INVESTS IN NATION’S LARGEST CONSUMER LEGAL FUNDING FIRM
July 17, 2015
Hawai‘i-based private equity firm Koa Capital Partners has partnered with Oasis Legal Finance, a provider of legal funding for consumers involved in personal injury litigation, and plans to expand its Hawai‘i operations. Illinois-based Oasis Legal Finance is already available in 43 states including Hawai‘i, and Koa Capital Partners will provide business development support to grow its presence in the market.
NEW FRANCHISE GETS THE BUGS OUT: CHASON ISHII JOINS KOA CAPITAL PARTNERS TO HEAD GREEN HOME SOLUTIONS
May 17, 2015
Koa Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm founded by Chris Eldridge and Dustin Sellers, has purchased the Hawaii franchise rights to GREEN HOME SOLUTIONS, a Connecticut-based company offering environmentally friendly pest-control systems. To run the operations, they have hired Chason Ishii as GREEN HOME SOLUTIONS HAWAII’s president and head of business development.
PORTFOLIO COMPANY BLAKE ENTERTAINMENT HOW I…SASHAYED INTO THE CORPORATE EVENTS BUSINESS
April 3, 2015
This January I became Blake Entertainment, backed by Koa Capital Partners. Almost overnight, my events manager Amelia Larkin and I went from a two-man-show to an army of 40 people. Over the last three months, we hired four full-time office employees, five part-time employees, bartenders, wait staff and folks from the industry...
DR FORTRESS ATTRACTS LOCAL INVESTORS
February 6, 2015
Sellers, the former president of sales and marketing at ProService Hawaii, and Eldridge, former president of America's Mattress Hawaii and partner in biofuels company Aina Koa Pono, founded Koa Capital Partners last year to invest and provide operational expertise to small- to medium-sized businesses with Hawaii ties." DRFortress was looking for new equity and they wanted to expand, but they wanted to expand strategically," Sellers told PBN.
KOA CAPITAL PARTNERS INVESTS IN HAWAI‘I DATACENTER, CLOUD PROVIDER DR FORTRESS
February 3, 2015
Hawai‘i private equity investment firm Koa Capital Partners, founded last year by Chris Eldridge and Dustin Sellers, has invested in its first local company, Honolulu-based data center and cloud services provider DRFortress.
DUSTIN SELLERS, CHRIS ELDRIDGE START HAWAI‘I PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENT FIRM
September 23, 2014
Hawaii business executives Chris Eldridge, who founded Hawai‘i's largest mattress supplier and is a partner in a local biofuel project, and Dustin Sellers, who was co-president of one of Hawai‘i's largest HR services provider, are moving from the operational side of business and getting into investments.