New SF Firm Launched

San Francisco Equity Partners (SFEP) is expected to announce its launch today with five companies in its portfolio.

Founded in partnership with LMS Capital – which is the firm’s sole LP – SFEP is loaded with an $80 million fund. The private equity firm is focused on expansion-stage companies in the IT, media, consumer and service sectors. SFEP The firm aims to invest between $5 million and $20 million per transaction. SFEP will invest in private and public companies.

Founding Managing Partner Scott Potter has overseen LMS Capital’s North American private equity and venture capital portfolios for several years. Previously, he was a tech executive, and he began his career as a corporate finance attorney for Venture Law Group.

SFEP’s portfolio companies are:

* Merriman Curhan Ford & Co. (AMEX: MEM), a publicly traded securities broker-dealer and investment bank.

* Method Products, a privately held consumer products company that retails environmentally sensitive home cleaning products.

* Penguin Computing, a vendor of Linux-based server systems, software and technical services.

* Rave Motion Pictures, a builder and operator of stadium cinema complexes in the southeastern and southwestern United States.

* Modviz, an enterprise software company that was spun out of Siemens AG.