Partner leaves Martis Capital as the firm eyes next fund

The firm promoted two other partners, Mario Moreno and Owen Davis, around its third fund, which closed on $550m in 2018.

Shahab Vagefi, founding partner at healthcare specialist Martis Capital, left the firm last month and plans on joining a new shop later this year, according to friends and family email seen by Buyouts.

The departure comes as Martis plans its next fund, which is likely to be launched early next year, according to a person with knowledge of the firm.

It’s not clear why Vagefi left Martis. Neither Vagefi or Martis managing partner Barry Uphoff responded to a request for comment Monday.

Vagefi joined Martis (then known as Capricorn Health) in 2010 as a founding partner, before which he worked at Carlyle Group for three years as a senior associate, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He has led daily operations of the firm alongside Uphoff. Uphoff and Vagefi were the primary owners of the management company, according to Martis’ most recent Form ADV. His departure did not trigger a key-person event, the person with knowledge of the firm said.

The firm promoted two other partners, Mario Moreno and Owen Davis, around its third fund, which closed on $550 million in 2018. Fund III was Martis’ first fund as an independent firm after it spun out of Capricorn Investment Group, the family office of Jeff Skill, co-founder of eBay. Martis, under the Capricorn umbrella, was called Capricorn Healthcare.

Martis focuses on services and outsourcing, IT, consumer and wellness and products and diagnostics. Past investments include care-management-software company Altruista Health, Atlantic Diagnostic Laboratories, CareHospice, veterinary business WellHaven PetHealth and medtech company HeartFlow.

Martis, as Capricorn Healthcare, raised two prior funds, collecting $350 million for Fund II and $250 million for the first fund, one of the people said.

Martis has had a string of exits over the past year that returned almost $700 million to limited partners, the person said. Last year, Thomas H. Lee Partners agreed to buy Care Hospice from Martis, which planned to keep a minority stake in the end-of-life care provider, PE Hub previously reported.