About Us
Wiregrass Equity Partners seeks to generate superior investment returns by making direct investments in high-growth potential companies located primarily within the Southeastern United States. We are more than just a group of professionals investing in growth-oriented companies. We’ve worn the shoes of the business owners with whom we partner, having extensive experience of world-class operations, investment banking, executive level management, mergers and acquisitions, and finance, creating a unique and robust collaboration of experience and expertise that will be readily available for our partners.
We are combining our experience to narrow the aperture of our focus to specific industries in which we have demonstrated success.
Ambition and integrity are the capstones of our firm’s strategy. We target strong returns for our investors, seeking investments that leverage the strength of our team while inspiring confidence in the exceptional management teams with whom we partner. We focus on accelerating performance and value, as opposed to financial engineering.
Our ultimate goal is to create long-lasting relationships while providing a unique and real basis for competitive advantage, consistent with our firm’s capabilities.
—Darin Phillips, Managing Director
Our Founder’s Story
Since our beginning in 2017, Wiregrass Equity Partners has offered investors an opportunity to partner alongside us as we seek to increase the value of companies with high growth-potential and deliver superior returns through private equity investments. We were founded by Darin Phillips, our Managing Director, who carries a vision of helping both our investors and our portfolio companies reach their financial goals.
After earning an MBA from the Brock School of Business at Samford University, Darin began his career in hospital administration and business management. During his first role as an operator, at an animal hospital, he increased profitability by over 500% in under 3 years, while leading a physical expansion project, doubling the size of the facility and staff of the company. It was through his early management experiences where Darin found an affinity for selling companies that he wanted to pursue next.
In 2005, Darin followed his entrepreneurial spirit and founded a boutique M&A firm, The Genesis Group, where he served as CEO. Five years later, The Genesis Group was acquired by one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S. and quickly grew into a regional investment bank with Darin as Managing Director. During his career in Mergers and Acquisitions, Darin was instrumental in closing 30+ successful deals which combined for total valuations in excess of $400 million. However, after 10+ years of guiding business owners through the process of selling their companies, Darin had become intrigued with the purchasing/acquiring side of those transactions. In late 2016, Darin decided to transition his focus toward private equity investments and away from M&A activity, so in 2017 Wiregrass Equity Partners was born.
Darin is a visionary leader who has been responsible for founding and directing several different companies across varying industry sectors throughout his career. During his time working in M&A, Darin learned how to evaluate a company and identify the value-drivers that are critical for maximum valuation upon exit. Valuable companies are bought, not sold, and throughout advising dozens of companies through the exit process, Darin was able to create the blueprint for optimal valuation of a company. We believe our differentiating factor lies within this ability to effectively evaluate a company, improve its operations and structure to increase value, position it to be bought instead of needing to be sold, and carry out the successful exit of our investment.