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§ Venture Capital · Chicago, IL, USA
Family office investing in private equity, venture capital, and income-producing real estate, focused on office and industrial properties.
Key people at FMG Capital.
FMG Capital is a New York City-based family office that invests in private equity, venture capital, and commercial real estate opportunities. Operating as the dedicated investment arm for First Midwest Group, the firm leads capital allocation strategy, financial due diligence, and portfolio management across multiple asset classes. The organization primarily targets income-producing physical assets, focusing on acquiring and leasing office and industrial properties throughout the broader Midwest region and specifically Northern Illinois. The firm's executive leadership team includes Chief Investment Officer Ashwin Puri, Director of Commercial Development Bharat Puri, and Chief Financial Officer Doug Beale. While specific assets under management and portfolio valuations remain undisclosed, the entity exclusively manages the private family capital generated by its parent organization. FMG Capital was officially established in 2017 by original First Midwest Group founder and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Puri.
Key people at FMG Capital.
FMG Capital has 1 tracked investment across 1 company. The latest tracked deal is $3.0M Seed in Creative Galileo in October 2021.
| Date | Company | Round | Lead Investor(s) | Co-Investor(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2021 | Creative Galileo | $3.0M Seed | — | 3one4 Capital, General Catalyst, WestCap, Pratyus Patnaik |
# FMG Capital: Alpha-Driven Investment Strategy Across Global Markets
FMG Capital is a private equity investment firm that operates as part of the First Midwest Group ecosystem, backed by the Puri Family's investment legacy spanning more than two decades.[2] The firm focuses on identifying and executing alpha-driven investments with a global perspective, targeting opportunities across various industries with particular emphasis on the lower-middle market segment.[1][3]
The firm's mission centers on delivering exceptional service and measurable results to its investors and portfolio companies. Rather than pursuing commodity returns, FMG Capital positions itself as an opportunistic investor seeking investments that generate above-market returns through active value creation and strategic operational involvement. This approach reflects a sophisticated understanding that returns in private equity are generated not merely through financial engineering, but through genuine business improvement and market positioning.
FMG Capital emerged from the First Midwest Group's broader investment platform, which has cultivated deep expertise across private equity, venture capital, and public equities over more than two decades.[2] The firm represents an evolution of the Puri Family's investment philosophy—moving beyond traditional real estate holdings into a more diversified, globally-oriented capital deployment strategy.
The establishment of FMG Capital as a dedicated investment vehicle reflects a strategic decision to formalize and scale the family office's private equity capabilities. By creating a distinct entity within the First Midwest Group structure, the firm gained the operational infrastructure and market positioning necessary to pursue institutional-quality deals while maintaining the flexibility and decision-making speed characteristic of family-backed investment vehicles.
FMG Capital operates with a genuinely international investment mandate, seeking opportunities both within the United States and across global markets.[3] This geographic flexibility allows the firm to capitalize on regional market inefficiencies and identify compelling opportunities that geographically-constrained competitors might overlook.
The firm's explicit focus on alpha-driven returns distinguishes it from passive or index-tracking investment approaches. This means FMG Capital actively engages in value creation activities—operational improvements, strategic repositioning, market expansion, and management optimization—rather than relying primarily on financial leverage or market multiple expansion for returns.[2][3]
By concentrating on lower-middle market companies, FMG Capital operates in a segment characterized by less institutional competition than mega-cap private equity, yet with sufficient scale to support professional management and operational improvements. This positioning allows the firm to deploy meaningful capital while maintaining the ability to generate outsized returns through hands-on value creation.
Through its affiliation with First Midwest Group, FMG Capital benefits from access to complementary capabilities. The broader organization's experience across multiple asset classes and geographies provides deal sourcing advantages, operational expertise, and network effects that enhance investment outcomes.
FMG Capital operates within the broader private equity market during a period of significant structural evolution. The firm's emphasis on alpha-driven returns reflects a market-wide recognition that traditional leverage-based return models face headwinds from elevated interest rates and compressed valuation multiples. Investors increasingly demand that private equity firms demonstrate genuine operational value creation capabilities.
The lower-middle market segment where FMG Capital operates has become increasingly attractive to institutional capital as mega-cap private equity faces deployment challenges. This creates favorable conditions for disciplined, operationally-focused investors who can identify and improve quality businesses at reasonable valuations. The firm's global mandate positions it to benefit from capital flows seeking geographic diversification and exposure to emerging market opportunities.
Additionally, FMG Capital's integration with First Midwest Group's broader investment platform reflects a broader trend toward family office professionalization and institutionalization. Rather than remaining purely passive wealth holders, sophisticated family offices increasingly establish dedicated investment vehicles with professional management, formal governance, and specialized expertise—exactly the model FMG Capital represents.
FMG Capital represents a disciplined, operationally-focused approach to private equity investing in an era when financial engineering alone no longer generates competitive returns. The firm's combination of global reach, lower-middle market focus, and alpha-driven philosophy positions it well to capitalize on market dislocations and identify quality businesses trading at reasonable valuations.
Looking forward, FMG Capital's trajectory will likely be shaped by several forces: the normalization of interest rates and their impact on deal economics, the continued professionalization of family office investment vehicles, and the growing importance of operational value creation in private equity returns. As traditional leverage-based models face pressure, firms like FMG Capital that emphasize genuine business improvement and strategic positioning should find increasing investor demand.
The firm's future influence will depend on its ability to execute on its investment thesis—identifying lower-middle market opportunities globally, deploying capital efficiently, and generating the outsized returns that justify its alpha-driven positioning. Success in this endeavor would reinforce the broader market trend toward operationally-sophisticated private equity and validate the family office model as a competitive vehicle for institutional-quality investment management.
