In a recent educational webinar hosted by Kingscrowd, Chris Lustrino explored private credit investment opportunities with Nash Roberts, VP of Carofin, and Jeremiah Smith, CRO of SnippetSentry. This insightful discussion highlighted the benefits of private credit investing, how Carofin meticulously structures deals for investors, and offered an in-depth look into SnippetSentry’s innovative text message capture technology and its compelling debt financing opportunity.
What You’ll Learn:
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What makes private credit attractive in today’s market
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How Carofin sources, vets, and structures credit offerings
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Key factors that impact risk, return, and deal terms
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A real-world example: SnippetSentry’s growth and capital need
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How to participate in direct private credit opportunities
Speakers
Jeremiah Smith – Jeremiah Smith is the CRO at SnippetSentry, where he focuses on building strategic partnerships and driving sustainable growth. He brings 20+ years of experience leading revenue teams across high-growth startups and established companies. Jeremiah is passionate about connecting the right people and ideas to move businesses forward.
Nash Roberts – Nash has been with Carofin since 2012 and leads the firm’s marketing strategy. He brings private markets capital raising experience across multiple industries, issuer stages, and asset classes.
Q&A Highlights:
Q: What differentiates Carofin from typical equity crowdfunding platforms?
A (Nash Roberts): Carofin operates more like an investment bank, carefully vetting each deal, actively managing investor relationships, and typically handling a smaller, highly curated set of offerings annually. This hands-on approach ensures each investment is meticulously managed.
Q: What does SnippetSentry do, and why is it important?
A (Jeremiah Smith): SnippetSentry provides native text message capture technology critical for regulated industries like financial services, ensuring compliance with SEC and FINRA regulations. The solution captures texts without requiring users to change their communication habits, addressing a major industry pain point and significantly reducing regulatory risk.
Q: How far along is SnippetSentry in commercialization?
A (Jeremiah Smith): The company has quickly commercialized, growing from around $48k in ARR to approximately $2 million in ARR within 12-15 months, driven by strong client adoption and partnerships. They currently serve triple-digit clients and anticipate reaching profitability mid-year.
Q: What is the current investment opportunity offered through Carofin?
A (Nash Roberts): Carofin is facilitating a $2.5 million debt offering for SnippetSentry at a 14% annual yield, structured as senior secured promissory notes maturing in April 2027. Early investors receive warrants providing additional upside potential upon the company’s eventual acquisition or exit.
Q: How are the invested funds being utilized by SnippetSentry?
A (Jeremiah Smith): Funds will fuel growth primarily in sales and customer success teams, enabling SnippetSentry to support rapid customer adoption, enhance product capabilities, and expand into broader market segments, particularly in sales intelligence.
Q: Who are potential acquirers for SnippetSentry in the future?
A (Jeremiah Smith): Likely acquirers include large private equity firms active in compliance and governance software, as well as major enterprise CRM providers like Salesforce and HubSpot, which see strategic value in integrating native text message capture technology.
Q: What is Carofin’s fee structure for investors?
A (Nash Roberts): Investors pay no direct fees. Carofin’s fees are paid entirely by the issuer (SnippetSentry), ensuring the 14% yield is net to investors.
Q: How does SnippetSentry handle data privacy?
A (Jeremiah Smith): SnippetSentry’s system securely transmits texts in real-time without storing message content, thereby maintaining user privacy and avoiding additional security risks associated with data storage.