Knollgate is a VC-caliber partner built to prevent further dilution for founder-led consumer brands — pairing growth capital with the strategic horsepower, operating playbook, and network of a top-tier venture firm.
Every other financing path adds dilution. This is the only one that undoes it.
Every new retailer, every new channel, every meaningful purchase order requires capital months before revenue arrives. The faster you grow, the wider the gap between what you spend and what you collect.
A breakout PO routinely demands more capital than the business has on hand — and asks you to fund it six to nine months before a dollar of revenue arrives.
Raw materials, finished inventory, freight, slotting fees, and shelf time all come due before retailers pay on net 60 or 90 terms. The order is bigger than your balance sheet — which means the opportunity is no longer a question of demand. It's a question of capital you don't yet have.
Here's what really happens between accepting a big order and getting paid for it.
Every funding path on the table today asks growing brands to give up something permanent — equity, governance, margin, or control — in exchange for capital they need today. None of them ever give it back. Knollgate does.
Asset-based lenders underwrite your past, not your future. They can't fund the purchase order that will define your next year.
Fixed amortization and cash interest payments drain cash exactly when you need it most — covenants prevent you from truly leaning into a great opportunity.
Fast capital with effective APRs that quietly crush margin. Daily auto-debits make your lender first in line at the register.
Permanent equity dilution and board governance for a temporary working-capital need. Your timeline becomes their fund cycle.
Banks underwrite trailing financials and historical receivables. They can't fund forward purchase orders or growth you haven't realized yet.
Your biggest opportunities create the widest gaps. A game-changing PO from a major retailer demands capital your bank won't underwrite — because you haven't booked it yet.
ABLs are designed to serve steady-state businesses, not brands accelerating into new channels. The structure rewards staying the same size — not doubling.
The moment you accelerate spend to meet a major retail opportunity, you risk tripping covenants that trigger defaults — designed for steady-state, not scale.
A fixed repayment schedule doesn't care that Q4 is your biggest buying season. You're sending cash out the door at the moment you need it most.
If your business outperforms and you want to refinance at better rates, you'll pay for the privilege. You're locked into a structure that doesn't flex with success.
Capital in 48 hours, at effective APRs that quietly crush your margins. Factor rates look manageable until you annualize them.
Auto-debits pull directly from cash flow — daily or weekly. During a growth push when every dollar matters, your lender is first in line at the register.
Short repayment windows mean you're refinancing constantly. Each time you solve today's gap, you create tomorrow's.
A typical venture round brings in two to five investors, each with board seats, voting rights, and conflicting priorities. No single voice has a majority.
You want to scale prudently. They need you to spend aggressively to hit venture-scale returns. Your sustainable 30% growth isn't interesting — they need 300%.
The venture model is built on a portfolio — one winner out of ten. They can afford to lose. You can't. This is your company, your employees, your name.
Every other financing path adds dilution. This is the only one that undoes it.
The best founders deserve a true partner — someone who has scaled businesses, opened doors, and seen around the corners. Knollgate brings that caliber of counsel alongside the only capital structure built to undo dilution rather than compound it. No permanent equity. No board takeover. No regret.
Every other financing path adds dilution. This is the only one that undoes it.
We partner with established consumer brands that have proven product-market fit and are entering a defining growth phase. Our mandate is deliberately narrow — fewer relationships, deeper engagement, and the only capital structure built to undo dilution rather than compound it.
You have proven the brand. You are winning retail. What you want is a non-dilutive, VC-caliber partner who has done this before — and a capital structure that undoes dilution rather than piling it on. We work through the balance sheet, not the cap table.
From emerging brands hitting their first national chain to scaled operators expanding category by category — we capitalize the inflection.
Shelf-stable, non-seasonal, with strong value-to-weight economics.
Masstige price points with recession-resilient consumer demand.
Evergreen SKUs with low obsolescence and trend-cycle risk.
High-frequency repeat purchase and demonstrably low churn.
Knollgate is a relationship business. You work directly with the principal — not an associate, not a committee. The same person who underwrites your facility is the one who picks up the phone.
Greg started Knollgate after watching one too many good brands hand over equity just to bridge a timing gap.
He'd spent about seventeen years in finance by then. Most recently he was Chief Investment Officer at Runway Growth Capital, where he helped grow the portfolio past $2 billion across more than 70 investments. Earlier on he worked at J.P. Morgan and the credit firm HPS Investment Partners, and picked up Rising Star nods from Venture Capital Journal and Private Debt Investor along the way.
Again and again he met founder-led consumer brands with real demand that were selling equity just to cover inventory and float their receivables. FlexScale is his answer to that. The idea is simple: a financing product should mature alongside your business and give you credit for the growth you're funding. The line scales as the business does and pays down as inventory sells through — capital that works on the same clock the company does.
Greg brings the rare mix of operator and investor. As an operator he was a key member of the executive team that took Runway public, stepped in as acting CEO of the public company, and helped guide the company through its sale to BC Partners. As an investor he has sat on the boards of several portfolio companies, advising CEOs and their teams through the calls that actually move a business. Founders get both vantage points in one partner.