Ventures
Current Ventures
Beechtree Capital is currently participating in the following transactions.
Stellar3
Beechtree Capital is a co-founder and its Chairman, George Weiss, is the Executive Chairman of Stellar3 LLC, a Delaware private firm, with sustainability activities on four continents. Stellar3 is focused on highly innovative and successful Waste2Energy technologies and facilities worldwide. Stellar3 LLC is a world class waste transformation and environmental energy company. Stellar3 is a Decarbonizing Developer, working with partners to customize, finance, design, build and launch solutions, including Waste2Energy, Waste2Hydrogen and Green/Blue Hydrogen generation facilities.
Media Fusion International
Beechtree Capital is a co-founder and its Chairman George Weiss, is the Executive Chairman of Media Fusion International. Media Fusion International is a true pioneer and leader in the world of forward-thinking international media. MFI has formed and controls a unique global Alliance of media companies including TV networks, digital platforms, telecommunication companies and radio outlets. Through its Alliance, MFI distributes its own programming and contracted content from major producers internationally, and MFI has the capacity to deliver programming to 50% of the planet’s consumers.
ICT (Innovative Climactic Technologies)
Beechtree Capital was an early investor in this Arizona corporation providing important breakthrough technologies for the international HVAC and data storage industries. ICT provides proprietary innovative evaporative cooling technologies that greatly improve the profit margins and ecological aspects of the international HVAC and data center industries. Installations, large and small, have been placed in countries worldwide
Notable Past Projects
Bowen Smith Corp.
Beechtree Capital and related investors were the initial institutional investors in, and Mr. Weiss was the co-founder and Board Chairman of, Bowen Smith Corp., an early microwave radio communications tower company based in Houston, Texas. Under Mr. Weiss’ leadership during a number of equity and debt financings, the company merged with American Radio Systems and went public on the NYSE as American Tower Corp. The corporation, under Mr. Weiss’ leadership, pioneered a crucial aspect of the world-wide cellular industry – the radio communication tower technologies that made cellular communications possible. The company went from a 2001 valuation of $38 million to today’s value on the NYSE exceeding $80 billion. American Tower Corp. is currently the largest radio communications tower and related facilities company in the world.
XOS Digital
In 2007, Beechtree Capital led the first institutional equity financing of the then two-year-old XOS Digital, Inc., and Mr. Weiss became an active member of the firm’s Board of Directors and committee member. The firm, valued at $5 million when Beechtree Capital made its first investment, pioneered digital and media technology for the entire sports industry. XOS developed important associations with 480 sports partners, and its technologies are now widely used by over 900 teams. After a number of investment rounds involving major US venture capital firms, the company was successfully sold in 2017 with a $120 million+ valuation. The successor company continues to be a major player in the sports and cable television industries.
Nexsan Corp.
In the early 2000s, Beechtree Capital invested in and led a small group to reorganize and finance Nexsan Corp., a fledgling British company in the emerging data storage industry. Nexsan developed new and innovative data storage technologies for the mid and lower industry sectors. Mr. Weiss, as Board Chairman, oversaw the firm’s relocation to the United States, where it became headquartered in the Los Angeles area. Mr. Weiss served as Board Chair for 10 years and as co-chair with a past CEO of Lucent Technologies for two years. He also led a number of preferred stock and convertible debt funding rounds. The company merged with a NYSE firm in early 2013 with a nine-figure valuation.
VeriFides Technology, Inc.
Beechtree Capital, in 2010, co-founded, invested in and developed VeriFides Technology, Inc., which acquired innovative patents for digital media security. Mr. Weiss chaired the Board of Directors of VeriFides, which was based in New York City. The company technology, originally developed by the US Military, was scheduled to be marketed through a collaboration with General Dynamics Corp. The patents were successfully sold in 2011 to a major international patent firm formed and led by an early Microsoft CTO. Investors enjoyed a one year 3x return.
Forward Edge, Inc.
With Romeo Laurel, a past Bowen Smith and Beechtree Capital investing partner, Beechtree Capital was an early investor, and Mr. Weiss served on the Board of Forward Edge, Inc., a Houston-based drug-testing lab operating in association with the University of Texas. Forward Edge, Inc. became a leading company in its field in Texas, and the company was successfully sold in 2018.
Blue Chip Special Opportunity Funds V and VI
Mr. Weiss was a senior advisor and venture partner in Blue Chip Special Opportunity Funds V and VI, based in Cincinnati, OH. These two funds are late-stage venture investment funds which exceeded their stated goal of achieving a 200%+ return. They are part of the family of six Blue Chip Venture funds headed by a 35+-year associate of Mr. Weiss and a Beechtree Capital co-investor.
Beechtree Capital Predecessor
Beechtree Capital, LLC had its earliest beginnings in the early 1990s. Beechtree Capital’s founder and CEO, George M. Weiss, was one of two partners in Beechtree Capital Group, LLC, a predecessor firm which participated with international firms working in London, Malaysia and Tatarstan, a leading industrial Russian Republic, to guide the financing and modernization of that Republic’s largest chemical plant. The group advised and were pivotal in completing an initial $500 million financing from the U.S. Exim Bank, Citicorp and ABB Ltd. Early Beechtree Capital Group activities also included consulting on various transactions, including the public offering on the London Stock Exchange of Tatneft, Tatarstan’s leading oil company.