Kapish Haldia

Some kids go to summer camp, where they're immersed in nature. Kapish Haldia spent his childhood summers immersed in emeralds, rubies, sapphires and jade. As the son of Indian immigrants who owned a jewelry manufacturing and distribution company in Los Angeles, this hands-on training prepared Kapish for the intricacies of launching, managing and growing a small business. From a young age, he was destined to become an entrepreneur.

 

Matriculating at New York University's Stern School of Business at just 16, Kapish dove into the next facet of his practical skills training, joining a number of campus organizations and later leading the two largest ones, as portfolio manager for Stern Investment Analysis Group and as president for the Inter-Club Council, overseeing all student organization budgets and operations.

 

He also dove feet first into investing, creating NYU's first investment fund and managing a team of student investors, based on what he'd learned during his summers at Dignity Jewels. And while Kapish may have missed out on the camp experience, he more than made up for it by studying abroad in Florence, Italy, and traveling to 25 countries during his college career.

 

Upon graduation, Kapish brought his considerable expertise to Citigroup, where he'd interned during college. As a member of the Global Industrial Group, he worked on mergers and acquisitions for clients in the Aerospace & Defense and Paper & Packaging sectors, including a number of blue-chip accounts, and was fortunate to work alongside some of the best investment bankers in the business, such as Kevin Cox, Scott Baird, and Ben DiFabio.

 

With this strong introduction to the business world under his belt, Kapish exited Citigroup and dove into his passion for entrepreneurship and investing, becoming a co-founder of Highview Capital, an L.A.-based middle market private equity fund. He helped establish the firm's foundational systems and templates, and managed acquisitions worth up to half a billion dollars. During his six years with Highview, Kapish worked on almost 50 acquisitions, consolidating the acquired companies into six platform companies, and served on the board for half of Highview's portfolio.

 

Then it was time for another pivot. Late in 2022, Kapish left Highview to launch his own investment platform, focused on small- to mid-size family-owned businesses in industries ripe for consolidation, such as residential and commercial HVAC. His joy is helping families and founders both scale during ownership, and maximize value at sale.

 

Beyond this new venture, Kapish Haldia is working to develop a venue in Venice, California, that will unite his core passions for community, music and food — while, of course, expanding his investment opportunities. His parents' jewelry business was the best "summer camp" ever for this innate entrepreneur.