Real estate and design-build company Clayco made big news last year when it moved its headquarters from St. Louis to Chicago. Now the company is again making an impact in its new home city, launching Treehouse Adventures in Chicago, a private investment firm designed to provide financial backing to start-up companies.
In the late fall of this year, Clayco will provide Treehouse Adventures with its own office space at the company’s Chicago headquarters at 35 E. Upper Wacker Drive. The partners running the investment firm will work here alongside the entrepreneurs that Treehouse Adventures is funding.
Bob Clark, chairman and chief executive officer of Clayco, said that Treehouse Adventures is Clayco’s way of boosting the odds that entrepreneurs with innovative ideas receive the help they need to bring these ideas to the marketplace.
“Treehouse Adventures feeds my entrepreneurial appetite,” Clark said, in a written statement. “It’s a great opportunity for us to work with cutting-edge companies in all fields, and I value associating my company and my employees with people who are turning creative concepts into new businesses.”
Treehouse Adventures has already made its first investment, providing financial backing to Ventana, a Chicago-based building-enclosure company that designs and installs glass curtain-wall facade systems.
Treehouse Adventures provide more than capital to companies like Ventana. Depending on the needs of each individual company in which it invests, Treehouse will provide back-office infrastructure, sales support and physical office space. Treehouse can also help start-ups find the talented workers they need to grow.
“This is a value-add for many teams we partner with,” said Michael Latiner, president and principal of Treehouse, in a written statement.
