News & Insights

Our team has long held deep expertise and transaction experience in niche segments across a variety of industries. This allows us to provide the most innovative and expertise-driven service for our clients, as well as to align the right individuals within our network across industries of common focus.

However, we felt we could take this strategy to the next level. At the start of 2020, we restructured our firm to better align with our bankers’ exact specialties—moving from a general industry focus across a broader team to a sub-vertical industry structure, with each banker focusing tightly on their top specific segments of an industry.

Think of our new strategy as being an inch wide and a mile deep into specific sectors.

Our Consumer team, for example, shifted into a sub-vertical focus on Experiential Retail, Direct to Consumer & Digitally Native Brands, and Residential Consumer Services within our redefined Consumer & Retail coverage group. Now independent from the Consumer team, our Food, Beverage, & Agribusiness group covers the sub-verticals of Branded Food, Companion Animal, Ingredients, Contract Manufacturing, and Seafood, among others. Similar shifts occurred in all of our industry groups, where each banker is focused on their core sub-vertical expertise supported by specific transaction experience.

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, the business and deal environment is changing dramatically across all industries, with nuanced effects within each industry and its sub-verticals. Certain sub-verticals will come back quickly, others will take time, and some may never come back in the same way.

A company owner’s industry and sub-vertical are paramount to the defensive and offensive actions they should consider taking in the next 90 days. Thus, this environment underscores the value of our sub-vertical focus—positioning our team to effectively serve company owners and fellow business advisors in navigating their way through this period and beyond.

Throughout this unprecedented time, Cascadia’s team has continued to nurture our deep relationships with the complete buyer and investor universe for the clients we serve—understanding COVID-19’s impacts on operations, revenue opportunities, potential transaction timing, and valuations—and appropriately setting expectations for all parties to help ensure desired client outcomes.

Through these conversations, we have gathered valuable information to share with you. In this special communication, the first in a series, we are pleased to bring you the following insights by a selection of Cascadia bankers focused on “What’s Now and What’s Next” within their areas of focus. Please click to read more from each:

Select Sub-Vertical Expertise

As you navigate these uncertain times, our entire team is available as a resource to you. We’ve highlighted below select sub-vertical expertise of our team— sectors we expect to be particularly active in the coming months. Our full industry coverage and sub-vertical expertise is outlined on our industry pages.