House Small Business Subcommittee hears mixed evidence on private equity’s role in Main Street growth

Chairwoman Van Dyne convened the House Small Business Subcommittee hearing titled “Investing in America and how private equity empowers Main Street,” opening a wide-ranging discussion on the role private equity, venture capital and related federal programs play in financing and scaling small businesses.

The hearing featured three witnesses who described distinct experiences with private investment. Jordan Bastable, cofounder and managing director of Longwater Opportunities, said private investors often bring operational support alongside capital and rejected the idea that private equity only profits from business failures: "The idea that private equity succeeds when businesses fail is simply false," he told the panel. Sarah Fields, chief executive officer of Jetta Corporation, a U.S.-based bathtub manufacturer in Edmond, Oklahoma, described a partnership with a lower-middle-market private equity firm that she credited with raising production capacity, improving efficiency and enabling an acquisition and onshoring plans. "Within the first year of their support, we saw a 10% increase in production capacity and an 8% efficiency gain," Fields said. Sennifer Mendoza, cofounder and general partner of Mendoza Ventures, urged better access to capital for underrepresented founders and defended smaller funds that sustain local entrepreneurial ecosystems, saying her firm has "deployed over $30,000,000 into the American economy" and sustained portfolio companies that created jobs and revenue.

Why it matters: Members framed the…