Forty Under 40: Garrett Levey

Throughout his career, Garrett Levey has always worked with software companies.

The Boston native started in software investment banking and software growth equity investing before pivoting into a hybrid role of investing and operating software companies.

In 2013, Levey began as an investment banker in Deutsche Bank’s software investment banking group, working with large public software companies and private equity funds looking to invest in and acquire software companies.

As a software investor, Levey has focused on finding companies looking to scale that have a strong foundation, happy customers and great talent. Bentonville software firm Nuqleous checked the boxes.

“What was exciting was they were solving some unique challenges for their customers, many of which have offices not just across the country but a big presence in Bentonville,” he said. “They had … happy customers and had built a great product that solved that need that kept the customers happy.”

In July 2023, Blue Ladder Capital, the firm Levey and Bill Kloza founded earlier last year, announced a $26 million investment in Nuqleous. As part of the deal, Levey and Kloza became co-CEOs. Since then, Nuqleous has acquired multiple technology companies, including Shiloh Technologies of Rogers, and nearly tripled its size.

“Our thesis with these acquisitions was to bring together best-in-class industry domain expertise and solutions and be able to package that together, bring the best of those companies together and deliver that to our customers,” he said. “I’ve done 20 of these acquisitions in my career. These have been trending the most positive so far.”

The company has more than 500 customers, including Anheuser-Busch, Kraft Heinz, Nestle and Tyson Foods. Nuqleous has about 100 employees.