How Bow River Capital Scaled Without Scaling Costs

The Problem

Managing Growth Without Overextending Resources

Since 2019, Bow River Capital’s AUM has grown from under $800M to $3B, yet its staff remains under 50 employees. CFO Jamie Davis faced a common challenge among mid-market PE firms: how to manage rising operational complexities without diverting resources away from core investment priorities.

Back-office functions—particularly data subscriptions and travel spending—were consuming substantial costs, but the firm lacked the internal bandwidth to optimize them.

“We’ve been growing, but not increasing headcount at the same pace. With so much focus on delivering investment returns, there was a big blind spot—back-office spending that required time and attention we didn’t have. It was real money.” — Jamie Davis, CFO, Bow River Capital

The Solution

Leveraging Outsourced Procurement

To streamline costs and operations, Bow River turned to Concertiv’s procurement expertise in market data, travel, technology, and insurance. Instead of managing vendor negotiations in-house, the firm leveraged Concertiv’s group purchasing power, vendor insights, and contract audits to optimize spending.

Key areas of impact:
Data Subscription Audits – Identified underutilized services and reduced waste
Travel Cost Optimization – Secured lower rates through collective buying power
Strategic Procurement Support – Gained visibility into spend and eliminated inefficiencies

“We thought Concertiv would just help us negotiate better rates. But it’s much more than that—they’ve had a huge impact in helping us understand what we’ve bought and how we’re using it.”

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