-- Cutting Horse Closes Oversubscribed $75M Fund I

-- Cutting Horse Closes Oversubscribed $75M Fund I

Growth Capital for
Enduring Brands

Operator led growth equity to support exceptional founders building lasting consumer companies

We’ve been in the founder seat. Multiple times. We’ve scaled consumer businesses to hundreds of millions of revenue and we’ve created billions of dollars in enterprise value. We understand that business is more than spreadsheets and power points. It’s about people, process, grit and discipline. 

Why we created Cutting Horse

As founders, we saw a gap in the market for true operator-minded institutional capital in early-stage consumer brands

We sought to leverage our deep operating experience building high-growth consumer businesses, combined with our track-record investing in and advising early-stage founders

We offer a unique approach and value proposition to founders. Our emerging growth equity investment style sits between bootstrapping (sustainable & slow) and venture capital (high-growth & high-risk), leveraging the merits of each

We help founders understand and derisk the path to real cash liquidity, because at the end of the day that’s what matters, not valuation marks, headlines or amount of capital raised

Our approach

We partner with founders to provide capital, strategic guidance, and hands-on operational support rooted in real founder experience. We make minority growth investments of $1–10 million into consumer product and service businesses generating $1–20 million in revenue, backing exceptional founders building high-growth, capital-efficient companies designed to endure.

    • Revenue $1-20M

    • High-growth

    • Strong margins & unit economics

    • Bootstrapped or history of capital efficiency

    • $1-10M minority growth investments

    • Seed, Series A or Emerging Growth stages

    • Lead or Co-lead

    • Health & Wellness

    • Food & Beverage

    • Pet & Animal Health

    • Home & Lifestyle

    • Personal Care & Beauty

    • Consumer Products (including CPG, DTC, retail, omni-channel, subscription, vertically integrated brands, other consumables)

    • Consumer Services (including four-wall location based, franchisee / franchisor, de novo, multi-unit, home service, tech-enabled or digital service)

    • We are operators who have been in the founder seat. We understand what it takes to scale from $1M to $500M+

    • We help founders desrisk the path to liquidity. We do not play the power-law game, every company in our portfolio matters

    • We run a high-conviction, concentrated portfolio. We only partner with a select group of founders each year

At Cutting Horse, we’re operators turned investors who believe enduring brands are built by exceptional founders. Having started, scaled, and invested in high-growth consumer businesses ourselves, we know firsthand the challenges and inflection points that define the journey.

We founded Cutting Horse to partner closely with leadership teams and to provide more than capital. We offer practical experience, strategic guidance, and long-term alignment to help founders build category-defining companies the right way.

Team

Michael Wystrach

Founder & Managing Partner

Chris Protasewich 

Founder & Managing Partner
Meet the Team

Portfolio

  • Tube of Super Teeth probiotic mineral toothpaste with Hydroxyapatite in mint flavor on a bathroom counter.

    SuperTeeth

  • The phrase 'BETTER WILD' written in the sand at the beach.

    BetterWild

  • A woman in a beige tank top is holding a light blue water bottle with black text that reads 'feel good.'

    Feel Goods

  • Logo with a multicolored circular design and the word 'Cassi' in white text on a black background.

    Cassi

  • Reception desk with a white countertop and a modern touchscreen monitor, set against a green vertically striped wall with an arched window and the Petfolk logo on the window.

    Petfolk

  • A box labeled 'Freshly' on a kitchen counter with three meal containers labeled 'Steak Peppercorn,' 'Chicken Livorno,' and 'Southwest Chicken Bowl,' along with plates of cooked food, a bowl of lemons and limes, and a cutting board with jars and a plant in the background.

    Freshly

  • Empty gym with green artificial turf floor, gym equipment along the left wall, mirrors on the right wall, and a large word 'hustle' painted in white on the floor.

    Lynx Fitness Club

  • A pink colored glass, a black Promix pre-workout packet labeled Cherry Lime, and a silver spoon are placed on a wooden surface.

    Promix Nutrition

  • Two Labrador puppies feeding from bowls, with a box labeled 'Butternut Box' behind them and dog food bags on top.

    Butternut Box

  • A hand with a pile of cream or moisturizer on the back, holding a container labeled "beam the fixer" cream, against a yellow-orange gradient background.

    Beam

  • A bottle of Ghia bitter aperitif with a dark background and light reflecting off the top of the bottle.

    Ghia

  • Logo for SOAR Autism Center featuring three colorful paper airplanes with dotted trails.

    Soar Autism Center

See Portfolio