Rick Defieux

Standard Diversified, Inc. is a holding company, which owns and operates subsidiaries in a variety of industries, including other tobacco products, insurance, and outdoor advertising. It operates through the following segments: Smokeless Products, Smoking Products, and NewGen Products. The Smokeless Product segment manufactures and markets moist snuff and contracts for and markets chewing tobacco products. The Smoking Products segment imports and markets cigarette papers, tubes, and related products; imports and markets finished cigars, MYO cigar tobaccos, and cigar wraps; and processes, packages, and markets pipe tobaccos. The NewGen Products segment trades e-cigarettes, e-liquids, vaporizers, and other related products; and distributes a wide assortment of vaping products to non-traditional retail outlets via VaporBeast and Vapor Shark. The company was founded by Martha C. Reider, Anne Cavanaugh and Richard C. Birkmeyer in 1990 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Edison Venture Fund LP invests in technology companies located in the US. The fund targets companies operating in the fields of application & system software, environmental technology & services, healthcare products & services, communications products & services, computer equipment & services, education technology, electronic components & systems, office & factory automation, biotechnology equipment & services, analytical instrumentation, specialty chemicals & materials, financial services, consumer products & services, and energy & agricultural technologies. It provides financing for expansion/later stage, MBOs and special situations such as sale of family owned businesses, divestitures, spinouts. It selectively invests in start-ups and also considers secondary stock purchases from existing shareholders.

Merlin Partners LLP provides investment consulting services. Its areas of focus include corporate finance; equity and financings; mergers, acquisitions, and disposals; and refinancing and recapitalization. The company was founded by Matthew Clarke and Grant Boyce in 2002 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

BVP Partners LLC (BVP Partners) is a venture capital firm founded in the year 2003. The firm headquarters in Princeton.

SJF Management LLC (SJF Ventures) is a venture capital firm founded in 1999 by Rick J. Defleux and Dave Kirkpatrick. The firm is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

Airxchange, Inc. manufactures energy recovery ventilation products and components. It supplies rotary energy recovery components to original equipment manufacturers in the heating, ventilating and air conditioning industry. The company was founded by Donald F. Steele in 1982 and is headquartered in Rockland, MA.

Founded in 1981, Allegra Partners LLC is a venture capital firm located in New York City.

Earthrise Capital Partners LLC (Earthrise Capital Partners) is a venture capital firm founded in 2007 by Ann Partlow and James LoGerfo Paul. The firm is headquartered in New York.