On March 5, 2025, Jean-Pierre “JP” Conte announced the formation of Lupine Crest Capital, a family office built on more than three decades of experience transforming middle-market companies into industry leaders. The launch marked a new chapter for a private equity veteran who had spent his career identifying promising businesses and providing the capital and guidance needed to accelerate their growth.
“We are entering a period of exceptional growth for American entrepreneurship and innovation,” J-P Conte said at the announcement. “There is no better moment than right now to invest in businesses we believe in and give them the boost they need to turn from good to great. Lupine Crest Capital is an exciting new avenue to continue my life’s work of helping companies achieve their full potential.”
The family office, headquartered in Aspen, Colorado, focuses on private equity, real estate, and venture investments across sectors where Conte has demonstrated expertise throughout his career: healthcare, financial services, software, and industrial technology. Lupine Crest targets companies generating revenues between $50 million and $500 million—businesses large enough to have proven their models but still positioned for substantial growth.
A Career Built on Operational Transformation
J-P Conte’s path to founding his own family office began with an economics degree from Colgate University in 1985 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1989. He started his finance career at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York before entering the private equity field, where he rose to leadership positions within three years.
Over the following decades, Conte built a track record helping lead a San Francisco-based private equity firm that grew from approximately $100 million to $49 billion in assets under management. His approach emphasized partnerships with strong management teams and sustained operational improvements rather than financial engineering alone—a philosophy he now applies through Lupine Crest Capital.
The timing of the family office launch coincides with broader shifts in how wealthy families deploy capital. According to Citi’s 2025 Global Family Office Report, 70% of family offices made direct investments in private companies over the past 12 months. Private equity allocations among family offices have climbed to approximately 27% of portfolios, according to J.P. Morgan’s 2024 Global Family Office Report—the highest allocation among alternative asset classes.
Half of family offices now plan to execute direct deals over the next two years, according to research from Bastiat Partners and Kharis Capital, bypassing traditional fund structures in favor of hands-on ownership.
Early Moves and International Expansion
Lupine Crest Capital wasted little time putting capital to work. By May 2025, the family office had joined eB Capital’s investment in Orizon Valorização de ResÃduos, a Brazilian waste-to-energy company. The R$640 million (approximately $115 million USD) transaction supported Orizon’s expansion of biomethane initiatives across its 17 facilities throughout Brazil.
“Orizon has revolutionized the ability to not only process waste, but to profitably create renewable raw materials that serve as substitutes for fossil fuels,” J-P Conte remarked about the investment.
Three months later, Lupine Crest led a $30 million investment in Chariot & Castle Seguros, a property and casualty insurance brokerage operating in Colombia as Grupo ilao. The company had acquired 21 individual brokerages across seven cities over two years, positioning it among the top five insurance brokerages in the country.
“I founded Lupine Crest Capital with the vision to invest in promising companies and propel them to the next level,” J-P Conte said of the Colombian transaction. “Grupo ilao is the perfect example of this vision coming to life.”
These early investments demonstrate the family office’s willingness to pursue opportunities beyond U.S. borders. PwC research shows that North American family offices have increased domestic transactions in recent years, though cross-border activity has picked up in regions like Latin America.
Connecting Investment with Philanthropy
Jean-Pierre Conte has structured Lupine Crest Capital to operate alongside the JP Conte Family Foundation, which he established in 2017 following his father’s death from Parkinson’s disease. The foundation directs resources toward education, environmental conservation, and medical research—causes tied directly to formative experiences in Conte’s own life.
As a first-generation college graduate, Conte created the Conte First Generation Fund in 2017 to support students at 11 major universities, including his alma maters Colgate and Harvard. His $25 million gift to Colgate University in 2025—one of the largest single donations in the institution’s history—funded a new social center on the university’s Lower Campus.
The foundation’s focus on medical research emerged from personal loss. J-P Conte directed $5 million to UCSF in late 2024 to establish two endowed professorships in neurology, both dedicated to Parkinson’s disease and neurodegenerative disorders. His father, Pierre Conte, had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 75 and passed away in 2017.
“UCSF is an incredible place—the #1 recipient of NIH funding, with some of the most highly regarded clinician-scientists working to improve treatments for Parkinson’s and other diseases,” Conte has said of the gift.
The parallel structures of Lupine Crest Capital and the JP Conte Family Foundation allow J-P Conte to pursue both financial returns and social impact. According to the UBS 2024 Global Family Office Report, 50% of family offices surveyed indicated they were likely to invest in green technologies over the next two to three years.
A Philosophy of Patient Capital
The family office model offers advantages that traditional private equity funds cannot easily replicate. Without the pressure of fixed fund lifecycles or external limited partner expectations, family offices can hold investments longer and pursue opportunities requiring extended time horizons.
Lupine Crest Capital targets companies that will experience growth of three times revenue and EBITDA over investment periods of five to seven years, according to the firm’s website. This patient capital approach suits businesses undergoing complex operational transformations—the kind of work Jean-Pierre Conte built his career executing.
For a private equity veteran who spent 35 years helping companies reach their potential, the family office offers a fitting platform to continue that work on his own terms.
Click here to read more about J-P Conte and Lupine Crest Capital.
Related Post
