Castle Rock Innovations announced it entered into a strategic partnership with Tactex F1 Private Equity Fund, Ferst Capital Partners and existing investors for the funding of its future growth.

The private placement, which includes a combination of equity and preferred shares, was led by Tactex F1 Private Equity Fund and Ferst Capital Partners, with follow on participation by existing investors Kamran Rafieyan, former founder and CIO of Lava Trading, and Maria Smith, CEO of Smith Capital Affiliates

Khash Sarrafi, CEO and co-founder of Castle Rock says about the private placement, “Castle Rock Innovations has partnered with over 100 clients in the past 15 months, including long term contracts with 10 of top 20 broker dealers in the retirement space, leading record keepers, TPAs, banks and insurance companies. Our clients see us as an extension of their team as we simplify many of the day to day tasks around the new regulation by collecting and reporting on their entire retirement plan universe. We have invested heavily to build a zero touch product so that our clients can focus on expanding their business. This new investment will allow us to maintain our momentum, further grow our team, and pursue aggressive development of new innovative ideas.”

Liam Cheung, portfolio manager of the Tactex F1 Private Equity Fund, said, “Castle Rock is the type of investment our firm seeks as this is a company that is well placed to capitalize on a specific need in a large market and which has considerable growth potential. We feel that AXIS is an excellent product that has resonated with its clients and successfully solves a problem that the retirement industry has been coping with since the introduction of new fee disclosure requirements. We are therefore delighted with the opportunity to invest in and join Castle Rock as a partner.”

Dominique Ferst, managing partner with Ferst Capital Partners, “We have been impressed by the team at Castle Rock and have seen the success they have had in introducing Axis to the retirement industry and thereby solving a real and important need. Furthermore, we see a shift whereby retirement industry participants begin to outsource critical services to specialized companies such as Castle Rock who make large investments in infrastructure to support new regulatory requirements. We are pleased to partner with an industry leader and are committed to supporting Castle Rock in its future growth”.

Investors Liam Cheung and Dominique Ferst will support the growth of Castle Rock by joining the board. As members of Castle Rock’s board they will extend their management expertise in helping Castle Rock meet its short and long term goals.