Bringing Value to the Surface
Upwelling: A process in which cold, nutrient-rich water from the ocean depths rises to the surface.
Founded in 2011, Upwelling Capital Group LLC is an investment advisor focused on providing advisory and capital solutions to premier institutional investors and private capital managers. The Principals have cumulatively overseen over $50 billion in global private equity commitments and have successfully managed over $5 billion in legacy, tail-end commitments, transfers and workouts for leading institutional investors.
Our Team
Operations
Industry Advisors
Sebastian Bretschneider
Sebastian Bretschneider is working as interim Operating Partner for Hedge Fund and Private Equity portfolio companies and has been a performance improvement and corporate restructuring executive for over 15 years. Between 2002 and 2013 he worked for AlixPartners, where he led the firm’s Private Equity advisory team and built their operations in the Middle East out of Dubai. There he served a number of Sovereign Wealth Funds, investment firms, corporations and governments. Sebastian is a Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP) and has extensive experience with management teams of Private Equity portfolio companies across several industries, particularly focused on performance improvement and turnarounds of distressed companies in the USA, Europe and the Middle East.
Sebastian started his career in the Chemicals industry and also worked in banking and management consulting. Prior employers include Helm AG in Hamburg, The Boston Consulting Group in Zurich, and Roland Berger in Zurich and New York. Sebastian holds a Masters degree in Economics from University of Zurich (magna cum laude) and is alumnus of Jerusalem, Ramallah and Freiburg universities. Sebastian speaks German, English, French, Hebrew, Arabic and Spanish and resides in New York.
Lachmi-Niwas 'LN' Sadani
Lachmi-Niwas Sadani is Founder and Managing Partner of Lensbridge Capital. He has held several leadership roles in the alternative assets industry over the last 15 years, including co-founder/Head of Asian office of Ardian Investments, Chief Investment Officer for Asian private equity/infrastructure at the Nomura Group and Head of Capital Solutions/Investor Relations at Terra Firma (Nomura affiliate). He started his private equity career at the LBO team of Apax Partners in London and prior to that worked for several years in management consulting.
Mr. Sadani holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a B Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He is a citizen of Singapore and a recipient of the coveted National Talent Scholar award from the Government of India. He has also served on the Board of Make-A-Wish International Foundation, USA.
Michael 'Mike' Dutton
Michael “Mike” Dutton has 21 years of global private equity industry experience in emerging developed markets. Mr. Dutton is Founding Partner at eGateway Capital, leading a team of growth equity investors and M&A advisors. Previously, he served as Senior Advisor to Capital Group after serving as Chief Operating Officer for seven years until 2018, where his responsibilities included helping lead the successful fund restructuring and wind-down of a $4 billion AUM global emerging market direct private equity program. Prior to Capital Group, Mr. Dutton was Senior Portfolio Manager for Alternative Investments at CalPERS, leading the coverage and evaluation of mega and mid-market US private equity firms. He previously served as CFO Europe for the Carlyle Group and spent his time between D.C. and Paris working closely with Founders and Fund Heads to develop 6 funds on 2 continents and creating fund management functions for international funds in Europe and Asia.
Mr. Dutton began his career as a Senior Accountant for Arthur Andersen before going on to be VP of Finance for Elsevier Science. Mr. Dutton received his BBA with a concentration in accounting from the College of William & Mary. Additionally, he received his CPA designation from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Henri Moudi
Henri Moudi is co-founder and Managing Director of Mission Creek Capital Partners, Inc. Previously, Mr. Moudi developed and led Thomas Weisel Partners’ (Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.) private equity distribution management platform for over a decade and successfully managed over $2.5 billion in concentrated distribution exposures for some of the largest, global institutional private equity investors such as CalPERS and the State of North Carolina Retirement System. Henri has substantial expertise in evaluating, managing, hedging and monetizing concentrated, low-cost basis stock positions. Henri was also previously a Manager, Investments at Autodesk Ventures, where he sourced, evaluated and executed multiple early-stage private equity investments for the world’s fourth largest software company. Prior to Autodesk, Mr. Moudi was an Equity Analyst and Portfolio Manager at Harris Bretall Sullivan & Smith LLC, a $7 billion asset manager. Henri was also previously associated with The World Bank, where he contributed to the quantitative portfolio management of the Bank's $30 billion global fixed-income portfolio.
Mr. Moudi received his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his BS from Cornell University. He also holds a JD from Boston University and is a member of the State of California and District of Columbia Bars. Henri is also a holder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and a member of the CFA Society of San Francisco.
Fabiana Andrade
Fabiana Andrade’s 28-year career spans several leadership roles in the asset management industry, including the last 13 years in private equity and late-stage VC. She is currently working on a confidential new venture.
Fabiana has held several senior roles in advisory, business development, fund and deal selection and origination, and most recently as a Partner of a late-stage VC/growth equity firm headquartered in Brazil. Previous roles include leading Credit Suisse Private Fund Group’s activities in Latin America and acting as Director of Business Development and Strategy at LAVCA.
Fabiana serves as an advisor and mentor to multiple women-led entrepreneurs, to government and industry development programs. She has been appointed as member of the innovation working group to the largest industry trade association in Brazil (“Confederação Nacional da Indústria, “CNI”); Innovation committee member for women-led science startups programs by Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, advisory and investment committee member to NESsT technology and social impact funds, among others.
Fabiana holds an MBA from Thurderbird Global School of Management, and a post-grad Private Equity and Venture Capital from Harvard Business School.
She is a Brazilian national, based in the US for the last 18 years.
Sebastian Miralles
Sebastián is the Founder and Managing Partner of Tempest Capital. Throughout his career he has participated in 37 transaction totaling US$2.3 billion. He previously was the Managing Director of the Venture Capital and Mezzanine Division of Fondo de Fondos, leading investments in LP interest, direct equity and mezzanine deals. Sebastián also played a transformative role as the Principal coordinating the Private Equity team of CAF Development Bank of Latin America. Prior to CAF, Sebastián worked with the Global Value Equity team of Morgan Stanley and as a senior consultant in the Financial Services Group of Kroll. He earned an MBA from IESE Business School and was valedictorian in his undergraduate class in international business at Universidad Panamericana. Sebastián holds both the CFA and the CAIA designations. He is a founding member of the CFA Society of Mexico, advisor to CONCAMIN, advisor to the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, and a member of Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.
Gary Lew
Gary Lew advises and consults in the aviation finance industry as the founder of Capitola Partners. He also lectures finance, management and accounting at the University of California Davis, Graduate School of Management; St. Mary's College and Holy Names University
Previously a principal and executive vice president of finance and capital markets at Vx Capital Partners from 2002 to 2020, Lew was part of the founding team at Vx Capital Partners as its first employee and has over 20 years of experience in asset finance and investment management. He led corporate finance, capital markets and administration and was primarily responsible for sourcing and structuring equity and debt capital to support the VXF investment fund and portfolio transactions. Vx Capital invested over $1.5 billion in aviation-focused assets and Lew led Vx efforts to raise its first institutional equity fund and executed an evolutionary asset-backed securitization.
Lew's prior experience includes business development and investment analysis as a director at GATX Capital, fixed income research at the California Public Employees Retirement System, investment management at Merrill Lynch and appointments in both the Governor’s Office and U.S. Senate.
Gary holds a B.A. from UCLA and an MBA from the University of California at Davis. He currently serves on the UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s Dean’s Advisory Council and has served on the Graduate School of Management’s Alumni Association Board of Directors (GSMAA), and was a recent recipient of the GSMAA’s Outstanding Service Award.
Kevin Nee
Kevin Nee is a seasoned executive who has led a number of high-growth, new businesses across private markets and broader investment management organizations. His roles have included CEO and Chairman of Covariance Capital Management, the $2.5 billion outsourced CIO solutions provider for Teachers Insurance Annuity Association of America’s (TIAA) nonprofit clients; President of Wilshire Private Markets, the $5 billion private markets division of Wilshire Associates, where he developed and drove strategy across a global platform; and Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager of Quellos Group’s private markets division, which was later sold to Blackrock, where he became a senior member of their $6 billion private markets team. Earlier in his career, Kevin spent time with Invesco Private Capital and Capital Z Partners, where he helped to seed private equity and venture capital managers. Kevin earned a BSBA from Villanova University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.