Veteran Tampa banker raises $1 million for new venture

Jerry Campbell, former chairman and CEO of HomeBancorp, has launched a new financial services business in Tampa.

The company, CapTec USA LLC, raised $1 million in an equity offering, according to a Jan. 24 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

CapTec is one of six Tampa and St. Petersburg companies that raised a total of $21.4 million in January, SEC filings show.

Jerry D. Campbell (PRNewsFoto/HomeBancorp, Inc.)

Campbell is a veteran banker who led Republican Bancorp in Michigan before selling it for $1.05 billion in 2006. A year after that, he launched Tampa-based HomeBancorp, the privately held parent company of HomeBanc. HomeBancorp had nearly $1 billion in assets before it sold in May to First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. in Raleigh, N.C. for $112.7 million.

CapTec was incorporated in October, state records show. Both Campbell and Dana Cluckey, who was vice chairman of HomeBancorp, are listed as managers of CapTec. Thomas Welsh, former controller and chief accounting officer of HomeBanc, is the chief financial officer of CapTec.

The company focuses on Small Business Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture loans, its LinkedIn profile says. It uses data-mining technology to focus on loans that have a high likelihood of approval and works with community banks that can offer interest rates lower than the prevailing market rates, the profile says.

CapTec is seeking a total of $3 million, the SEC filing said.

Calls for additional information were not returned.

The five other companies that raised funding in January were:

First Home Bancorp in St. Petersburg, which raised $8.9 million in equity and debt. The bank will use the funding to support its growth, CEO Anthony Leo told St. Pete Catalyst.

Pinnacle Automotive Hospitality Services, a Tampa company that provides managed outsourced labor for the auto dealer market. Camden Partners, a private equity firm in Baltimore, announced a growth buyout of Pinnacle in 2017.  The Jan. 9 filing indicates Pinnacle raised $2 million in an offering for equity, options and securities to be acquired.

1023SMS LLC, a computer firm in Tampa that raised $75,000 in a “profit interest,” or an equity right based on the future value of a partnership.

Anchor Insurance Holdings Inc., a St. Petersburg insurance firm that got new funding last year from Ambina Partners, a private equity firm in Miami. Anchor raised an additional $5.75 million in a debt offering, a Jan. 14 SEC filing said.

23 Restaurant Holdings, a Tampa restaurant development company that raised $3.6 million when it issued options and warrants. The company primarily is focused on developing Ford’s Garage restaurant locations and has rights to develop two other concepts — Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza and Yeoman’s Cask and Lion. It is aiming to raise a total of $30 million.

Each of the companies submitted a Form D, indicating the company has an exempt offering of securities. Those exempt offerings are sometimes referred to as a private placement or an unregistered offering, unlike an initial public offering in which securities are sold to the general public.