CriticalPoint (“CriticalPoint”) is pleased to announce that Matt Young, Nick Cipiti, and Diane Cabo have been selected by the Los Angeles Business Journal (“LABJ”) as “Leaders of Influence: Investment Bankers, 2024.” The LABJ’s annual list profiles notable investment bankers for exceptional leadership, knowledge, skill and achievements, and for contributions to the Los Angeles business community at large.
This acknowledgement is a testament to CriticalPoint’s ability to serve as a trusted advisor and partner, delivering the right resources and guidance for the next stage and beyond. Focused on providing client-centric solutions to the middle market, CriticalPoint delivers the highest quality strategic and transaction execution advice across mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, valuation, and special financial advisory situations.
Matt Young, Founder & CEO
Matt Young, founder and CEO of CriticalPoint, continues to be known for his tenacity and dealmaking acumen in Southern California’s finance community. He works to cultivate a client-first culture, driven by entrepreneurship and teamwork, which enables the firm to consistently deliver exceptional results for business owners, founders, entrepreneurs, stakeholders, private equity clients and management teams.
Young has more than 24 years of experience in the finance industry, including principal investing at Platinum Equity and investment banking at Bear Stearns & Co., where he honed his expertise by working on high-profile deals that sharpened his understanding of the rapidly evolving tech industry. Driven by a desire to address the needs of underserved lower and middle-market businesses, Young seeks to deliver bulge-bracket quality with a nimble, client-focused model. Under his leadership, CriticalPoint has expanded to over 50 professionals, many of whom come from top-tier financial firms.
Diane Cabo, Managing Director
For over 18 years, Diane Cabo has represented entrepreneurs, family and founder-owned businesses in the lower-middle market, providing them with high-touch client service and thoughtful transactional expertise. Since joining the firm’s investment banking team in 2016, Cabo has advised owners on mergers and acquisitions (both sell-side and buy-side) and debt and equity raises across a wide variety of industry sectors including consumer, building products, healthcare services, and manufacturing.
Cabo is highly regarded by her clients for her keen ability to navigate the complexities of sale processes, anticipate client needs, and deliver tailored solutions. Some of her notable recent deals include Barton Perreira (acquired by Thélios, the eyewear unit of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), Los Angeles Reproductive Partners (acquired by InTandem Capital Partners), as well as serving as the exclusive financial advisor to a high-end multi-location pet retailer.
Nick Cipiti, Managing Director
Nick Cipiti joined CriticalPoint in early 2020, and his technology and communications expertise has since been instrumental in winning mandates for the firm. While his background is in TMT, Cipiti has quickly learned and gained expertise in other industries, including consumer products and business services, where he has assisted CriticalPoint in sourcing and executing sell-side transactions.
Consistent across Cipiti’s experience at CriticalPoint and his previous work is a history of representing family and founder-owned businesses who are seeking institutional capital or going through an M&A transaction for the first time. For many of these clients, it is the most important business transaction they will go through. His ability to consistently source and execute transactions for these types of clients is a testament to his client-first attitude and ability to meet a range of client and business needs.
To review the LABJ Leaders of Influence: Investment Bankers 2024 in full, please click here:
About CriticalPoint
Headquartered in Los Angeles, CriticalPoint is a leading full-service financial M&A firm that uniquely combines the best of investment banking, private capital, and valuation service offerings. CriticalPoint executes, sources, and invests in deals across a wide variety of industries for the traditionally underserved middle market. Since our founding in 2012, our mission has been to serve the needs of owners, entrepreneurs, management teams, and stakeholders with our experience, knowledge, and expert judgment, to help them realize their companies’ greatest potential. From our deep-rooted foundation in private equity and investment banking, and our devotion to deal origination and business development, combined with being entrepreneurs at heart, we believe we are differentiated and well positioned to help companies wherever they are in their life cycle.
