CAC Capital is the private investment office of Chris and Ashlee Clarke, deploying family capital into category-defining companies across media, technology, entertainment, and consumer brands.
We partner with founders and leadership teams where strategic insight, brand positioning, and growth architecture create disproportionate upside.
We back businesses that shape culture, command markets, and compound value overtime.
Our edge is at the intersection of brand, media, and technology, where strategic insight translates directly into enterprise value.
We invest in scalable media ecosystems.
Ecosystems built for the next era of audience intelligence, performance infrastructure, and distribution. We understand this category from the inside, and we know what competitive advantage looks like.
AI-driven platforms, marketplace models, and data companies.
They are redefining how consumers engage and how businesses monetize. We seek infrastructure plays with defensible moats and compounding network effects.
Content studios, IP platforms, live experiences, and talent-driven ventures.
They sit at the center of cultural momentum. We invest in businesses that shape culture.
High-loyalty brands.
Brands with strong retention economics, differentiated positioning, and credible paths to global scale. We prioritize businesses where brand equity functions as a strategic asset, not just a marketing tool.
We maintain a high conviction in:
• Strong cash flow or clear path to profitability
• Category leadership or defensible niche dominance
• Cultural relevance and brand durability
• Scalable operating systems built to last
CHRIS CLARKE – FOUNDING PARTNER
Chris Clarke is a media and brand entrepreneur, producer, and creative strategist with more than three decades of experience building high-performance marketing and investment platforms.
He founded Nitro, which merged to create SapientNitro, the largest digital agency in the world, with 14,000 team members across 36 global offices, before selling to Publicis Group in 2014.
Today, Chris serves as Executive Chairman of Empower Ocean Media Group, a leading independent media and growth platform managing billions in annual media investment.
Chris specializes in the rare alchemy of art and ROI, integrating enterprise-level marketing with entertainment and capital strategy to drive outsized performance.
Areas of expertise:
• Media investment strategy
• Brand and business strategy
• Enterprise client growth
• M&A structuring and integration
• Capital formation and strategic partnerships
ASHLEE CLARKE – FOUNDING PARTNER
Ashlee Clarke is a transformational CEO, producer, and brand architect known for scaling organizations and elevating cultural brands.
She serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Empower Ocean Media Group, the largest woman-owned media agency in the US.
Ashlee has successfully led complex integrations, operational turnarounds, and growth initiatives across media and entertainment platforms.
Her investment lens prioritizes brand power, audience resonance, and long-term franchise value creation.
Areas of expertise:
• Brand leadership and repositioning
• Organizational transformation
• Talent alignment and incentive architecture
• Entertainment and cultural partnerships
• Cultural and brand strategist
The global leader in subscription meal delivery, scaling at-home dining through data-driven personalization, operational precision, and strong consumer retention economics.
Built from the ground up to become the world’s largest digital agency, with 14,000 team members and 36 global offices, before its sale to Publicis Group in 2014. A defining chapter in the evolution of modern digital marketing.
A strategic partnership that develops, creates, and launches proprietary consumer brands across food, skincare, and beverages, built for scale inside one of the world’s largest retail ecosystems.
We are the original seed investor. Citizen is a public safety app designed to help make the world a safer place through real-time crime alerts, emergency notifications, and live incident reporting, with more than 10 million active users.
Joint venture with Marvel Entertainment to expand Marvel’s intellectual property across multiple licensed consumer product categories, including apparel, cosmetics, food, and beverages, distributed through major retail platforms such as Walmart, Target, and Amazon.
The Clarkes have produced numerous Broadway shows, garnering 20 Tony Award nominations, with productions recognized for both critical
acclaim and commercial success.
We invest with patience.
We build with conviction.
We prioritize alignment over velocity.
Great businesses are not built in a cycle. They are built over time, with the right partners, the right capital structure, and an unwavering commitment to durable value creation. They are built by founders who see what others haven't yet imagined, and by partners willing to stand behind that vision long after the moment of conviction.
CAC Capital exists for that kind of company. And that kind of founder.
We optimize for the endgame, the sweet spot where a business becomes so embedded in culture, essential to its customers, and structurally sound in its economics, that its value becomes impossible to replicate. That is what we mean by category-defining.
We bring more than capital. We bring the perspective that comes from decades of building, scaling, and reshaping businesses across media, technology, and culture. We open doors through relationships earned at the highest levels. And we invest with an ownership mindset built for the long term, measured by enduring value.
We are selective by design. We partner deeply or not at all.
The best businesses compound. So do the best relationships. We're here for both.