Pete Karabas, Founding Partner, KEY Investment Partners

At KEY Investment Partners, Pete is responsible for origination, due diligence, and execution of investment opportunities in addition to developing strategic partnerships and fundraising initiatives for the firm. Pete is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of BDSA and currently sits on the Boards of several other KEY portfolio companies. Founded in 2018, KEY Investment Partners is a cannabis-focused private equity firm with approximately $70m of assets under management as of May 2024. The firm manages several investment vehicles including two flagship cannabis-focused discretionary equity funds.

Prior to founding KEY, Pete spent three years as a member of Partners Group’s real estate acquisitions team where he was responsible for originating opportunities, conducting due diligence and executing portfolio transactions valued between $300mn $1.5bn in gross asset value. While at Partners Group, Pete negotiated and closed a total of 12 portfolio acquisitions, deploying $700mn in equity ($2.5bn GAV).

In addition to his time at KEY, Pete's experience closing a wide array of complex real estate transactions at Partners Group has made him an expert in deal structuring and contract negotiation. Prior to Partners Group, Pete spent four years at Equity Residential where he focused on the acquisition and asset management of Class A multifamily properties. Pete holds a BBA in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Originally a Chicago native, he moved to Denver in 2016 to help build out Partners Group’s U.S. real estate team. After seeing the growth in the cannabis industry first-hand, Pete pivoted his career to focus on connecting investors with early-stage cannabis companies.