Aviara Partners Congratulates Lunchline Partners on the Launch of Lunchline Youth Brands and Strategic Growth Investment in LeafSpring Schools. 

Aviara Partners announced they served as the exclusive placement agent for Lunchline Partners in its formation of Lunchline Youth Brands, a new platform focused on accelerating growth of leading early education and youth enrichment franchisors across the US as well as its first strategic growth investment in LeafSpring Schools.

“We’re proud to support Lunchline as they establish their newest platform, Lunchline Youth Brands (“LYB”), with its inaugural acquisition of LeafSpring,” said Peter Martenson, Managing Partner at Aviara Partners. “LeafSpring’s category leadership, exceptional franchisee base, and differentiated position in the market made it a highly compelling platform to build LYB around. The Lunchline team’s innovation partnered with their deep domain expertise and operator-led strategy was a natural fit for investors seeking exposure to an asset in the childhood education and enrichment space.”

Headquartered in Richmond, VA, LeafSpring is a leading franchisor of high-quality early education schools and summer camps, serving children from infancy through elementary school. The company was founded in 1989 by Gail Johnson, a Registered Nurse, who revolutionized the early education model by combining quality academics with onsite nursing services known as the Get Well Place^® —a first-of-its-kind feature in early education. The Johnson family will remain a significant partner alongside Lunchline. The Lunchline team will build upon LeafSpring’s success and unique market positioning by investing in talent, infrastructure, and technology, ensuring the company can continue to enhance the brand and provide the dedicated support franchisees deserve.

“Lunchline’s hands-on experience and operating playbook—developed from successfully scaling other leading ECE brands proved highly differentiating and was a key driver of investor excitement in this opportunity,” added Nate Yeo, Director at Aviara Partners.

“Our investment in LeafSpring reflects Lunchline’s conviction in partnering with prominent and respected brands with a clear value proposition to both parents and students,” stated Chase Begor, Managing Partner at Lunchline Partners. “With LeafSpring, we see a unique opportunity to build something truly unique in the ECE space around a proven platform.”

About Lunchline Partners

Lunchline Partners is a principal investment firm founded in 2018 by Chase Begor and Spencer Kushner. Distinguished by deep operational expertise, the firm’s founders also established and built Otter Learning, one of the nation's leading early childhood education platforms (which remains a separate entity from Lunchline Youth Brands). Lunchline leverages this firsthand industry experience to support and scale high-quality businesses and management teams. For more information, visit lunchlinepartners.com.

About Aviara Partners

Aviara Partners is a new breed of capital markets advisory, founded by a team of seasoned professionals with decades of experience in advising on debt and equity solutions and investing in independent sponsor transactions. The firm provides tailored solutions based on clients’ goals and objectives to achieve an optimal outcome for both clients and investors, establishing the firm as a trusted partner within a diverse ecosystem of blue-chip independent and funded sponsors. As a holistic solutions provider, Aviara collaborates on a deal-by-deal basis to raise capital from a curated global network of institutional investors, ranging from lesser-known family offices to large, established asset managers, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds. For more information, please visit www.aviarapartners.com and www.linkedin.com/company/aviara-partners.

Learn more about Aviara Partners here.