THE FIRM
Unlocking frontier opportunities.
KEY Investment Partners invests in frontier markets: industries where technology and policy are moving faster than the institutions around them can adapt. That gap creates complexity, and complexity rewards disciplined, flexible capital.
ORIGIN
Founded 2018. Denver, Colorado.
KEY was founded in 2018 by Pete Karabas, Tiby Erdely, and Jordan Youkilis, with backgrounds spanning Partners Group, Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, and Equity Residential. KEY takes its name from its founders: Karabas, Erdely, Youkilis.
EST 2018
HQ Denver
PARTNERS 4
2018: KEY ENTERS THE CANNABIS MARKET
A platform built navigating complex markets
KEY built its platform in legal cannabis, one of the hardest regulated markets in the country. Operating there required everything institutional investing demands and more: rigorous underwriting, creative structuring, active governance, and judgment in markets where information is scarce and capital is constrained.
Those same capabilities now define how we invest across all of our frontier markets: backing transformational technologies and industries where complexity creates opportunity for disciplined investors.
KEY has led rounds and taken board seats in nearly half its cannabis portfolio, and we continue to invest in the sector as regulatory reform reshapes the market.
TODAY
One platform, five sectors
Jake Piccoli joined the partnership in 2026 to help expand KEY’s proven investment framework beyond cannabis.
Today KEY invests across five frontier sectors: cannabis, energy, aerospace, defense, and quantum. The same institutional discipline runs across all five.
PLATFORM GROWTH
The platform, compounding
PORTFOLIO INVESTMENTS 22
Cumulative capital commitments across KEY funds and SPVs, 2018 to 2026. Endpoint reflects approximately $60M in assets under management as of H1 2026.
TRAJECTORY
The ascent
Eight years of compounding, from basecamp to the frontier.
HOW WE INVEST
Institutional DNA
Access in frontier markets is earned through relationships and judgment, not auctions. Our edge is a repeatable discipline applied where most capital cannot operate.
01
Underwrite rigorously
Full diligence, underwriting, and valuation on every opportunity, with a defined decision gate at each phase of the investment committee process.
02
Structure creatively
Preferred and structured instruments engineered for markets where capital is constrained and terms reward discipline.
03
Govern actively
Board representation and close operating partnership across the portfolio, from first check through exit.
CONTACT
Start a conversation
For inquiries, partnership discussions, or company introductions, reach the partners directly.