How MiddleGround Capital Generated $1.26M in Portfolio Savings with Gravity

About MiddleGround Capital

MiddleGround Capital is a private equity firm headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky that invests in midmarket B2B industrial and specialty distribution companies in North America and Europe. With over $3.4 billion in assets under management, MiddleGround is a control equity investor in 15 portfolio companies, including leading automotive components manufacturers like Dura-Shiloh, Plasman, and Race Winning Brands.

MiddleGround's motto is “Leaving the world better than we found it,” and sustainability initiatives have always been top of mind for the founders and central to the firm's culture. The firm has created an ESG policy and internal ESG committee, publishes annual sustainability reports, and was the first sub-billion industrial-focused signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). 

The Challenge: Moving from Measurement to Action Across 15 Portfolio Companies

In April 2023, MiddleGround set out to measure Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions across all portfolio companies before their June reporting deadline. Each portfolio company ran its own data systems, facilities, and reporting cadence. Getting accurate emissions data from all of them in two months, without pulling operations teams away from their day-to-day work, required true automation of data ingestion and carbon accounting.

At the same time, disclosure pressure from customers was reaching portfolio companies faster than many had anticipated. Madelyn Tutewiler, Director of ESG at MiddleGround, noticed the trend:

"I noticed that our companies were getting more disclosure questionnaires from customers and more requests to fill out details about their sustainability programs. Some of our companies thought that because of their industry, they wouldn't be impacted. We've been telling them this whole time that this pressure was going to come and it would come rapidly. Now they're seeing it."
~ Madelyn Tutewiler, Director of ESG, MiddleGround Capital

MiddleGround had previously worked with two other providers on carbon measurement. Neither had gone beyond producing a footprint. The firm needed a partner that could not only streamline measurement, but also go beyond — creating custom energy management and decarbonization plans to reduce operating costs and emissions for portfolio companies.

The Solution: Carbon, Energy, and Utility Bill Management with Measurable Returns

In 2023, MiddleGround completed emissions measurement across all portfolio companies in two months with Gravity. Gravity identified discrepancies in underlying data before they could affect the final results, and portfolio companies gained the ability to respond to customer disclosure requests by sharing verified annual emissions data directly from the platform.

From the beginning, however, MiddleGround had been clear that measurement was only the starting point. The goal was action.

"We really wanted to find a resource that could measure our carbon footprint effectively, and then take it to the next step of a decarbonization plan, which is where the benefit comes in. Being able to see implementation costs, the potential ROI, and how much carbon reduction to expect is really what led us to Gravity. We had seen a ton of different folks that measured your carbon footprint and that was it, but Gravity had the perfect footprint, the dashboard, and the ability to work with our portfolio companies to create a decarbonization plan and help implement those plans."
~ Madelyn Tutewiler, Director of ESG, MiddleGround Capital

Gravity went on to build custom energy management plans for individual portfolio companies, with projects ranked by expected ROI and emissions impact. Race Winning Brands, a leading manufacturer of racing and high-performance engine components, was among the first to engage. The company started by recommending one project at a time across their sites, beginning with LED lighting where they had already seen ROI in six months.

Race Winning Brands went on to implement additional energy projects, with a subsequent waste heat recovery project reducing natural gas consumption by at least 5%. The company now uses Gravity to track and organize projects on a site-by-site basis, bookmarking initiatives to revisit when the timing and capital are right.

Gravity also helped additional MiddleGround portfolio companies enroll in demand response programs, which pay companies to voluntarily reduce electricity use during peak grid demand. Gravity connected the teams with Voltus, a leading distributed energy resources (DER) technology platform and virtual power plant operator, through its Energy Management Marketplace. In 2025, the enrolled companies received over $250,000 in payments.

The firm has also recently adopted Gravity’s new utility bill management solution, which audits utility invoices for billing errors, anomalies, tax exemptions, and rate misclassifications. At one leading global automotive components manufacturer, Gravity quickly identified $161,000 in sales tax refunds. The work is ongoing, and expected to generate additional savings in the coming months.

"For the first time, we have one place to measure our portfolio's emissions, track energy costs across every portfolio company, and trust that if there's a billing error or an energy savings opportunity sitting on the table, it will be automatically caught and addressed. The $161,000 refund is exactly the kind of outcome we were hoping this would unlock.”
~ Madelyn Tutewiler, Director of ESG, MiddleGround Capital

The Results: $1.26M in Cost Savings and a Scalable Playbook

Three years into the partnership, MiddleGround's portfolio companies have streamlined emissions reporting and saved over $1.26 million with Gravity. The firm now manages emissions measurement and reporting, energy projects, and utility bills on the platform. 

Portfolio companies, meanwhile, can share verified emissions data in response to customer disclosure requests at the click of a button. For Brian Jackson, Chief Human Resources Officer at Race Winning Brands, the value comes down to focus.

"For us, it's about knowing where we are, then we want to make sure we're chasing the right things and really putting our energy around the things that drive the most value."
~ Brian Jackson, Chief Human Resources Officer, Race Winning Brands

MiddleGround Partner Justin Steil framed the investment case for the broader portfolio.

"Increased focus on sustainability can no doubt drive immediate efficiency and profit enhancements — but we also believe it is bolstering our portfolio companies' competitive positions over the longer-term as its benefits get passed along to valued customers as reduced cost inflation."
~ Justin Steil, Partner, MiddleGround Capital

The scope of energy and utility management work continues to expand. MiddleGround has partnered with Gravity to conduct additional onsite and virtual energy assessments at portfolio companies to identify, prioritize, and implement energy efficiency and generation projects. Through these assessments, Gravity has identified another $1.30 million in annual savings opportunities across the portfolio and is now in the implementation phase to realize those savings. Gravity is also conducting site-by-site evaluations for additional utility bill management opportunities as portfolio companies upload more utility bills onto the Gravity platform. 

The relationship between MiddleGround and Gravity that began as a two-month emissions measurement sprint has grown into an ongoing operational partnership, one that keeps finding new ways to deliver value across the portfolio.

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