Passion pitch

The mission at Stonehenge Growth Equity, which recently raised $40 million to invest in Southeast technology and business services firms, can be summed up in how the firm hires people.

“If someone comes in here and says I want to work here because I want to make a lot of money, then we don't want you,” Stonehenge Growth Equity Managing Director Steve Lux says. “If you're not passionate about helping entrepreneurs, if you're not passionate about helping companies grow, then you're not for us.”

That passion play, Lux says, has never been truer than the current stage of Tampa-based Stonehenge, a Bank One spinoff founded in 1999. That's primarily because the firm closed on the $40 million portfolio, Stonehenge Growth Equity Fund LP, in late September.