Chris Protasewich

Chris Protasewich is Founder and Managing Partner at Cutting Horse, a $75M growth equity fund investing in enduring consumer brands. Cutting Horse makes minority investments of $1-10 million into high-growth, founder-led consumer businesses generating $1-20 million in revenue. Chris has established a robust and repeatable track record of building category-defining businesses and supporting the exceptional founders behind them. He specializes in delivering strategic guidance to founders and generating top-tier returns for investors and he brings a rare blend of investor and operator experience. Prior to founding Cutting Horse, Chris was an investor at Highland Capital Partners, where he backed Michael Wystrach at Freshly. He later joined Freshly’s leadership team and helped guide the company through rapid scale and its $1.5B acquisition by Nestlé. Following the acquisition, Chris partnered again with Michael to launch Petfolk, helping build one of the fastest-growing and most loved veterinary platforms in the U.S..Earlier in his career, Chris was an investor at North Bridge Growth Equity (now Guidepost) and began his career at UBS. While earning his MBA, he co-founded Lynx Fitness Club, a 21,000-square-foot luxury fitness and golf club now ranked the #1 fitness club in Boston.Chris grew up in Duxbury, Massachusetts and has been building businesses for as long as he can remember — from mowing lawns and shoveling snow to crafting and selling wallets made from sailcloth. He has always been drawn to the excitement and creativity of the entrepreneurial journey.Chris holds an MBA from Wharton and a B.S. from Boston College, where he was a member of the National Champion Varsity Sailing Team. He lives in Boston with his wife Kelly and their two children.