Since 1992, the investment banking firm of M.J.Segal Associates has specialized in researching private equity opportunities in both private and emerging growth public companies. M. J. Segal caters primarily to institutional clients, private investment partnerships and professional money managers. Joshua Capital Partners, L P is an affiliate of M.J.Segal, which also participates in private equity transactions originated by the firm. As a founding sponsor of New York Private Equity Forums, M.J. Segal Associates has contributed its resources and expertise in the evaluation of companies that are presenting at the conference.

M. J. Segal Associates has become a dependable resource for the institutional private equity investor and represents a source of capital for private companies seeking financing. The focus of the firm's research is to discover companies with strong management where capital will be a catalyst for success. The Segal group looks for companies that a have proprietary edge in their product, service and/or distribution channel, a broad potential market with reasonable customer acquisition costs, combined with a realistic business model that can achieve future profitability.

Starlight Investments partners with small, high-growth technology and energy companies to prepare them for financing and to introduce them to appropriate funding sources. The firm increases the visibility of its clients in the investment community prior to seed-stage or first round venture financing via its popular "Entrepreneurial Speaker Series". Starlight offers advisory services in corporate strategy, financial modeling, board member selection, and other areas of business plan development. Starlight's investment banking services performed by its broker-dealer affiliate help qualified companies complete "best efforts" private placements ranging from $2 million to $20 million. The firm undertakes a complete due diligence investigation and provides assistance to its corporate finance clients in the preparation of offering materials to present to other investment bankers, venture capital firms and its network of angel investors. Starlight's persistence and personalized service has distinguished it from its competitors and has allowed its client partners to be more successful in their efforts to obtain capital. Founded in 1999 by Bryan Emerson, Starlight Investments is based in Houston and is active throughout the US and Latin America.

The name "Starlight Investments" was inspired by the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical of the mid-1980's"Starlight Express," in which a small locomotive came to believe that it could win a race against much stronger and technologically superior locomotives. After building up enough courage, he raced against, and beat his larger opponents. Of course, that is the American way.