BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—Two portfolio companies of Imperial Capital of Canada—Total ECP and Visionary Eye Partners—have merged and will operate as a combined entity under the name Keplr Vision, according to an announcement on Thursday. Keplr is a business support services company built to invest in medically focused optometry practices, as well as to provide best-in-class lens technology and patient experience, the announcement noted. "We are inspired by the life and works of Johannes Kepler, a central figure of the scientific revolution that took place during the 17th century,” Keplr chief executive officer Nick Williams said in the announcement. (Williams was the chief executive of Visionary Eye Partners.) 


“Kepler performed the foundational work in optics, and is also credited as the first person to identify that in human sight images are projected in reverse and inverted onto the retina,” Williams added. “He was a pioneer in both optics and in the science of the human eye, the two primary focus areas of our new organization.”

Total ECP’s intention to create a medical business services platform was first reported by VMAIL in February.

In addition to Williams, Keplr's management team includes chief medical officer Dr. Ben Gaddie and chief operating officer Adam Rosengren. The medical leadership team includes noted thought leaders and lecturers Dr. Alan Glazier, Dr. Neil Gailmard, Dr. Paul Karpecki and Dr. Eric Schmidt. Jay Binkowitz serves as the company's executive vice president of professional relations, and works to develop new investment opportunities for Keplr.

Keplr currently has 80 clinics across 19 states under management, and is able to provide exceptional levels of clinical, operational and marketing support with its more than decade old and highly successful business services platform.

Toronto-based Imperial Capital is the private equity firm that backed the formation of Total ECP in late 2017, as VMAIL reported. Its practices include Gaddie Eye Center (with four offices in the Louisville, Ky., area), Shady Grove Eye & Vision Care, Gailmard Eye Center and DW Nelson and Associates of Wisconsin.

Visionary Eye Partners Visionary was formed in September 2017 (with the former HW Holdings as its core) with Williams, Rosengren and Imperial Capital as the sole shareholders, as VMAIL reported. Visionary Eye Partners is the parent company of All About Eyes, which is based here in Bloomington, as well as the practices Kips Bay Optical of New York City; Wilson Eye Center of Valdosta, Ga.; Eye to Eye Care of Highlands Ranch, Colo.; and Look Optical, which operates five locations in and around Denver.