Mill City Ventures III

In 2006, Douglas Polinsky and Joseph Geraci II founded Mill City Ventures III, a specialty finance company based in Minnesota. The business model was straightforward: provide high-interest, short-term loans, often referred to as "hard-money lending," to small public and private companies. For years, the firm operated in this niche, providing capital for operations, acquisitions, and growth. A significant turning point came in August 2022, when the company uplisted to the Nasdaq Capital Market, raising $5 million in a public offering. This event set the stage for a much larger transformation. In July 2025, Mill City announced a strategic pivot that would redefine its future. The company executed a massive $450 million private placement to launch a SUI Treasury. This move signaled a major shift from traditional lending to a crypto-focused strategy. With the investment, Mill City began acquiring large amounts of SUI, the native cryptocurrency of the Sui blockchain, to build the largest publicly traded SUI treasury. The deal also brought new leadership, with Marius Barnett and Stephen Mackintosh, co-founders of the lead investor Karatage, joining as Chairman of the Board and Chief Investment Officer, respectively. Mill City Ventures now operates as a hybrid, continuing its lending business while building a significant position in the digital asset space.