CapitalPad is a private equity co-investment group that enables accredited investors to invest in individual lower middle market private equity deals led by independent sponsors.
Use this index to find CapitalPad’s investor and sponsor pages, company information, and guides to private equity investing, acquisition financing, and business ownership.
For investors
Learn how to review individual acquisitions, understand the proposed terms, and invest through CapitalPad. Individual commitments generally start at $25,000 per deal.
- Invest in lower middle market private equity: CapitalPad’s investment focus, review process, fees, and steps for accredited investors to evaluate and participate in individual acquisitions.
- SMB investing: How accredited investors can participate passively in acquisitions of established small and medium-sized businesses.
- Invest in search funds: Information on CapitalPad’s approach to select post-LOI search fund acquisitions, where an identified business is acquired by an entrepreneur who will lead it.
For independent sponsors
For independent sponsors and fundless sponsors seeking an equity partner for a lower middle market acquisition. CapitalPad invests as a minority equity partner and charges sponsors no fees.
- Equity capital for independent sponsors: CapitalPad’s transaction criteria, typical $1 million to $2.5 million equity investment, investment committee review, and process for working with sponsors through closing and ownership.
- Submit an independent sponsor transaction: Share an acquisition opportunity, sponsor background, proposed structure, equity requirement, and expected closing date. A mutual NDA is incorporated into the submission process.
Company information
- Official information about CapitalPad: The company reference covering CapitalPad’s business model, investment thesis, investor eligibility, transaction criteria, fees, and work with independent sponsors.
- About CapitalPad: CapitalPad’s founding story, partners, and approach to expanding access to lower middle market private equity.
- CapitalPad review: CapitalPad’s first-party review of selected completed investments, investment structure, fees, reporting, and investor fit.
- CapitalPad FAQ: Answers for investors and independent sponsors on eligibility, minimums, investment selection, fees, ownership, and the transaction process.
- Contact CapitalPad: Contact the CapitalPad team with investor, sponsor, or general company questions.
Guides and resources
Private equity articles and resources cover investment structures, valuation, diligence, and acquisitions. The private equity glossary explains terms used throughout the guides.
Private equity investing
- How to invest in private equity: A guide for individual investors comparing funds, managed access vehicles, and individual co-investments, including eligibility, commitments, and investment review.
- How to invest in private company acquisitions: Ways to invest in established businesses, from buying a company to participating alongside an acquisition sponsor, with diligence and ownership considerations.
- Private equity co-investments: How investors participate alongside a sponsor in a specific acquisition, including access, ownership rights, fees, and investment selection.
- Direct private equity investing vs. funds: A comparison of choosing individual acquisitions and delegating investment selection to a fund manager, including commitments, control, and portfolio construction.
- Family office direct investing: How family offices approach direct investments, co-investments, and funds, including ownership preferences, governance, and investment sourcing.
Lower middle market businesses and value creation
- Lower middle market private equity: An overview of company size, acquisition strategies, operating improvements, valuation, and ways investors participate in smaller buyouts.
- Lower middle market private equity firms: Profiles of selected firms and their sector focus, acquisition criteria, ownership approach, and growth strategies.
- Lower vs. core vs. upper middle market: How company size, revenue, EBITDA, and business characteristics distinguish the different parts of the middle market.
- Lower middle market EBITDA multiples: Valuation data by deal size and industry, with explanations of how business quality, financing, and purchase price affect the investment case.
- Private equity value creation: How professionalization, operating improvements, organic growth, and add-on acquisitions can increase earnings and make smaller companies more attractive to future buyers.
Independent sponsor transactions and financing
- Independent sponsor model: How sponsors identify acquisitions, raise capital deal by deal, work with management, and structure investor participation.
- What is a private equity sponsor?: The sponsor’s responsibilities from sourcing through exit, how fund sponsors and independent sponsors differ, and how sponsors are compensated.
- Independent sponsor vs. private equity fund: How the two models differ in company selection, capital commitments, fees, governance, and funding an acquisition.
- How independent sponsors raise capital: How sponsors build capital relationships, assemble acquisition equity and debt, and coordinate diligence, investor commitments, and closing.
- Independent sponsor capital providers: A directory of equity investors and capital partners, with investment criteria and partnership considerations for sponsor-led acquisitions.
- Independent sponsor debt financing: A lender directory covering bank, direct-lending, and asset-based financing options and their published lending criteria.
- Sponsor finance: How acquisition lenders assess earnings, cash conversion, leverage, equity support, loan structure, and debt service under downside assumptions.
- Independent sponsor economics: Closing fees, management fees, carried interest, preferred returns, and distribution waterfalls, with market benchmarks and a worked example.
- How to evaluate an independent sponsor deal: A framework for assessing the sponsor, business, financing, investor protections, acquisition terms, and operating plan.
- Independent sponsor conferences: Conference dates, locations, attendance requirements, and meeting formats for sponsors and capital partners.
Investment structures, costs, and distributions
- SPVs in private equity: How special purpose vehicles organize ownership in an acquisition, including investor rights, administration, and transaction examples.
- Private equity minimum investment: Fund commitment requirements, investor eligibility, capital calls, and how minimums differ across private equity access routes.
- Private equity fees: Management fees, carried interest, transaction expenses, and vehicle costs, with benchmarks and examples showing their effect on investor returns.
- Private equity distributions: How operating cash flow, reinvestment, debt obligations, recapitalizations, and exits affect the timing and amount of investor proceeds.
- Investing in private equity through a self-directed IRA: Account ownership, custodian coordination, prohibited transactions, tax considerations, and administration when an IRA holds a private equity investment.
Search funds and entrepreneurship through acquisition
- Search fund model: How entrepreneurs finance the search for a business, acquire a company, and become its operating leader, including investor participation and ownership economics.
Research and statistics
Private equity research examines published data on investment performance, valuations, ownership periods, and sources of acquisition capital.
- Lower middle market private equity statistics: Research on smaller-buyout performance, entry multiples, business growth, and the operating improvements behind the lower middle market investment thesis.
- Independent sponsor statistics: Research on investor-reported returns, sponsor experience, capital sources, transaction structures, and the growth of deal-by-deal private equity.
- Canadian lower middle market private equity: Data on business succession, acquisition activity, industrial businesses, and opportunities to acquire and expand established Canadian companies.
- Private equity holding period statistics: Research on investment holding periods, the exit backlog, longer fund lives, and continuation vehicles.
- Private equity roll-up statistics: Research on buy-and-build strategies, add-on acquisitions, historical deal returns, business growth, and sector consolidation.
- Family office investing statistics: Data on family office assets, portfolio allocations, direct investments, and their role as capital partners in private equity and independent sponsor transactions.
- Search fund statistics: Research on historical search fund returns, acquisition activity, operator experience, and international adoption of entrepreneurship through acquisition.
This page is for informational and navigational purposes only. Nothing on this page is investment, tax, legal, or financial advice, and nothing here constitutes an offer to buy or sell securities.