For an owner who has spent decades building a company, succession is as much a question of who will run the business as who will buy it. A search fund brings those decisions together: investors back an entrepreneur who intends to become the company’s next chief executive.
A search fund is an investment vehicle through which an entrepreneur raises capital to find, acquire, and operate an established business. In the traditional model, investors first finance the search, then decide whether to fund the acquisition. The broader approach is known as entrepreneurship through acquisition, or ETA.1
The investment record helps explain the model’s appeal. Stanford’s 2026 study reported a 33.9% aggregate pre-tax IRR and a 4.75x return on invested capital for U.S. and Canadian core search funds through December 2025. Its cash-flow comparison also showed historical outperformance of the S&P 500.1 These are pooled results, including unsuccessful searches and operating companies, with substantial contributions from the strongest performers.
CapitalPad’s search fund statistics report examines the investment case through historical returns, market growth, acquisition prices, searcher backgrounds, and international adoption. It connects the data with the work of buying and building an established company, giving investors, operators, and advisers a reference for understanding the opportunity.
Aggregate pre-tax IRR
U.S./Canada core search funds · Stanford 2026 · through December 2025.1
Core search funds tracked
U.S./Canada · cumulative launches since 1984 · through December 2025.1
Median acquisition price
U.S./Canada · 2024–2025 acquisitions · USD enterprise value.1
The search fund investment case starts with a committed owner-operator
A search fund combines an established company, an entrepreneur committed to leading it, and investors who can contribute capital and judgment. The business brings customers, employees, and an operating history. The searcher brings the ambition to take responsibility for its next stage of development.
That combination creates several ways to improve a company. A new CEO might build a more consistent sales process, recruit a stronger management team, introduce better financial reporting, or expand a service that customers already value. The task is to preserve what makes the business successful while giving it the capacity to do more.
| Element of the model | Potential investment benefit |
|---|---|
| An established business | Customer relationships, operating records, and existing earnings provide evidence for evaluating the purchase and planning improvements. |
| A dedicated CEO | The searcher makes running the acquired company a central professional commitment, with equity participation linking personal upside to business value. |
| Experienced investor support | A capable board can help a first-time CEO recruit, allocate capital, assess expansion plans, and respond to unfamiliar operating problems. |
| Room to professionalize | Better management, reporting, sales processes, or technology can help a company grow beyond the systems built around its previous owner. |
| A planned ownership transition | A seller can evaluate the person who intends to lead the company, with a transition plan for employees, customers, and key relationships. |
Stanford’s 2026 analysis found that recurring revenue and partnered searches were associated with stronger returns; services businesses also showed higher returns and public-market equivalents.1 Those findings support attention to business quality and the operating team. They do not isolate how much any one characteristic contributed to performance.
CapitalPad is a private equity co-investment group through which accredited investors can invest in lower middle market private equity on a deal-by-deal basis, including search fund acquisitions. Its search fund opportunities involve identified companies under a letter of intent.7 CapitalPad Research examines the market evidence, businesses, and investment structures behind those decisions.
Search fund return statistics show strong historical performance
U.S. and Canadian core search funds produced strong aggregate returns and outperformed the S&P 500 in Stanford’s historical analysis. The 2026 study reports results through December 31, 2025, from the perspective of original investors who supplied both search and acquisition capital.1
The headline 33.9% IRR measures the timing and amount of invested and returned capital. The 4.75x ROI measures the reported investment multiple. They describe the same pool from different angles: how quickly value accumulated and how much value was generated relative to capital invested.
| Population | Aggregate IRR | Aggregate ROI |
|---|---|---|
| Overall return sample | 33.9% | 4.75x |
| Acquired and exited companies | 39.3% | 5.98x |
| Exited companies plus unsuccessful searches | 35.3% | 5.61x |
| Excluding funds with ROI of 10x or more | 27% | 2.8x |
| Excluding the top 10% of funds by ROI | 20% | 2.1x |
Source: Stanford 2026, pages 7–10 and Appendix A.1 The overall calculations include unsuccessful searches, operating companies, and positive and negative exits. Returns pool investor cash flows rather than averaging individual fund IRRs. Operating values include unrealized estimates; follow-on financing is excluded under the study’s methodology.
How search funds compared with public markets
Stanford’s public-market equivalent, or PME, compares search fund cash flows with the S&P 500 over the corresponding investment periods. The overall PME was 2.88; for exited companies it was 3.59. A PME of 1.0 represents parity with the index.1
Search funds outperformed the public-market benchmark
Public-market equivalent relative to the S&P 500 · U.S./Canada core search funds · through December 2025.1
Chart: CapitalPad Research. Source: Stanford 2026, pages 11–12.1 Bars share a zero-based PME scale of 4.0. The 1.0 bar is the parity reference, not the S&P 500’s investment multiple. PME is not an annual return or a risk adjustment, and the overall sample includes unrealized values and unsuccessful searches.
The comparison gives the investment case a public-market reference point while respecting when capital was deployed. It does not make a private operating company as liquid or diversified as a public index. A particular investor’s outcome depends on the deals held, entry terms, fees, and cash flows.
Strong aggregate returns come with a wide range of outcomes
The strongest investments contribute substantially to the headline result. Stanford still reported a 27% aggregate IRR after removing funds with ROI of at least 10x, but the corresponding investment multiple fell to 2.8x.1 Both figures matter: the broader record remains positive in that sensitivity analysis, and exposure to exceptional companies changes portfolio results considerably.
| Reported ROI band | Companies | Share of sample |
|---|---|---|
| Total or partial loss | 89 | 26.4% |
| 1–2x | 68 | 20.2% |
| 2–5x | 93 | 27.6% |
| 5–10x | 59 | 17.5% |
| 10x or more | 28 | 8.3% |
Source: Stanford 2026, Exhibit 7, page 25.1 Counts combine the operating and terminal portions of each bar; shares equal count ÷ 337, rounded to one decimal place. The study’s band labels are retained. This is an acquired-company distribution, not a distribution of all searches or realized investor proceeds.
A loss on an acquired company and a search ending without an acquisition are different outcomes. The first reflects an investment in a business; the second reflects capital spent seeking one. The aggregate return calculations include both, while the acquired-company table isolates what happened after a purchase.
For investors, the record supports taking the model seriously and examining how to build exposure to it. Deal selection, position size, and the ability to support a CEO through operating problems remain central to that decision. An aggregate result cannot substitute for understanding an individual company.
Search fund growth is expanding the pool of operators and investors
Stanford’s tracked U.S. and Canadian core search fund universe grew from 681 in its 2024 edition to 862 in its 2026 edition. The corresponding data cutoffs are December 2023 and December 2025. The newer study identified 181 qualifying launches in 2024–2025.2, 1
The U.S. and Canadian search fund universe continued to expand
Cumulative core search funds tracked since 1984 · Stanford study editions and their observation cutoffs.2, 1
Chart: CapitalPad Research. Sources: Stanford 2024 and 2026 studies.2, 1 Bars share a zero-based scale of 1,000 funds. These are cumulative counts reported in two editions, not annual launches, active funds, or completed acquisitions.
New launches peaked in 2023 and stayed at historically high levels in 2024 and 2025. Acquisitions followed a different pattern: they peaked in 2021, declined through 2024, and increased modestly in 2025.1 The model’s expanding reach is therefore clearer than any claim that every measure rises each year.
More participants can mean more entrepreneurs seeking succession opportunities, more investors familiar with the model, and a deeper network of experienced CEOs. That network has practical value when a new owner needs advice on hiring, sales, finance, or a difficult customer transition.
The community is developing around the work of running companies
The share of new U.S. and Canadian searchers who had taken an ETA course rose from 37% in 2020–2021 to 48% in 2022–2023 and 61% in 2024–2025.1 Stanford’s Search Fund CEO Conference also grew from roughly 230 attendees in 2017 to nearly 500 in 2025, with operating improvement and board support among the subjects discussed.5
More searchers begin with formal ETA coursework
Share of new searchers who took an ETA course · U.S./Canada core search funds · launch cohorts.1
Chart: CapitalPad Research. Source: Stanford 2026, Exhibit 1.1 Bars share a zero-based scale of 100%. Course participation measures preparation; it does not establish the effect of coursework on acquisition success or investment returns.
Education and a larger peer group make the model easier to understand and pursue. The more consequential test comes after closing, when those relationships must help a CEO make better decisions for employees, customers, and investors.
Search funds buy established businesses with room to develop
The median U.S. and Canadian search fund acquisition in 2024–2025 had a $16 million purchase enterprise value and $2.5 million of EBITDA. The median purchase multiple was 6.2x EBITDA, compared with 7.0x in 2022–2023.1 These are operating companies with a financial history that investors can examine before committing capital.
| Measure | 2024–2025 acquisitions | All acquisitions in the study |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | $16.0M | $13.5M |
| Revenue at purchase | $8.1M | $7.6M |
| EBITDA at purchase | $2.5M | $2.0M |
| EBITDA margin | 25.0% | 23% |
| Purchase price / EBITDA | 6.2x | 6.3x |
| Employees at purchase | 30 | 40 |
| Search duration | 21 months | 20 months |
Source: Stanford 2026, Exhibit 4, page 23.1 Each figure is a separately calculated median, with sample sizes varying by data availability. Dividing the median purchase price by median EBITDA will not necessarily reproduce the median purchase multiple, and the medians do not describe a single representative company.
Services remained the most common acquisition sector in the 2026 study, followed by software. Education, including credentialing and vocational training, reached its highest acquisition count; tech-enabled services and healthcare also remained prominent.1 Across those sectors, the investment question is whether a capable new owner can protect existing earnings and develop the business further.
A company of this scale may benefit from management practices that are already standard in a larger organization. Regular customer-retention reporting, a disciplined pricing process, stronger middle management, or a repeatable sales program can create a more dependable business. The improvement plan should identify which changes are needed and who can deliver them.
CapitalPad’s lower middle market private equity statistics report examines the related evidence on entry pricing, operating improvement, and historical smaller-company returns.
Finding the right business remains a selective process
Stanford reports that 58% of concluded searches acquired a company across the full history. Among funds launched in 2021–2024 that had already concluded, the rate was 48%.1 These percentages exclude searches still underway; the recent figure is not the final outcome for every fund launched in those years.
The same study found higher acquisition rates among partnered searchers and those with more post-graduation experience.1 For an investor, that supports examining how a searcher evaluates companies, works with advisers, and builds a credible path to closing. A decision to walk away after diligence can preserve capital that would otherwise be committed to an unsuitable business.
Who becomes a search fund entrepreneur?
Search funds attract entrepreneurs from consulting, private equity, finance, and operating backgrounds. In Stanford’s 2024–2025 launch cohort, management consulting was the most common prior profession at 19%, followed by private equity at 18% and investment banking or finance at 15%.1
General management accounted for another 10%, operations for 8%, military experience for 7%, and entrepreneurship for 5%.1 Those backgrounds can contribute different strengths: evaluating a business, managing teams, selling to customers, or improving day-to-day execution. The relevant test is how the entrepreneur’s experience fits the company they intend to lead.
| Characteristic | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Median age at launch | 32 years |
| Age 35 or younger | 83%26% under 30 plus 57% aged 30–35. |
| MBA education | 80% |
| Female searchers | 14% |
| Identifying as Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Other | 47% |
| Partnered searches | 34% of funds |
Source: Stanford 2026, Exhibits 1–3.1 Age 35 or younger is calculated from the two reported age bands. The listed professional backgrounds cover selected categories rather than the entire distribution.
The female share rose from 11% in 2020–2021 to 17% in 2022–2023 before easing to 14% in 2024–2025.1 Participation has broadened over time, but the most recent cohorts do not show a straight-line increase on every measure.
How much capital does a traditional search fund raise?
Traditional search funds raise an initial pool to finance the search itself. In the latest U.S. and Canadian cohort, the median was $550,000 per principal and $600,000 per fund.1 The difference matters because some funds have two searchers. This money is separate from the equity and debt needed to buy the eventual company.
| Measure | Median |
|---|---|
| Initial capital per principal | $550,000 |
| Initial capital per fund | $600,000 |
| Investors per fund | 13 |
| Time spent fundraising | 3 months |
Source: Stanford 2026, Exhibit 3, page 22.1 These are separate medians. The per-principal and per-fund amounts should not be multiplied or averaged to infer a typical partnership’s budget. They are search-phase figures, not acquisition prices or minimum investor commitments.
The investors can contribute more than that initial budget. Advice on target selection, introductions to lenders, and a willingness to evaluate the eventual purchase all affect the searcher’s ability to move from finding a company to owning and leading it.
International search fund growth is widening the opportunity
There were 503 known core search funds outside the United States and Canada by December 2025, according to international data reported in Stanford’s 2026 study through its partnership with IESE. Of concluded international searches, 72%, or 220 funds, had acquired a company.1
The international record has expanded considerably from the 83 first-time funds in IESE’s 2018 edition and the 320 in its 2024 edition.6, 3 This gives entrepreneurs and investors a growing body of experience across different business cultures, ownership structures, and financing markets.
The international search fund model has expanded substantially
Cumulative core funds reported in successive studies · countries outside the U.S. and Canada · each bar retains its data cutoff.6, 3, 1
Chart: CapitalPad Research. Sources: IESE’s 2018 and 2024 editions; the December 2025 count reported by Stanford 2026 using international research.6, 3, 1 Bars share a zero-based scale of 600 funds. Counts are revised across editions and are not a continuous annual formation series.
Spain, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Brazil led IESE’s 2024 edition by cumulative first-time funds, with 67, 50, 35, and 34 respectively.4 Those are historical country counts through 2023, rather than an updated ranking for 2025.
The more recent Stanford report records first searches during 2024–2025 in Malaysia, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Uruguay. It also records first acquisitions in South Africa, Austria, and India.1 The spread demonstrates that the model can be pursued in a widening range of markets, with execution depending on local business conditions.
What the international return data shows
IESE’s 2024 study reported an 18.1% aggregate pre-tax IRR and a 2.0x ROI through December 2023; the median post-acquisition investment multiple was 1.4x.3 The population was relatively young: 62% of acquisitions had occurred since 2020, and the study reported 15 positive exits and six company failures.
That maturity difference limits a comparison with the longer U.S. and Canadian record. It helps explain why a developing portfolio can show lower reported multiples, but does not establish that timing explains the entire performance gap or that international returns will eventually converge. The evidence supports growing adoption more firmly than a definitive ranking of regional investment performance.
This report uses the December 2025 international counts available in Stanford’s 2026 publication and the December 2023 return detail in IESE’s 2024 study. The different observation dates are retained so the newer fund count does not imply a newer return measurement.
Traditional search funds are one route into entrepreneurship through acquisition
ETA includes several ways to finance an entrepreneur’s acquisition of a business. Traditional search funds raise capital before finding a target. Self-funded searchers cover the search themselves and assemble acquisition financing once they identify a company. Both can lead to an entrepreneur becoming the company’s owner-operator.2
| Approach | What the investor evaluates | When a specific company is known |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional search-phase investment | The entrepreneur, search plan, budget, investor group, and rights to participate in a later acquisition. | After the initial search investment, when a suitable target is identified. |
| Self-funded search acquisition | A company selected by a searcher who financed the search personally, together with the operator and proposed financing. | Before the outside investor commits acquisition capital. |
| Acquisition-stage co-investment | The identified company, operator, purchase terms, investment structure, and post-close plan. | Before the acquisition investment. CapitalPad reviews search fund deals at the post-LOI stage. |
Sources: Stanford’s 2024 discussion of alternative models and CapitalPad’s search fund investor overview.2, 7 These are descriptions of structures, not rankings by risk or return. An acquisition-stage investment may still fail to close.
Stanford’s 2024 study described self-funded searches as the most numerous model, while noting insufficient data to report comparable outcomes.2 The core search fund return series therefore does not measure every form of ETA. Financing, ownership, investor rights, and the size of the acquired business can differ substantially.
Independent sponsors provide another route into lower middle market private equity, raising equity for individual transactions and working with the companies’ management teams. CapitalPad’s independent sponsor statistics report examines that model’s separate performance and transaction-term evidence.
A newer model focuses on longer ownership
Stanford’s 2026 study separately profiles 67 long duration enterprises, which raise committed capital before acquisitions and plan for extended ownership. The study’s LDE observations include partial data through April 2026. It does not yet report returns for that group.1 Their emergence adds another way to organize entrepreneurial acquisitions without changing what the traditional search fund performance series measures.
How accredited investors can invest in search fund deals
Accredited investors can back a traditional searcher before a target is found or invest at the acquisition stage after a company has been identified. The choice determines whether the initial commitment finances the search or a proposed investment in a particular operating business.
CapitalPad helps accredited investors invest in lower middle market private equity through individual search fund deals. CapitalPad participates after a company is under a letter of intent, with opportunities reviewed deal by deal. Individuals invest through a deal-specific special purpose vehicle (SPV), with minimums starting at $25,000 per deal according to CapitalPad’s public materials.7
Investors can assess the company’s financial history, the searcher’s background, the proposed terms, and the operating plan before choosing whether to participate. CapitalPad works with traditional and self-funded searchers at the acquisition stage; it does not finance their initial search.7
Stanford’s aggregate results reflect original investors who backed both the search and acquisition phases. They are useful context for the business model, but they do not measure returns from CapitalPad opportunities or from joining a deal only at acquisition. An individual investment has its own economics, fees, and outcome.
The CapitalPad search fund investing overview explains the participation model, and the investor overview describes how to review opportunities. Eligibility, availability, and offering terms govern participation.
Search fund statistics: common questions
What is a search fund?
A search fund finances an entrepreneur’s effort to find, buy, and lead an established company. Traditional search funds raise search capital first and acquisition capital after identifying a target. They are one form of entrepreneurship through acquisition.1
What returns have search funds generated?
Stanford’s 2026 study reported a 33.9% aggregate pre-tax IRR and a 4.75x ROI for U.S. and Canadian core search funds through December 2025. These pooled results include unsuccessful searches, operating companies, and exits; they are not the return of a typical fund or a forecast.1
Have search funds outperformed the S&P 500?
Yes, in Stanford’s historical cash-flow comparison. The 2026 study reported an overall public-market equivalent of 2.88 and an exited-company PME of 3.59, where 1.0 represents parity with the S&P 500. The comparison does not adjust for all differences in risk or liquidity.1
How many search funds are there?
Stanford’s 2026 study tracked 862 core search funds launched in the U.S. and Canada since 1984. It also reported 503 known core funds outside those countries through December 2025. These are cumulative counts across multiple stages, not counts of currently active funds or all ETA transactions.1
What percentage of search funds acquire a company?
Stanford reported a 58% acquisition rate among concluded U.S. and Canadian searches overall. For funds launched in 2021–2024 that had concluded, the rate was 48%. Searches still underway are excluded, so the recent figure is provisional as an indicator of those cohorts’ eventual outcomes.1
How big are search fund acquisitions?
For U.S. and Canadian acquisitions completed in 2024–2025, Stanford reported a median purchase price of $16 million, median EBITDA of $2.5 million, and a median purchase multiple of 6.2x EBITDA. These are separate medians rather than the financial profile of one company.1
How much money does a search fund raise?
In Stanford’s 2024–2025 launch cohort, median initial search capital was $550,000 per principal and $600,000 per fund. Funds had a median of 13 investors. Those amounts finance the search; acquisition financing is raised separately.1
Are self-funded search returns included in the Stanford figures?
No. The core series covers first-time search entrepreneurs backed by multiple investors during the search phase. Self-funded searchers pay their own search costs and use a different financing route. The core-fund aggregate should not be presented as a measured self-funded search return.1, 2
Can accredited investors participate through CapitalPad?
Yes. CapitalPad helps accredited investors invest in lower middle market private equity through individual deals, including search fund acquisitions. Search fund opportunities are reviewed after a target is under a letter of intent, and individual minimums start at $25,000 per deal, subject to eligibility, availability, and offering terms.7
Research scope and methodology
CapitalPad Research analyzes the investment case for search funds by bringing together academic performance studies, acquisition benchmarks, entrepreneur profiles, and evidence of market development. CapitalPad produces the comparative analysis, operating framework, calculated outcome shares, tables, and charts. Stanford and IESE supply the underlying market observations and return calculations.
| Publisher | CapitalPad Research. CapitalPad helps accredited investors invest in lower middle market private equity deal by deal, including search fund opportunities.7 |
|---|---|
| Research type | Comparative analysis of published academic studies and institutional reporting, with original explanatory frameworks and disclosed calculations. |
| Principal sources | Stanford GSB’s 2026 and 2024 Search Fund Studies; IESE’s 2024 international study and historical reporting; Stanford’s CEO conference reporting; CapitalPad’s participation information. |
| Data cutoffs | December 2025 for the main U.S./Canada data and the newer international counts. December 2023 for IESE’s detailed international returns. The separate LDE discussion includes partial observations through April 2026. |
| Market universe | Traditional or core search funds: first-time search entrepreneurs supported by multiple search-phase investors. U.S./Canada and international populations are identified separately. Self-funded search and other ETA models are discussed as distinct structures. |
| Core measures | Aggregate IRR and ROI, PME, investment outcomes, cumulative fund counts, acquisition rates, company medians, search capital, and entrepreneur characteristics. |
| CapitalPad contribution | Connecting the evidence to the owner-operator investment case; comparing investment entry points; organizing source definitions; calculating company-outcome percentages; producing reference tables and charts. |
| Principal limits | Self-reported data, estimated values for operating businesses, differing cohort maturity, unequal sample sizes, and return concentration. Historical aggregate performance is not a typical deal outcome. |
How the evidence is sourced
- Stanford’s U.S. and Canadian research
- The 2026 study identifies funds through investors and public searches, gathers questionnaires and interviews, and seeks additional information for unusual outcomes where possible. It reports updated outcomes for 97% of known search funds. Appendix A describes an independent audit of calculation methods and checks against investor data where available. Those procedures support the study’s usefulness; they do not make every valuation independently audited.1
- International research
- IESE surveys traditional funds outside the United States and Canada. Its 2024 return calculation includes 130 funds: 37 unsuccessful searches and 93 acquisitions with at least one year of operations. The newer international fund and acquisition counts come from Stanford’s 2026 publication, which reports its work with IESE. This article retains the older return cutoff rather than pairing newer counts with an implied 2025 return.3, 1
- Historical growth and community
- Earlier Stanford and IESE editions establish reported cumulative counts at their respective cutoffs. Stanford’s conference reporting supplies attendance figures. Fund counts, acquisition counts, course participation, and conference attendance remain separate measures.2, 6, 5
- CapitalPad’s participation model
- CapitalPad’s public materials support the description of post-LOI search fund investing, individual deal selection, SPVs, and stated minimums. Its commercial role is distinct from Stanford’s and IESE’s collection of performance data.7
How to interpret the return statistics
Stanford’s IRR and ROI use aggregated cash flows from original search and acquisition investors, including equity and investor debt. They are pre-tax and exclude follow-on financing under the stated methodology. The headline includes unsuccessful searches and reported values of operating companies alongside exits. It is neither an arithmetic average of fund returns nor an acquisition-only investor return.1
The outcome table uses the 337 companies in Stanford’s Exhibit 7 ROI distribution. Their operating and terminal counts sum to 89 losses, 68 investments at 1–2x, 93 at 2–5x, 59 at 5–10x, and 28 at 10x or more. Each percentage equals its count divided by 337, multiplied by 100, and rounded to one decimal place. The broader count of 862 search funds is not the denominator for this table.
International and U.S./Canadian return aggregates are not averaged or pooled. Observation dates, maturity, and sample definitions differ. IESE’s younger portfolio is relevant to interpreting its lower reported aggregate, but does not prove that maturity explains the whole difference. Searcher characteristics associated with success are treated as associations rather than causal rules.
Company statistics are independent medians; fund-level search capital differs from capital per principal. Recent acquisition rates describe concluded searches within partially completed cohorts. Edition-to-edition counts may be revised, so this report does not reconstruct unreported annual launches by subtracting historical international totals.
Editorial revision and selected source checks: . “2026” identifies this research edition and the latest Stanford study; the observation dates above define the actual data periods.
Cite this research
CapitalPad Research, “Search Fund Statistics: The Case for Backing Owner-Operators.” 2026 research edition; editorial revision September 14, 2026.
Reference CapitalPad Research for the comparative analysis, explanations, calculated outcome shares, tables, and charts. Retain the provider, period, and sample when quoting an underlying study result.
Disclosure: CapitalPad offers private equity co-investment opportunities to accredited investors. This article is educational and does not recommend any specific investment, sponsor, sector, security, or strategy. Private securities are speculative, illiquid, and may result in partial or total loss of capital. Historical study data, academic findings, and aggregate return figures are not forecasts of future performance and should not be relied on as a promise of liquidity, return, or exit timing.
Sources & references
- Kelly, Zenios & Ng, “2026 Search Fund Study: Selected Observations,” Stanford Graduate School of Business, case E-967 (30 June 2026; data through 31 December 2025). https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/case-studies/2026-search-fund-study-selected-observations
- Peter Kelly and Sara Heston, “2024 Search Fund Study,” Stanford Graduate School of Business, case E-870 (June 28, 2024; data through December 31, 2023). Source
- Kowalewski et al., “International Search Funds 2024,” IESE Business School, study ST-658-E (data through December 31, 2023). Source
- IESE Insight, “Search funds asset class maintains global growth” (2024). https://www.iese.edu/insight/articles/search-funds-global-growth/
- Stanford Graduate School of Business newsroom, “Stanford GSB’s Search Fund Conference Focuses on CEOs” (2025). https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/newsroom/school-news/stanford-gsbs-search-fund-conference-focuses-ceos
- IESE Insight, “Search fund model takes root in Europe and Latin America” (2018; historical international counts). https://www.iese.edu/insight/articles/search-fund-model-europe-latin-america/
- CapitalPad, “Search Fund Investing for Accredited Investors” and Investor Overview (accessed September 14, 2026). Search fund overview; Investor overview.
