Are Search Funds Moving Up Market?

March 05, 2026

by an investor from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in Toronto, ON, Canada

Over the past few months, I’ve been presented with five separate opportunities that contemplated the acquisition of a company with $7M or more of EBITDA (this compares to the Search Fund average of $2.2M for the###-###-#### cohort of Searchers). While I acknowledge that five data points don’t constitute a trend, at the very least this has piqued my curiosity. While the Search Fund ecosystem has worried – seemingly for over a decade now – about the possibility of middle-market Private Equity firms moving down market, it’s interesting to ask whether the inverse may now be happening, at least to a certain extent: Are Search Funds moving up market? Link: https://mineolasearchpartners.com/2026/03/05/are-search-funds-moving-up-market/

Reply by a searcher
from Athabasca University in Kelowna, BC, Canada

That's an interesting question, I'm curious what others think. My thoughts are that quality opportunities can be limited in the smaller EBITDA ranges, and to your point, that PE has moved in to compete there. That could mean a higher variance of deal sizes as searchers reach wider to find opportunities. My concern is when multiples get out of hand in any space it adds more risk to individual deals. That leaves only larger pools of money to diversify some of that risk, squeezing out the small players. Worse yet is the agency problem of GPs over LPs in those funds when the market has frothy valuations. All that to ask a follow-up question, is the supply of opportunities in the 2mm+ range down?

Reply by a searcher
from Ivey Business School at Western University in Toronto, ON, Canada

Thanks for sharing this interesting insight Steve!

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