Has anyone recently completed a fund (raised search capital)?
October 26, 2020
by a searcher from Georgetown University in New York, NY, USA
Looking to speak to a few searchers who recently raised initial search capital. New to search and contemplating a raise, would love to hear what the market's like right now.
from The University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, USA
My quick take is that many investors paused/slowed commitments in the spring/early summer as they focused on supporting their portfolio company CEOs. Now, many have re-started and there is still active interest in backing new searchers. Although there's lots of uncertainty due to COVID, investing in a search fund is an inexpensive option to invest in a future deal in the next ~24 months, during which time there may be more clarity and/or great investment opportunities. Seasoned search fund and private market investors take a long-term view., so expect them to continue backing new people. If anything has changed, I think it's that investors are even more focused on recurring revenue business models in industries that are insulated from economic shocks, but that has always been a core tenet of search fund investing.