Read October 2026
List of search funds UK
A search fund is one or two people who raise money to find, buy and run a single business. IESE counts 96 new international search funds launched in 2024, and 73% of concluded international searches ended in an acquisition. Tell Joseph Ellul what you want to buy and he replies himself.
Source: IESE: search funds' record expansion
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96
new international search funds launched in 2024, a record (IESE)
IESE: search funds' record expansion -
73%
of concluded international searches ended in an acquisition (IESE)
IESE: search funds' record expansion -
58%
aggregate acquisition rate of US and Canadian search funds since 1996 (Stanford GSB)
Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path
Tell us what you want to buy
What happens next
- Step 1 Tell us the sector, the area, the price range and whether you would buy the shares or the assets. Two minutes, no account.
- Step 2 Joseph Ellul reads the brief himself. Nothing is passed to a broker, a panel or a marketing list.
- Step 3 You get a reply about what a search for that brief involves. Ask questions, carry on, or do nothing.
This is a free information site run by Joseph Ellul. When you send a brief, he reads it and replies to you himself; it is not passed to any broker, fund or firm, and you pay nothing to ask. The site carries no advertising, no sponsored placement and no affiliate links, and it does not promote any fund or investment. A search fund or investor is named only from what it published itself, dated. Nothing here is tax, legal, regulated or investment advice; check the source before you rely on a row.
Search funds by the numbers, and UK searchers' own criteria
Last updated
Each row is a figure stated by the study or the searcher named, on the page linked, read on the date shown. The IESE study covers search funds outside the US and Canada; Stanford GSB's covers the US and Canada. A UK searcher appears only from its own statement.
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 17 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 14 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 1 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 60 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per UK searcher: the fund's name, the searcher's own stated criteria (sector, EBITDA or revenue band, margin, geography), traditional or self-funded, the date of its own statement and its Companies House record; the count by stage and criteria band, against the IESE count of international searchers
| What is counted | Figure | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New international search funds launched in 2024 (IESE) | 96 | 2026-10-28 | IESE: search funds' record expansion |
| International search funds that had acquired a company (IESE) | 216 | 2026-10-28 | IESE: search funds' record expansion |
| Concluded international searches that ended in an acquisition (IESE) | 73% | 2026-10-28 | IESE: search funds' record expansion |
| Core search funds tracked in the US and Canada since 1996 (Stanford GSB) | over 850 | 2026-10-28 | Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path |
| Aggregate acquisition rate since 1996, US and Canada (Stanford GSB) | 58% | 2026-10-28 | Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path |
| A UK traditional search fund raising capital: EBITDA sought | £1.5m or more | 2026-10-28 | Searchfunder: UK traditional search capital raise |
Cite this page
“Search funds by the numbers, and UK searchers' own criteria”, UK Search Funds, https://uksearchfunds.co.uk/ (updated 2026-10-29). Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 17 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 14 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 1 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 60 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per UK searcher: the fund's name, the searcher's own stated criteria (sector, EBITDA or revenue band, margin, geography), traditional or self-funded, the date of its own statement and its Companies House record; the count by stage and criteria band, against the IESE count of international searchers
Worth knowing
Every figure sourced and dated.
- UK search funds: the searchers, and the businesses they say they want
UK search funds named from their own launch posts and profiles, with the turnover, EBITDA, margin and sectors each says it is looking for.
- Search fund investors in the UK: who backs searchers, and how
Who backs UK search funds: dedicated search fund investors and the lenders that fund their acquisitions, each from its own page, with the figures it states.
- Search fund statistics: the IESE and Stanford GSB studies
Search fund statistics from the two studies that count them: launches, acquisition rates and outcomes, from IESE for international funds and Stanford GSB for the US.
Questions, answered directly
What is a search fund?
One or two people who raise money from investors to find, buy and then run a single business. IESE counts 96 new international search funds launched in 2024.(IESE: search funds' record expansion)
How many search funds succeed in buying a business?
Stanford GSB reports an aggregate acquisition rate of 58% for US and Canadian search funds since 1996; IESE reports 73% of concluded international searches ending in an acquisition.(Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path)
What size of business does a UK search fund buy?
Each sets its own criteria. One UK traditional searcher asks for £1.5m or more of EBITDA; P6 Capital names £5m to £25m of turnover with an EBITDA margin above 15%.(Gust: P6 Capital)
Is this investment advice?
No. This site gives information only, read from public pages on the dates shown. It is not investment, tax or legal advice, and it does not promote any fund.(UK Search Funds Register: every row, with its source)
Sources
This site's own datasets, every figure quoted from its source and dated:
- The UK Search Fund Investors carries 1 published figure read from 1 source's own page, from 350 to 350 search, read 28 October 2026.
- The UK Search Funds Register carries 2 published figures read from 2 sources' own pages, from 58 to 73 percent, read 28 October 2026.
- IESE: search funds' record expansion
- Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path
- Stanford GSB: search fund research
- Searchfunder: UK traditional search capital raise
- Gust: P6 Capital
- Searchfunder: launch of Roxbi Capital
- Searchfunder: Juxon Capital Partners launch
- Shawbrook: what specialist funders look for in search fund deals