UK Search Funds

The backers

Search fund investors in the UK: who backs searchers, and how

Updated

A traditional searcher raises money from investors to fund the search, then more to buy the business, usually with bank debt beside it. These are backers that say so on their own pages.

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Investors in searchers

Endurance Search Partners says it has a history of over 350 search fund partnerships, providing searchers with mentorship, resources and its network.

Source: UK Search Fund Investors: every row, with its source

Lenders to search fund acquisitions

Shawbrook says its debt for financing search fund vehicles starts at around £3m and can go up to £50m for asset-based lending and £25m for cash flow lending, with a sweet spot between £5m and £15m.

Source: Shawbrook: what specialist funders look for in search fund deals

In Shawbrook's own worked example, a company with £2m of EBITDA sold for £10m, the bank would seek to fund up to £5m, half of the price, with a significant contribution expected from the investors and the searcher.

Source: Shawbrook: what specialist funders look for in search fund deals

What investors have earned

Stanford GSB reports that as of 31 December 2025 all search funds it tracks generated an aggregate IRR of 33.9% and a return of 4.75 times the money invested.

Source: Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path

IESE reports an aggregate return of 2.8 times and an IRR of 30% for international search funds in its latest study, up from 18% in the previous one.

Source: IESE: search funds' record expansion

Tell us what you want to buy

Sector, area, price range and timing. Joseph Ellul reads it himself and replies directly. Free, no obligation.

What you want to buy

A town, a region or anywhere: it is the first filter on any search.

Share purchase or asset purchase?

It changes the tax, the diligence and who takes on the liabilities. Not sure is a fine answer.

  • Free, and no obligation
  • Read and answered by Joseph Ellul himself; no firm receives it
  • Information only: no tax, legal or investment advice

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.
  1. IESE: search funds' record expansion
  2. Stanford GSB: search funds keep offering a proven path
  3. Stanford GSB: search fund research
  4. Searchfunder: UK traditional search capital raise
  5. Gust: P6 Capital
  6. Searchfunder: launch of Roxbi Capital
  7. Searchfunder: Juxon Capital Partners launch
  8. Shawbrook: what specialist funders look for in search fund deals

Tell us what you want to buy.

Sector, area, price range and timing. Joseph Ellul reads it himself and replies directly. Free, no obligation.

Send my brief
Send my brief