MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital)

The whole-life return multiple: the total cash an investment returns divided by the cash put in, so a $500k stake that pays back $1.5M is a 3.0x MOIC. Unlike IRR, it ignores how long the money was out.

It is the number the search-fund studies report beside IRR, and aggregate returns cluster near 2.0x across the major datasets; IRR alone can flatter a fast, small exit, so a searcher reads the multiple and the hold length together, since a 2.0x in three years and a 2.0x in ten years hand investors the same dollars at very different annualized rates.

In numbers: Investors put $2,000,000 into a deal and receive $5,000,000 when it sells: a 2.5x MOIC, whether the hold ran four years or eight.