The Cambria Group

At a Glance

Worth a call precisely because it is structure-flexible: if your path shifts between search fund and independent sponsor, this desk has seen both.

Pricing

Custom Pricing, Investment terms, not fees: search-fund and acquisition economics negotiated per the model's conventions.

Best For

Searchers and deal-by-deal buyers who want an investor comfortable across structures rather than committed to one model

Track Record

300-plus platform investments plus hundreds of add-ons, founded 1996; on the search side its principals name 200-plus traditional search funds backed, 110-plus acquired businesses, roughly twenty search-acquired boards, and 35 to 45 active searchers at any one time. Its portfolio page lists 354 companies with no person, year or status on any.

Lane

Traditional, Self-Funded

Funds

The search phase and the deal

In the Round

Says it will either lead or join, depending on the deal.

Based

Dallas, Texas.

Invests

Across 40-plus states and Canada by its home page; its own by-location page says thirty-two states and four countries, and its portfolio's locations add Scotland and England to Canada, Mexico and Korea.

Buys

Businesses earning at least $1M of operating profit, in transactions worth up to $25M.

Before A First Call

A criteria page entirely about the company and the transaction, down to equity of up to $5M and operating earnings of at least $1M. Its search funds page counts the searchers it works with at any one time and names no condition on becoming one of them.

First-Time Operators

Criteria entirely about the company and the transaction, and a search funds page counting how many searchers it works with at a time. That page lists six searcher traits, a track record of leadership among them, and says in the same breath that there is no such thing as the perfect searcher; a profile with its own disclaimer is not a bar.

How Long The Search Runs

No length on the search and nothing about what happens if it ends without a deal, on the pages this review read. Ask what the clock is before you sign anything.

Published Terms

Writes up to $5M of its own equity into a deal.

What A Searcher Gets

It publishes the equity it writes into a deal and nothing about search capital or the equity a searcher earns.

After The Close

Says its holding periods across the firm generally run three to ten years, with some investments held more than twenty.

Roadmap Stages

1. Learn & Choose Your Path3. Set Up & Fund the Search

Pros and Cons

What Searchers Say

A quiet fixture of the small-business acquisition world for decades, run from Dallas since its whole-site read; less visible in searcher social media than the dedicated funds, which says nothing about the capital. Its portfolio page names 354 companies with a sentence and a location each and no person or year.

How to Approach

Firms do not publish a term sheet you can prepare against, so this is how traditional (investor-backed) search capital comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.

The Typical Arc

1. A first conversation on your background and why search, before any deal.
2. A deep dive on your plan: industries, criteria, and how you will source.
3. Backing for the search itself, then a fresh underwrite when you bring a live deal.
4. A board seat and governance once you close.

What It Weighs

• ✓Whether you will finish a two-year search, not only start one.
• ✓The quality of your thesis and target criteria.
• ✓How you will behave on a cap table over a long hold.

How to Prepare

• Bring a sourcing thesis, not a blank slate. Buyer Profile Builder
• Know which firms lead versus follow, and on what terms. Investors
• Make your operator case on one page. Buyer Profile Builder

More Capital & Investors