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IESE International Search Fund Center vs LatAm Search Fund Primer

Side by Side

IESE International Search Fund Center and LatAm Search Fund Primer, attribute by attribute
AttributeIESE International Search Fund CenterLatAm Search Fund Primer
What It IsThe international counterpart to Stanford's search-fund research: IESE Business School's center tracks search funds outside the US and Canada, publishes a free biennial study (2024 edition: 320 international funds, aggregate 2.0x ROI and 18.1% IRR), and hosts the biennial International Search Fund Conference in Barcelona.A study of the Latin American search fund market published by a backer that has funded searchers there since 2017, covering activity since the region's first fund in 2008. It counts 169 funds that began raising, 84 that completed the search, 59 acquisitions, 25 searches that ended without a deal and 27 that never raised, with 48 still searching at the end of 2024. It puts the region's returns at 3.1 times and the internal rate of return at 28 percent, reports a median of 36.5 percent debt in deal value and 8.2 percent in earn-outs, and shows solo searchers rising to 78 percent of the 2023 to 2024 cohort against 41 percent six years earlier.
CategoryEducation & ProgramsEducation & Programs
Pricing ModelFreeFree
What It CostsResearch reports download free; the biennial Barcelona conference and electives are priced separately (7th conference scheduled October 2026).Free, and published as a full web page rather than a gated download, so every figure is readable without an email address.
Best ForAnyone considering a search outside North America, and US searchers who want a rigorous dataset on how the model performs outside North AmericaA searcher or investor working in Latin America who needs regional numbers rather than United States ones
Where It FitsLearn & Choose Your PathLearn & Choose Your Path
Our VerdictThe essential second dataset: read it alongside the Stanford study before deciding what the search-fund model does and does not promise.If your search is in Latin America, this is the study to read first, and the United States figures are the ones that do not apply.
Pros
  • The international counterpart to the Stanford study, produced with the same discipline
  • Free to download, with fund-stage breakdowns rather than headline numbers alone
  • The center also runs the international conference and a Women in Search forum, so the research connects to a live community
  • The only regional dataset of its kind read here: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Peru counted separately
  • Reports the searches that ended without a deal and the funds that never raised, which most studies leave out
  • Breaks returns down by solo against partnered searches and reports where the losses were
Cons
  • Biennial cadence means the data can be two years old late in the cycle
  • Traditional-search-fund lens; self-funded and SBA-financed paths are outside its frame
  • International returns run below the US study's, which the report itself is candid about
  • Published by a firm that backs the funds it counts, which is disclosed on the page but is still its own market
  • Read here through the browser rather than the downloadable file, so the figures are the ones the page carries
  • Counts to the end of 2024 with three exits added from the first half of 2025, so the edges are uneven

Both rows were read at source: IESE International Search Fund Center ↗ and LatAm Search Fund Primer ↗.

Our take

Take IESE as the base case for anywhere outside North America. It is a business school with no stake in the funds it counts, its 2024 study covers 320 international funds at an aggregate 2.0x and an 18.1% IRR, and the report is candid that international returns run below the US study's. The cost is cadence. A biennial edition can be two years old late in the cycle, and self-funded and SBA-financed paths sit outside its frame entirely.

Read the LatAm primer when the search is actually in Latin America, because nothing else counts that market on its own. It holds 169 funds that began raising, 59 acquisitions, 48 still searching at the end of 2024, returns of 3.1 times at a 28% IRR, and a median 36.5% debt in deal value. Weigh it knowing the publisher has backed searchers in the region since 2017 and is counting its own market, which its page discloses. Three 2025 exits also sit on top of a count that otherwise stops at 2024.