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Search Fund Partners vs TTCER Partners

Side by Side

Search Fund Partners and TTCER Partners, attribute by attribute
AttributeSearch Fund PartnersTTCER Partners
What It IsThe first private equity fund dedicated to investing in search funds, by its own words, founded in 2003 by two operating chief executives. It invests in traditional searches and the acquisitions they produce, with partners who are largely former searchers and CEOs; its portfolio grid carries about 190 investments, roughly half of them exited, and its home page counts 195 acquisitions.The partnership formed in 2007 by the operators and first backers behind Asurion, which it calls the most successful search fund acquisition ever. It invests in search-acquired businesses with a stated long-term lens, and reports a role in building over 200 search-acquired and other businesses across 50-plus boards.
CategoryCapital & InvestorsCapital & Investors
Pricing ModelCustom PricingCustom Pricing
What It CostsInvestment terms, not fees. The site publishes no terms on either side; the traditional search-fund structure, which the Stanford primer in this directory explains, is what applies.Investment terms, not fees: acquisition economics negotiated per the search model's conventions; nothing is published.
Best ForTraditional searchers assembling a cap table who want the longest-tenured dedicated investor in the room and partners who have sat in the searcher's chairTraditional searchers at the acquisition stage who want operators from the model's biggest outcome on the cap table and are not counting on search-phase funding
Where It FitsLearn & Choose Your Path, Set Up & Fund the SearchLearn & Choose Your Path, Set Up & Fund the Search
Our VerdictIf you are raising a traditional search, the longest track record in the niche belongs on your outreach list; just arrive already fluent in the standard economics.Pedigree capital for the acquisition round: the bench that built the model's best case, if your search budget is already covered.
Pros
  • The category's original dedicated fund, with two decades of pattern recognition
  • Partners are predominantly former searchers and operating CEOs
  • A deep portfolio history that third-party trackers document independently
  • The team operated and backed Asurion, the model's benchmark outcome, and says so plainly
  • A stated long-term lens with mentorship framed as the product, not just capital
  • A role in over 200 search-acquired and other businesses is depth few benches match
Cons
  • Traditional search economics mean meaningful equity and governance go to the investor group; understand the standard structure before any conversation
  • Selective by design; a strong personal and deal thesis is table stakes
  • Terms and process details are not published, which is the norm for the category
  • No published claim of funding the search phase itself, so budget your search elsewhere
  • Terms and check sizes are not published; the structure is, in one sentence, its own capital only
  • Selective and low-profile, so access runs through the searcher network rather than a process

Both rows were read at source: Search Fund Partners ↗ and TTCER Partners ↗.

Our take

Choose Search Fund Partners when you need the whole arc funded: the firm, a dedicated search investor for over 20 years by its own account, buys search units as well as acquisition equity, so the same partner carries you from day one.

Choose TTCER for the acquisition round itself: the operators behind Asurion bring board depth from more than 50 boards and a role in over 200 search-acquired and other businesses, but nothing they publish says they fund the search itself.