# ETA Equity

Search fund backing from deep-track investors.

Search fund investor co-founded by Matthew Zucker, who reports investing in more than 90 search funds and 30 search-acquired companies since 2008, and Mark Sinatra, a former CEO who ran two Inc. 5000 HR-outsourcing companies. Backs traditional searchers through the search, the acquisition, and the hold, with a senior-advisor bench drawn from private equity and M&A advisory.

- Category: Capital & Investors
- Pricing model: Custom Pricing
- Where it fits: Learn & Choose Your Path, Set Up & Fund the Search
- Website: https://www.etaequity.com

## At a Glance

A credible addition to a traditional [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher)'s investor list, on the strength of the founders' stated records; treat the firm as new even though the people are not, and ask for searcher references.

- Track Record: A co-founder who has personally invested in over 90 search funds and over 30 search-acquired businesses since 2008 by the home page, or 70-plus search funds since 2012 by the testimonials page. Its portfolio pages list 32 current and 7 past companies and 28 current and 56 past search funds, with a disclaimer that the list mixes the firm's, its principals' personal and their prior entities' investments.
- Lane: Traditional
- Funds: The search phase and the deal
- Based: No address or country published on its site.
- Invests: No investing scope on the pages this review read, so ask whether it will look at a search where you are.
- Buys: A front page built on how the firm behaves toward a searcher, respectful responsiveness and actionable feedback, with testimonials under it and no size band, no industry statement and no dollar figure of any kind. An explainer page about the search fund model does describe companies with EBITDA of one to three million dollars, which is the model's shape rather than a stated buy box, and it is one click off the firm's own front door.
- Before A First Call: Testimonials from searchers it has backed, about responsiveness and useful feedback during a search, and four portfolio lists split by current and past. Nothing about what it wants before a search starts.
- First-Time Operators: Testimonials from the searchers it backed, about responsiveness and feedback. None of them describes what those searchers had run before.
- 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: No check size, stake or fee on the pages this review read. Most firms on this shelf publish none, so ask early rather than late.
- What A Searcher Gets: Not published on the pages this review read. It is the figure a searcher most wants and most of this shelf does not print it, so ask before the first call rather than after.
- After The Close: Says it mentors after the acquisition and often serves on its companies' boards.

## What It Costs

Investment terms, not fees: standard traditional search-fund economics, negotiated per the model's conventions. Check sizes and criteria are not published.

## Best For

Traditional searchers who want an investor pairing long [search-fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/search-fund) pattern recognition with an operator co-founder who has actually run companies through the messy middle.

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: One founder's 90-plus search fund investments since 2008 is among the deeper track records an individual investor states
- Pro: The operator co-founder brings CEO experience, not just capital-allocator judgment
- Pro: A named senior-advisor bench ([private equity](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/private-equity), M&A advisory, wealth management) a portfolio CEO can actually draw on
- Con: Traditional search economics apply, with the standard equity and governance trade
- Con: No published check sizes or selection criteria; its four portfolio pages list companies and search funds with a year acquired on each current company, under a disclaimer that the list mixes the firm's investments with its principals' personal and prior ones
- Con: A newer firm name than its founders' histories, so firm-level track record is short even where personal track records are long

## What Searchers Say

Cited in 2026 dual-strategy capital roundups, and the founders' individual histories are public and specific. Firm-level community discussion is thinner than for the longest-standing funds, which fits how recently the firm formed; community threads carry no negative account of it.

## Sources

- https://www.etaequity.com/
- https://www.peony.ink/blog/capital-partners-independent-sponsors-search-funds
- https://etaequity.com/companies-current-investments/
- https://etaequity.com/testimonials/

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/capital.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/eta-equity
Last checked: 2026-09-23

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt