MER Search Capital
At a Glance
A self-funded buyer and a traditionally funded searcher can both approach it, which is worth more than a single-lane answer.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Investment terms, not fees. No fee is charged to a searcher; what the firm publishes about its own side is noted in the row.
- Best For
- A searcher in either the traditional or self-funded lane, which makes this one of the few backers a self-funded buyer and a funded searcher can both approach.
- Track Record
- Its founding date and its twenty-plus years belong to the parent vehicle and to its founder's own banking and operating career, which the page states outright. No count of searchers backed appears anywhere.
- Two careers and no firm record, and two sibling arms with figures of their own: an advisory arm with over a billion dollars of transactions and a real estate arm with over a hundred and fifty houses. The founding date belongs to the family office; the twenty-plus years of investment banking and five chief executive seats belong to its founder, and the page attributes them to him by name. Nothing anywhere totals what the search vehicle itself has done. Read at: All five pages on the site, the advisory and real estate arms' pages included.
- Lane
- Traditional, Self-Funded
- Funds
- The search phase and the deal
- Based
- Austin, Texas.
- Invests
- No investing scope on the pages this review read, so ask whether it will look at a search where you are.
- Buys
- $500k to $10M of EBITDA on revenue of $2.5M to $40M, profitable with reasonable margins for the industry, high recurring revenue, a reasonable valuation for the industry, a diversified customer base with low churn and multiple growth levers.
- Before A First Call
- A contact form asking a name, an email and a message, on its own page and repeated in the footer of every page, beside an instruction to use it for any deal of interest. No email, phone or application window anywhere, and nothing a searcher must be.
- First-Time Operators
- The only words about the person are that it wants to partner with young entrepreneurs and be a mentor to younger operators, which is a description of who it enjoys backing rather than a condition.
- 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
- Nothing about the years after closing on the pages this review read, whether a hold period, a first-year plan or a board role. Ask how long it expects to own the company before you sign.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Serves both the traditional and self-funded lanes and says so explicitly, which is rare here
- Separates the search-phase investment from the gap equity in the same sentence, answering both money questions
- Publishes an earnings band and a revenue range rather than qualitative criteria alone
Cons
- One of four arms of a family office, with the banking and real estate arms' figures on the same site and no count of searchers backed on any page
- Its founding date and career figures belong to the family office and to its founder personally, which its pages state
- Publishes no check size, no stake and nothing about the searcher's own economics
What Searchers Say
Named as a backer on the rosters of six separate searchers, one of which misspells the name. The family office and the search vehicle are two names for one firm and both are its own. Read whole on its five pages, every one last modified in July 2024: the contact page loads and carries a form, and no page names a searcher, a company or a vehicle.
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
- A first conversation on your background and why search, before any deal.
- A deep dive on your plan: industries, criteria, and how you will source.
- Backing for the search itself, then a fresh underwrite when you bring a live deal.
- 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