# Relay Investments

A lead investor for traditional searches.

A Boston search fund investor that acts as lead in most of the searches it joins, publishing what few firms do. It typically takes 15 to 25% of a search cap table and aims $1M to $3.5M at the acquisition equity, with a portfolio of 160-plus acquired companies by its own count.

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

## At a Glance

Start here if you want one committed lead rather than assembling fifteen small checks; the published ranges make the first conversation concrete.

- Track Record: Its own highlights: 250-plus search funds backed, 160-plus companies acquired, $200M under management, and two outperformance claims against the average, 73% of its searchers acquiring against 69% and 77% of its operators producing a positive IRR against 61%. Its story page dates three funds, closed in 2015, 2018 and 2022, and its portfolio renders about 240 search-fund cards and about 160 company cards, roughly half of them still held.
- Lane: Traditional
- Funds: The search phase and the deal
- In the Round: Says it leads or anchors, so it is a call to make early.
- Based: Boston.
- Invests: The United States chiefly; it says it also backs searches internationally, and its portfolio carries vehicles in Mexico, Spain, Brazil, France, Italy, India, Portugal and Canada.
- Buys: Industry agnostic by its own statement, evaluating deals from nearly any vertical.
- Before A First Call: A placement memorandum, which it reviews in draft alongside thesis work and investor introductions. It sets no bar on shape, saying it has seen very successful funds led by both solo and partnered searchers.
- First-Time Operators: A process page quoting Stanford's definition of a search fund, built around top-tier MBA graduates, and captions naming its own searchers by their business school. That is the model's description and its portfolio's composition, not a rule it publishes.
- 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: Typically 15 to 25% of the cap table and $1M to $3.5M at the acquisition.
- What A Searcher Gets: Its home page says a solo searcher takes a higher share of the upside, up to 25%, and partnered searchers a smaller share each, up to 30% between the two. Its process page says searchers receive common equity vesting over time and tied to the company's performance, paid out after investors get their capital back plus a preferred return. It writes these as the model's terms rather than its own sheet, and says nothing about pay during the search.
- After The Close: Quotes Stanford on leading the company for the medium to long term, and its process page puts the manage-and-grow stage at four to seven-plus years.

## What It Costs

Investment terms, not fees, and Relay publishes its: typically 15% to 25% of the search cap table, with $1M to $3.5M aimed at the acquisition equity.

## Best For

Traditional [searchers](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) who want a named lead investor with published [cap-table](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/cap-table) expectations rather than a syndicate of small passive checks

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Acts as lead in most searches it joins, which means real sponsorship at raise time
- Pro: Publishes its cap-table share and check-size expectations, rare candor in the category
- Pro: Mentorship and board involvement are stated parts of the model, not add-ons
- Con: Traditional search economics apply, with the standard equity and governance trade
- Con: A lead position concentrates influence with one firm across search and hold
- Con: Selection criteria beyond the published ranges are not stated

## What Searchers Say

A fixture in [search-fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/search-fund) investor lists; the lead-investor role means references from its searchers carry more signal than roundup mentions.

## Compared With

- A lead that publishes its terms, or one that publishes its record? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/relay-investments-vs-housatonic-partners.md)

## Sources

- https://www.relayinvestments.com/
- https://www.relayinvestments.com/portfolio
- https://www.relayinvestments.com/about

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

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