Siwa Capital
At a Glance
The clearest published answer to what a searcher actually keeps, which is the question this shelf can least often answer.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Investment terms, not fees. No fee is charged to a searcher; what the firm publishes about its own side is in the row.
- Best For
- A searcher in any model who wants to know before the first call what share of the cap table a backer will take.
- Track Record
- $90M-plus under management across two dated funds, $35M in 2024 and $55M in 2025, with 25-plus transactions, 20-plus searchers backed and 8-plus independent sponsor deals.
- Lane
- Traditional, Self-Funded
- Funds
- The search phase and the deal
- Based
- Los Angeles, California.
- Invests
- The United States at its core, with select investments in Canada.
- Buys
- Industry agnostic, wanting strong profitability, recurring revenues, low customer concentration, healthy margins, high switching costs and defensible advantages. No earnings band.
- Before A First Call
- A form and an email address, beside a criteria page that describes what it wants of a COMPANY. The one person-facing phrase asks for a credible right to win, which is about a searcher's thesis rather than a condition on who may write.
- First-Time Operators
- Nothing requiring prior experience of any kind. What it asks for is a compelling right to win in the chosen space, which is an argument a searcher makes rather than a history they must have.
- 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
- Minority equity of $500k to $5M, with a preferred range of $1M to $3M per deal.
- What A Searcher Gets
- A cap-table allocation of 5 to 15 percent in a traditional search fund, stated as its own target. Very little else here publishes the searcher's own side of the trade.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Publishes the cap-table allocation it targets in a traditional search fund, which is the searcher's own economics rather than the firm's
- Publishes a check range and a preferred range inside it, so the size of the relationship is knowable up front
- Names five models it is open to, including self-funded and independent sponsor, rather than one lane
Cons
- Never uses the words search capital or search phase, so its participation before an acquisition is implied by the cap-table figure rather than stated
- Publishes no earnings band for the companies it wants, only qualitative traits
- One of its experience figures has an ambiguous subject and cannot be attributed to the firm with confidence
What Searchers Say
Named as a backer on the rosters of five separate searchers. Its two funds are dated on its own page, which is unusual on this shelf and makes the tenure checkable.
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