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Today’s Rundown

• Search fund that quadrupled revenue in 2 years

• Self-funded search acquisition insights

• French online solution for SMEs to access loans

• 4 deal / launch announcements

• 4 new career opportunities

Database Overview

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• Preview search fund investors database

Weekly Highlights

• ThePrivateEquityGuy published a new podcast episode on how Johannes Hock left PE, bought a $5m business and scaled to $21m in 2 years (M&A and organic):

  • Johannes Hawk left private equity in 2021 to pursue a faster wealth-building path, acquiring DFW Turf in 2022 and growing it from $5M to over $20M in revenue through organic expansion and acquisitions

  • He and his partner evaluated several hundred deals in just a few months, submitted around 50 IOIs, signed 3 LOIs, and closed 1 acquisition - showcasing the high-volume search strategy typical in self-funded search models

  • Initial capital structure involved a small equity raise (under 10%) with a 2x equity step-up, allowing Johannes and his partner to retain over 80% ownership, and later funding further growth via cash flow and a credit line from a New York family office

  • The business thrived due to underlying industry trends - growing adoption of artificial turf in the southern U.S. - and operational improvements such as lead generation, geographic expansion, and a focus on asset-light scaling using subcontractors

  • Post-acquisition, they emphasized cash control, team retention, and shared responsibilities, later partnering with a family office to fund add-on acquisitions while maintaining a lean corporate structure

  • Employee count increased by ~30 people post-acquisition, with operations expanded to 7 cities by 2024 and plans to open 3 new locations and complete 1–2 acquisitions annually, using a shared service model and local GMs for scalability

• M&A Zing, the the weekly show for acquisition entrepreneurs, search funders and hold-co builders, published a new episode on Sebastiaan Willen’s self-funded buy-out:

  • Sebastian acquired Vistafolia in early 2024 through a self-funded deal structured with a seller note, after initially targeting £1.5M+ EBITDA businesses but ultimately acquiring one in the £500K–£750K EBITDA range, enabling him to fund the deal personally without external equity

  • The acquisition was completed in under a year from soft-launch to close, reflecting a fast, focused search process; the business was identified early but only revisited after Sebastian revised his deal size criteria mid-search

  • Debt funding was not viable due to a high proportion of international revenue, which excluded most UK lenders - prompting a deal structure based on 100% equity and a seller note with performance-linked repayment over 5 years, but with no interest coupon

  • Sebastian aims to double or triple the business in 5 years by expanding into new geographies and strengthening the commercial engine

  • Early operational priorities included small but high-leverage improvements, such as migrating from legacy accounting software to Xero and adopting Pipedrive for CRM, while keeping structural changes minimal and focusing on cash preservation to fulfill the seller note obligations

• Bpifrance, a French public sector investment bank, launched Bpifrance Flash - an online solution for SMEs to access loans:

  • Bpifrance Flash provides unsecured digital loans to SMEs with an online application process that takes 30 minutes and disburses funds within 7 days

  • Companies can choose loan amounts from €5,000 to €75,000, with repayment periods between 3 and 7 years and an optional deferral of up to 24 months

  • Eligibility is determined by an automated risk engine, and customer support is available throughout the fully online process

  • Loans can be used for working capital, recruitment, digital transformation, and ecological transition projects

  • Eligible companies have fewer than 50 employees (or 250 regionally)

Deal / Launch Announcements

• 🇵🇱 Waldemar Pilch, searcher in Novastone Capital Advisors operator-led search fund program, announced the exit of formeds, a leading Polish clean-lable supplements brand (link)

• 🇮🇹 Massimo Piovesana and Francesco D'Egidio launched Vesta Capital, a sector-agnostic search fund (link)

• 🇬🇧 Robin Smith launched Corinium Capital, a search fund focused on B2B SaaS (link)

• 🇧🇪 Sébastien De Bock and Amaury De Bock launched a search fund in stealth mode and started their fundraising (link)

Career Opportunities

• [PE] (Senior) Investment Associate | T.Capital | Frankfurt | €190k (contact PE Jobs Europe)

• [PE] Investment Professional | Bencis | Dusseldorf (apply)

• [PE-Asset] Head of M&A | ifp | Germany (apply)*

• [PE-Asset] M&A Analyst | Camino Search | Madrid (apply)*

_*Headhunter

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