Building the next generation of search

We invest in search fund entrepreneurs and the companies they build.

Proven track record of success in search

We are top-decile searchers, business builders and experienced search fund investors. We bring this deep operational expertise to bear for our searchers, enabling them to take businesses from good to great.

Our investing philosophy

COMPANY FUNDAMENTALS

We look for companies with a long history of stable cashflows in growing industries. We prefer companies with recurring revenues, and that don’t require searchers to learn highly technical skills.

AMAZING TALENT

We believe the best searchers will find good companies and turn them into great companies. We look for distinctive intellectual horsepower, grit and a track record of extreme success.

DEAL STRUCTURE

We prefer conservative capital structure with thoughtful scenario planning for both upside and downside outcomes. We want to share in exciting results with searchers and employees.

SUPPORTIVE CAPITAL

We believe in doing the right thing more than squeezing every dollar out of a deal. We view searchers as our partners and community.

Helping searchers succeed

  • We can roll up our sleeves to help solve problems in sales and marketing, talent, technology, operations, finance, strategy and other areas. We have done this successfully ourselves in Search companies, and can help you do the same.

  • We offer robust programming to share operational learnings from our successful search fund history, including hosting PortCo offsites, Best Practices sessions & playbooks, talent recruitment / placement capabilities and more.

  • We open our deep network to create connections with customers, key employees, vendors, and advisors, in order to stack the deck in your favor. We have many successful search entrepreneurs, sellers and C-Suite executives across industries in our network, and leverage their expertise for our searchers.

  • We are experienced due diligence and deal partners. We’ve invested in dozens of private company deals and benefit from 50+ years of experience at Bain & Co., CIBC Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley, and McKinsey.

  • We love to invest additional capital when a company is positioned for continued growth. Rob did this in his searcher journey and built Stealth Monitoring to $100+ million annual recurring revenue. We can help you do the same.

  • We are patient investors who love investing for the long term. We are structured accordingly and can hold great companies for longer than a traditional investor.

  • “Rob and the Legate team have shown leadership at every step of my search journey. Whether it was working to get sellers on our side, crafting our long-term strategy, or helping with Board dynamics, they never shied away from taking a leading role when we asked them to.”

    - Justin Watson,
    CatchAll Environmental

  • “The team at Legate Partners has an exceptional network and deal flow. They've connected us with high-quality opportunities we never would have known about otherwise. With Legate you get both a thoughtful, collaborative partner and invaluable access to their rolodex of business leaders.”

    - Derick Stace-Naughton,
    Badger Hill

  • “Legate’s operational experience is second to none. They've rolled up their sleeves alongside us, diving deep into our business to identify and implement major growth levers based on their experience as operators themselves.”

    - Ryan DeCaire, CEO,
    Paw Prosper

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