Founder recapitalization
Take meaningful capital off the table, de-risk your family's wealth and keep leading the company with a partner who invests in the next phase.
Clear criteria. Uncommon execution.
We invest in profitable, founder-led companies in the lower middle market and help them become the professionalized, technology-enabled leaders of their categories.
Investment criteria
What we look for.
We publish our criteria because clarity respects everyone's time. If your business fits, you will hear from a partner, not a process.
- Geography
- Canada and the United StatesHeadquartered in North America, with a bias toward businesses we can reach in a day.
- Company profile
- Established, profitable, founder- or management-led companies in the lower middle marketA history of consistent cash generation and a clear path to the next stage of growth.
- Ownership
- Control and significant minority positionsFlexible structures including majority recapitalizations, management buyouts and growth investments, with room for add-on acquisitions.
- Sectors
- Business & industrial services · Software & tech-enabled services · Healthcare services · Specialty manufacturing & distribution
- Business characteristics
- Recurring or re-occurring revenue, diversified customers, a defensible position and a team that wants to winUnderinvestment in systems, data or process is not a flaw. It is often where we add the most.
- We generally avoid
- Turnarounds, pre-profit ventures, commodity exposure and businesses dependent on a single customer or regulatory outcome
Situations we back
Five kinds of moments.
Succession & transition
A thoughtful path from founder to the next generation of leadership, designed over years rather than months, with your legacy and people protected.
Management buyout
Back the team that already runs the business to own it, with capital, governance and a technology platform to accelerate what they know needs doing.
Growth & buy-and-build
Fund organic expansion and a programmatic acquisition strategy in fragmented markets, with integration handled by people who have done it before.
Corporate carve-out
Give a non-core division the focus, systems and independence it needs to thrive as a standalone company.
Not sure where you fit?
Talk to us anyway.
Some of the best partnerships begin as a conversation about what is possible.
Get in touchValue creation
The Leap Framework, in practice.
A hundred-day plan is only as good as the people who execute it. Ours is executed by LeapHL engineers, data specialists and transformation leads embedded in the company, working to a scorecard the management team co-authored.
- Arrive
Diagnose
Customer and margin analytics, systems and security assessment, organizational review and a cash-flow baseline. Output: a multi-year value plan with quarterly milestones and named owners.
- Strengthen
Professionalize
Upgrade the finance function, install a monthly operating rhythm, recruit key leaders and an independent director, and put incentive plans in place that share the upside broadly.
- Modernize
Digitize
Modern ERP and CRM foundations, AI-driven automation of the back office and customer service, real-time KPI dashboards and a data layer that makes every later acquisition easier to integrate.
- Grow
Scale
Pricing and sales effectiveness programs, new geographies and service lines, and a disciplined add-on pipeline with a repeatable integration playbook.
- Compound
Endure
A larger, more resilient company with institutional-quality reporting and a deep bench, positioned for continued compounding, a recapitalization or a transition to the right long-term owner.
Our process
From first call to close.
A small, senior team. Decisions made by the people you meet. Every situation is different, and we move at the pace yours requires.
Confidential conversation
We learn about you and the business, share how we work and agree whether it is worth going further. Everything is under NDA.
Indication of interest
A written view on valuation range, structure and the partnership we envision, based on high-level financials and a management meeting.
Letter of intent
Detailed terms including the role of the founder and management, equity rollover and the initial value plan. We aim to close on these terms.
Confirmatory diligence & close
Financial, legal, commercial and technology diligence run in parallel by a coordinated team. Our hundred-day plan is ready at signing.
Frequently asked
Straight answers.
We invest in established, profitable, founder- or management-led companies in North America's lower middle market. We look for recurring or re-occurring revenue, a defensible position, a team that wants to win and clear operational levers, particularly where systems, data and process have been underinvested. Add-on acquisitions for our platform companies can be of any size.
No. We are comfortable with control transactions and with significant minority positions where governance rights are clear and interests are aligned. Many founders choose to sell a majority stake while retaining meaningful ownership and continuing to lead the company.
LeapHL is a technology and AI transformation firm. Its teams work directly inside our portfolio companies to modernize systems (ERP, CRM, data), automate back-office and customer-facing processes with AI, harden cybersecurity and build management dashboards. These services are provided at cost under an arm's-length agreement, so the value accrues to the company and its shareholders.
We invest with a long-term horizon, and our structures allow us to hold as long as continued compounding is the best outcome for the business. We do not force exits to fit a fund calendar.
Business and industrial services, software and tech-enabled services, healthcare services, and specialty manufacturing and distribution. Within those sectors we look for recurring or re-occurring revenue, fragmented competition and clear operational levers.
Quickly. We use a small, senior team and make decisions at the principal level, so after an initial conversation we can give a clear indication of interest without a lengthy process. With cooperative access to information, confirmatory diligence and closing proceed in parallel workstreams rather than in sequence.
Next step
If your business fits, let's talk.
Owners, executives and advisors are welcome to reach us directly. A partner responds to every enquiry.