Can You Guess the Top 50 Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms?

Every now and then Inc. magazine releases some interesting lists related to private equity and venture capital. They recently released their take on the top 50 most entrepreneur friendly companies in the U.S. The following is a map of such. Can you guess which companies are tops on the list?

Take your guesses now, because the list follows. Before looking at the list, is anyone surprised by the less-than-complete geographic dispersion of investing companies working with entrepreneurs? The middle of America has very few private equity and venture capital firms, comparatively speaking. The states of Utah and Colorado have a couple – other than that, all the top entrepreneurial friendly investing companies are headquartered along the east or west coast.

Have you taken your guesses? On to the list.

The List

The following table captures Inc. magazine’s top 50 most entrepreneurial friendly companies. The list is in no particular order.

The companies on the list with the largest target portfolio of companies

The list offers many ways to slice and dice the data. The first view captures the investing companies that have the largest target portfolio of companies. The companies on Inc. magazine’s list includes:

• CCMP Capital, headquartered in New York, New York, with a target company size of between $250 million and $2 billion in enterprise value.
• Permira, with locations in Menlo Park, California and New York, New York, targets companies with enterprise values of between $200 million and $5 billion.
• Thomas H. Lee Partners, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with a firm target size of between $250 million and $2.5 billion in enterprise value.
• Trilantic North America, headquartered in New York, New York, with an enterprise target value of $100 million to $1 billion.
• Wynnchurch Capital, headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, with an annual revenue target for the target company of $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenue.

The two Midwest companies

Out of interest, can you guess which company headquartered in Utah is on the list and which company is headquartered in Colorado? Take a guess.

• The Utah-based company is Tower Arch Capital, headquartered in Draper, Utah. Tower Arch Capital has a target annual revenue for target companies of between $20 million to $150 million.
• The Colorado-based company is Mountaingate Capital. Mountaingate Capital has a company earnings before income taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) of $5 million to $25 million.

Some of the investing companies with the smallest targets

• Clearview Capital, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with a target EBITDA of between $4 million and $20 million.
• JMI Equity, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland and San Diego, California, with an annual revenue target of between $10 million and $50 million.
• Palladium Equity Partners, headquartered in New York, New York, with an EBITDA of between $10 million and $75 million.
• Prospect Partners, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with an annual revenue target of between $10 million and $75 million.
• Ridgemont Equity Partners, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with an EBITDA target of between $5 million and $50 million.
• Shorehill Capital, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with an EBITDA target of between $3 million and $15 million.
• Source Capital, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with an annual revenue target of between $10 million and $75 million.
• Spell Capital, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with an annual revenue target of $5 million and above.
• Stripes, headquartered in New York, New York, with annual revenue target of $10 million and above.
• Tecum Capital, headquartered in Wexford, Pennsylvania, with an EBITDA target of $3 million to $15 million.
• TPG Growth, headquartered in San Francisco, California, with an annual revenue target of $15 million and above.

Conclusion

Overall, Inc. magazine has an interesting view of the top 50 most entrepreneur friendly investing companies in the U.S. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the list is heavily focused on investing companies along the east and west coasts. Perhaps next year – very likely next year – many other investing companies, such as the exploding investing scene in Austin, Texas – may show up on the list.