Searchlight Capital
Entrepreneurial investors building and growing Australian SMEs for the long term.
For Sellers
A succession plan for retiring owners
Searchlight invests majority stakes in Australian businesses seeking a generational change in ownership. If you're selling your business, speak to us about flexible exit terms, the right business value, and an entrepreneur-first approach that continues your brand's legacy.
About us
Proven operators
Our Principals are Hugh Podmore and Grace Hynd, entrepreneurs with multiple successful exits over the past 10 years. We are backed by high net worth individuals and families who invest deal-by-deal.Investments and exits include Bound (IT services, sold to Parc Capital), Kindy (software, sold to trade buyer), and Advanced Navigation (currently scaling post KKR-led series C round).
what we look for
'Bedrock' companies
We like stable, growing businesses that serve an important need in their communities and industries. They have sticky customers and revenue, established operations (10+ years), healthy profits of $1-5m AUD per year, asset-light business models, and low founder dependency for sales or government licensing.Focus Industries include
Health and wellness
Home and facilities services
Brokerages
B2B and professional services
our strategy
Mature and grow
Our experience growing and selling SME businesses has led us to specialise in a few key areas where we can add immediate and lasting value. These include team and leadership, modern sales, marketing and CX approaches, technology transformation and AI, and growth through mergers and acquisitions.We invest in businesses that already have a great quality product or service and great customer relationships, but want to scale to the next level of success.