Search fund opportunity in India - my 5 key takeaways

Member resources:

Frequent asked questions:

What is Searchfunder.com?

Searchfunder.com is an online community of searchers, investors, lenders, brokers and other professionals. Over 80% of those involved in searchfunds maintain a Searchfunder account to help them network, hire, and mentor others.

What are the benefits of membership?

In addition to accessing the most active online network of business buyers, Searchfunder licenses research that is simply not cost effective for individuals. Access over 15,000 industry reports and 50,000 transaction financials. You also get monthly credits for contact information for your company sourcing campaign with the option to purchase more at drastically discounted rates. Searchfunder has pre-purchased access from these data providers in order to empower individual buyers and to help searchers level the playing field versus private equity.

Do you have deals?

While we are primarily a buy-side network, we do have hundreds of brokers that regularly post deals to the community.

Can I find an internship on Searchfunder?

Absolutely! We have the industry's largest intern job board. If you are considering a search, the first step is to help another business buyer so you can hit the ground running.

What does it cost?

Searchfunder is a subscription service. We offer flexible monthly, annual and lifetime memberships.

Monthly

$79 / month

Annual

$19 / month

Lifetime

$432 / once

Those who maintain an account with us for over 4 continuous years are permanently added to the community without the need for a membership.

Do I need an MBA to join?

While a large number of our members come from dedicated programs at Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth, and other top programs, searching is no longer reserved for the elite. With the current abundance of dry powder in private equity, and an increasing number of business owners reaching retirement age, good deals rarely go unfunded.

Post a question, deal, job, etc...

Make a post...

Complete registration to post.

by a searcher from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management
in San Francisco, CA, USA

6yrs ago

Search fund opportunity in India - my 5 key takeaways

Total market-cap of the Indian family-owned companies is ~$800B. Many of these family owned small businesses can be a good target for acquisition via search fund model. The search fund opportunity in India is massive but also faces unique set of challenges. No MBA entrepreneur has succeeded in acquiring/exiting a business via search fund in India. I am sharing 5 key takeaways from my search fund research work in India during 2017 summer. #Searchfund #Entrepreneurship #India

redacted

10 Likes

475 Views

reply by a searcher 6yrs ago
from Northwestern University in San Francisco, CA, USA

Amitabh, you will see a wide variety of businesses out there. A company where I am doing due diligence is pharma manufacturing company that only exports out of India mostly in South Asia market. Earlier I connected with biotech company, hospitals, manufacturing, construction and a number of service companies. Many of them are seeking debt in the market that you can covert in equity option if you develop a good relationship with owner and trust the partnership.

reply by a searcher 2yrs ago
in Washington, D.C., DC, USA

Thanks for sharing these insights! ^redacted‌ - Not only acquiring but also selling into SMB in India was quite difficult and has it's own lengthy process. Back inredacted, when I was doing SunAlliance, I was selling clean energy to SMB businesses without the headache of 'upfront investment' but it was super difficult to (1) Find right POC, (2) Sell. Consultative sales approach did not help (in my personal journey).

I realized largely these deals worked out through close network or after recommendation - Having access to BNI helped to some extent.

However, as you pointed out - I still see huge opportunity in India. The family run-business are looking for exit, but there is no formal process for their exit journey. Do you know if there are any platform built for SMBs to sell their business -- So like MicroAcquire or Smobi type of Marketplace but India focused?