About SearchFundMarket

Founded by

Mottalib Radif

Search Fund and Entrepreneurship Expert · MBA, INSEAD

Entrepreneurship through acquisition and search fund expert, MBA INSEAD graduate. Passionate about connecting search fund entrepreneurs with investors and facilitating small business acquisitions. He built SearchFundMarket to give the European ETA ecosystem the infrastructure it was missing — a single platform where searchers, investors, and sellers can find each other and transact with confidence.

LinkedIn profile

Our Mission

Acquisition entrepreneurship has long been concentrated in the United States, with a well-established ecosystem of MBA programs, investors, and advisors supporting the model. In Europe, the opportunity is just as large — arguably larger — but the infrastructure to connect searchers, sellers, and investors has been missing.

Our mission is to democratize access to acquisition entrepreneurship across Europe. We want to make it as easy for a searcher in Madrid to find a business in Lyon as it is for a searcher in Boston to find one in Dallas. We are building the connective tissue that the European search fund ecosystem needs to scale.

What Is a Search Fund?

A search fund is an investment vehicle through which an aspiring entrepreneur (the “searcher”) raises capital from a group of investors to fund a full-time search for a privately held company to acquire. Once a target company is identified, the searcher raises acquisition capital — typically from the same investor group — to complete the purchase and become the CEO.

The concept originated at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1984 and has since been adopted by top MBA programs worldwide, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, IESE, and London Business School. Today, hundreds of search funds are active globally, with the model expanding rapidly in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

What makes the search fund model distinctive is its two-stage structure. During the search phase (typically 18 to 24 months), the entrepreneur is funded to search full-time, evaluating dozens or even hundreds of potential acquisition targets. During the acquisition and operation phase, the searcher becomes the owner-operator of the business, responsible for strategic decisions, day-to-day management, and long-term value creation.

The ETA Model: Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) is a path to business ownership where an entrepreneur — often an MBA graduate — raises a small fund from investors to finance a search for a company to acquire and operate. Unlike traditional private equity, the searcher becomes the CEO, running the business day-to-day and building long-term value.

The typical search fund targets profitable small and medium-sized businesses with strong cash flows, loyal customers, and defensible market positions. These are companies with revenues between €1M and €10M and EBITDA margins that support acquisition financing. Sectors like B2B services, healthcare, education, and niche manufacturing are particularly attractive.

The model has produced exceptional returns for investors — historically averaging over 30% IRR in the US — while giving entrepreneurs a fast track to CEO-level responsibility and meaningful equity ownership. The alignment of incentives between searchers and investors is one of the model's greatest strengths: the searcher typically earns significant equity (up to 25-30% of the acquired company) that vests over time, ensuring long-term commitment to building value.

Traditional vs. Self-Funded Search

There are two primary models within ETA. In the traditional search fund, the entrepreneur raises initial capital (typically €400K-600K) from 10 to 20 investors to fund the search phase. These investors receive the right to invest pro-rata in the eventual acquisition. In a self-funded search, the entrepreneur finances the search personally or through a small commitment, often targeting smaller businesses and retaining a larger equity stake. Both models are well-represented on SearchFundMarket.

The MBA Search Fund Tradition

Search funds have deep roots in MBA culture. Programs at Stanford, Harvard, INSEAD, IESE, and HEC Paris actively teach acquisition entrepreneurship and connect students with the investor community. Many of the most successful search fund operators launched their searches immediately after graduating. The MBA network provides deal flow, mentorship, and investor introductions that are difficult to replicate outside the ecosystem. SearchFundMarket aims to extend these advantages beyond the MBA bubble, making the search fund model accessible to a broader pool of talented entrepreneurs.

How the Platform Works

SearchFundMarket is designed to reduce the friction inherent in the search fund acquisition process. The platform serves three distinct user groups, each with tailored tools and workflows:

For searchers: Browse acquisition opportunities across European markets, filter by sector, geography, revenue range, and EBITDA. Create a searcher profile that showcases your background, investment criteria, and search thesis. Connect directly with business owners and intermediaries without the overhead of traditional brokers.

For investors: Discover active searchers seeking capital for their search phase or acquisition. Review searcher profiles, track records, and deal pipeline. Co-invest alongside other experienced ETA investors in a structured, transparent process.

For business owners:List your company confidentially for acquisition. Reach a curated pool of serious, well-funded buyers who are committed to operating and growing your business — not stripping it for parts. Maintain control over who sees your information and how the process unfolds.

Due Diligence and Trust

Acquisitions are high-stakes transactions that require trust on all sides. SearchFundMarket is built with this reality in mind. Business listings include verified financial data, and searcher profiles highlight relevant experience, education, and investor backing. We facilitate the flow of information while protecting confidentiality through NDAs and staged disclosure processes.

The platform also provides resources to support the due diligence process: templates for letters of intent, checklists for financial and legal review, and introductions to advisors specializing in search fund transactions. Our goal is to reduce the time and cost of completing a deal while maintaining the rigor that protects both buyers and sellers.

Why Europe

Europe is home to millions of small and medium-sized businesses, many of which are family-owned and facing a generational succession challenge. Over the next decade, an estimated 2.4 million SMEs across the EU will need to transition ownership. Many of these businesses have no succession plan.

This creates a unique opportunity for search fund entrepreneurs. The supply of quality businesses is enormous, competition from private equity is lower than in the US for sub-€5M EBITDA deals, and valuations are generally more attractive. Markets like France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK each present distinct opportunities for searchers with the right language skills and cultural understanding.

What has been missing is a centralized platform where these opportunities can be discovered, evaluated, and acted upon. That is what we are building.

Market Data and Global Reach

The search fund asset class has grown significantly over the past decade. According to research by Stanford GSB and IESE, the number of active search funds worldwide has increased tenfold since 2010. In the US alone, over 500 search funds have been raised, acquiring businesses with a combined enterprise value exceeding $5 billion. Europe is following the same trajectory, with search fund activity accelerating in France, Spain, the UK, Germany, and the Nordics.

SearchFundMarket serves the European market with a global perspective. Our users include searchers based across the continent, investors from North America and Europe, and business owners in dozens of countries. The platform supports multiple languages and currencies, reflecting the cross-border nature of European deal-making.

About Mottalib Radif, MBA INSEAD

Mottalib Radif is a search fund and entrepreneurship expert and graduate of the MBA program at INSEAD, one of the world's leading business schools for entrepreneurship and finance. His expertise spans acquisition entrepreneurship, small business valuation, and investor-searcher matchmaking.

The idea for SearchFundMarket was born from firsthand experience in the European search fund ecosystem. Mottalib observed that while the US had mature platforms, databases, and networks supporting the ETA model, Europe lacked a centralized hub where searchers, investors, and sellers could connect efficiently. SearchFundMarket was built to fill that gap — providing the digital infrastructure that the growing European search fund community needs to thrive.