<p>This episode is brought to you by<a href="https://boulaygroup.com/services/search-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Boulay, the industry standard for Quality of Earnings, tax, and audit services, serving search fund entrepreneurs for 20+ years⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>*</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>This episode is brought to you by <a href="https://oberle-risk.com/in-the-trenches/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Oberle Risk Strategies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Insurance Broker and Insurance Due Diligence Provider for Search Funds and Other Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>* </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@InTheTrenchesSMBPodcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Click Here to Subscribe to the <em>In The Trenches</em> YouTube Channel</a></p><p></p><p>*</p><p><br></p><p>Over the past few months, I’ve been presented with five separate opportunities that contemplated the acquisition of a company with $7M or more of EBITDA (this compares to the Search Fund average of $2.2M for the 2022-2023 cohort of Searchers).</p><p><br></p><p>While I acknowledge that five data points don’t constitute a trend, at the very least this has piqued my curiosity. While the Search Fund ecosystem has worried – seemingly for over a decade now – about the possibility of middle-market Private Equity firms moving down market, it’s interesting to ask whether the inverse may now be happening, at least to a certain extent: </p><p><br></p><p>Are Search Funds moving up market?</p>