Spotlight Equity Partners buys control of established software companies, then sends operators into the machinery. Its wager is that lessons learned in libraries, databases, identity and industrial maintenance can travel from one niche to the next.
Clearlake turned a distressed-debt strategy into a $90 billion machine by fixing unglamorous companies - then bought a Premier League club to prove the point.
For 42 years the Chicago firm has run the buyout playbook in reverse - recruiting a billion-dollar operator before it writes a check. In July it closed a $3.2 billion fund to keep doing it.
Brightstar Capital Partners sells control without the scorched-earth script. Its pitch to founders is patient capital, an operator’s toolkit and a place at the table after the papers are signed.