For search funds

M&A Software for Search Funds

You get one shot at the acquisition, a small team, and investors who will ask how you reached your number. TrueValue screens the inbound against your thesis, analyses each CIM in minutes, values what is in front of you with five methods, models the returns at your hurdle and runs diligence with the evidence attached — so the search is done properly without a bank of analysts.

Start my 14-day free trial Explore the demo workspace
  • £399/month
  • Unlimited users and deals
  • TrueValue Agent included
  • No credit card required

The search fund workflow in TrueValue

From a thesis to a completed acquisition, for a searcher running the process alone or with one associate.

  1. Step 1

    Thesis as a mandate

    Your acquisition criteria — sector, size, earnings, margin, owner situation, geography, the returns you need — written as numbers on a mandate. Every opportunity is scored against it, and the ones that clear the bar are the ones you read first.

  2. Step 2

    Sourcing

    Marketplace adverts across fourteen sources matched to the mandate, saved screens of the Companies House register re-run nightly, seller-readiness signals from filings, and a free target list to start from. Direct approaches held to the PECR rules, with a one-click opt-out on every one.

  3. Step 3

    Screen and value

    Each CIM analysed on arrival: financials spread, adjustments listed, concentration and owner dependence extracted, mandate fit scored, an indicative valuation run and the questions for the broker listed.

  4. Step 4

    Structure, diligence, close

    The returns model at your hurdle with the SBA-style or bank-led structure you are actually using, a request list the seller answers without an account, evidence on every item, an IC memo for your investor group, and the offer and SPA sent for signature from the deal.

What makes a search hard

  • Volume with no filter

    Hundreds of adverts, dozens of broker CIMs, and every one of them needs a first pass. Without the thesis written as numbers, the filter is your patience on a Thursday afternoon.

  • A number you have to defend

    Your investors will ask how you valued it and why the structure works. A valuation with untraceable assumptions is a difficult conversation; one where every input is labelled with its source is a short one.

  • Diligence without a team

    Request lists, answers, follow-ups and evidence, managed by the same person who is also the CEO-in-waiting. Things get missed because there is nobody to catch them.

  • Owner-managed businesses hide their risks in plain sight

    SDE versus EBITDA, a relationship held on the owner's phone, a top customer at forty per cent — all disclosed, none highlighted. The CIM will not underline them for you.

  • The clock

    A search has a budget and a horizon. Every hour spent transcribing financials is an hour not spent on a conversation with an owner.

How TrueValue fits a search

  • The thesis as a scoring engine

    Set the mandate once. Adverts, CIMs and register targets are scored against it automatically; unknowns are named rather than penalised, so a thin broker summary is flagged for its gaps.

    How to build an acquisition mandate

  • AI CIM analysis

    Hours of CIM reading collapsed into a first pass with the financials, the red flags, the missing information and an indicative valuation, each figure linked to the page it came from.

    AI CIM analysis

  • SDE and EBITDA, both

    The valuation engine carries seller's discretionary earnings alongside EBITDA, because an owner-managed business is often priced on the first and financed on the second.

    EBITDA vs SDE in business acquisitions

  • Returns at your hurdle

    Consideration lines including deferred payments, earn-outs and a vendor note; a funding plan that caps secured draws at what the target's own balance sheet supports; DSCR and fixed-charge cover by year so you can see whether the business pays its debt and its earn-out in the same year.

    M&A valuation software

  • Diligence a solo searcher can run

    A template request list, sent to the seller, chased every five days automatically, responses filed against the item, red flags surfaced from what comes back.

    M&A due diligence software

  • The investor memo

    An IC memo from a fact pack — valuation, economics verdict, mandate fit, diligence state — every fact cited, with the missing information and what would make the case wrong stated plainly.

    M&A document management

Use cases

  • Traditional search fund

    Investor-backed, two-year horizon, one acquisition. The mandate is the investors' criteria; the IC memo is the deck they read.

  • Self-funded search

    Bank or SBA-style leverage with a personal guarantee, which makes cash cover the number that matters. The covenant tests by year are built for exactly this.

  • Searching in the UK

    The register is the sourcing tool: saved screens of Companies House by SIC code, region and size, officers and filed figures enriched automatically, and a free target list to start from.

    Free UK target list

  • Working with brokers

    Every broker CIM analysed the same way, every broker as a contact with the deals they have shown you, every question you asked recorded on the deal.

The Agent as your associate

A searcher does not have an analyst. The TrueValue Agent is the nearest thing: it reads what arrives overnight, scores it against your thesis, spreads the financials, prices what it can, lists the questions and files a proposal for the morning. On a live deal it chases the seller's outstanding items, reads the answers for red flags and drafts the follow-up. You approve, edit or dismiss, and every send waits for you.

The plan is £399 a month, which for a search means the whole cost of the software over a two-year search is known on day one, and there is no per-seat charge when your investors or your lawyer want to see the record.

Frequently asked questions

Is TrueValue overkill for a one-deal search?

It is built for exactly one deal done properly. The pipeline holds every opportunity you looked at and why you passed, the CIM analyser does the first hour on each, and the valuation and diligence modules are the ones you would otherwise assemble from spreadsheets and a shared inbox.

Can I show my investors the analysis?

Yes. Add them as viewers on the workspace at no extra cost, export the IC memo as a PDF, or share a valuation report. The memo cites every figure to its source and states what the record does not hold.

Does it value owner-managed businesses properly?

SDE is a first-class method in the engine alongside EBITDA multiple, DCF, net assets and comparable transactions, and the quality-of-earnings module records every adjustment to reported profit.

How does sourcing work?

Marketplace adverts from fourteen UK sources are read into one feed, deduplicated per business, scored against your mandate and cross-referenced to the register to shortlist who the anonymous advert is. Saved register screens re-run nightly. A free target list is available before you sign up.

What happens after the trial?

The trial is the full product for fourteen days with no card. Afterwards it is £399 a month or £3,990 a year, cancel any time. Everything you built in the trial stays.

Can I try it on a real CIM first?

Yes. Start the trial and upload one, or value a business free on Value My Deal to see the engine on your numbers before creating an account.

Go deeper

Screen your next CIM properly

Set your thesis as a mandate, upload the CIMs you have and read the first pass on each by the morning.

Start my 14-day free trial Explore the demo workspace