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Poland’s SF ecosystem is still young, but it has now reached an important milestone: the model has moved beyond proof of concept. Since the first Polish SF was launched in 2018, 13 funds have been identified, 8 companies have been acquired and, most importantly, 3 exits have already been completed.
This is the central message of the Search Funds in Poland 2026 Research Report, by Marek Jakubów and Michał Lesiński, prepared in collaboration with JB46 Partners, which provides the first detailed analysis of the Polish market, based on a census of local Search Funds, a survey of Polish searchers and a database of more than 660 Search Fund acquisitions worldwide.
A small but increasingly established ecosystem
Of the 13 SFs identified, nine have completed their searches. Eight acquired a company, while one concluded its search without an acquisition. Four funds remain in the search phase, while five of the eight acquired companies are still operating under their SF ownership.
The resulting 89% acquisition rate among concluded Polish searches is above the 58% reported by Stanford for the US and Canada and the 72% international benchmark cited in the report, although the authors stress that the Polish sample remains too small to draw firm statistical conclusions.
The three exits provide perhaps the strongest evidence of the market’s progress. Polish SF-backed companies have already been sold to three different types of buyers: a global strategic acquirer, a US private equity firm and a local private equity investor. According to the report, this demonstrates that Polish SF assets can access different exit routes.
A searcher profile still heavily focused on finance
The Polish searcher population is relatively experienced and strongly finance-oriented. The median age at launch is 35.5 years, and 77% of funds involve an MBA graduate. However, all the MBAs identified in the study were obtained abroad.
The most striking characteristic is professional background: 50% of Polish searchers come from PE, 40% from management consulting and 10% from general management. This is considerably more finance-heavy than the current US Search Fund ecosystem, where the searcher population has become increasingly diverse.
The report suggests that Poland therefore resembles the early stages of the US SF market, when financial and transaction experience played a particularly important role in establishing credibility with investors and sellers.
Fundraising is not the main bottleneck
Polish searchers raise a median of €414k, from approximately 16 investors, and take a median of only 3 months to complete the fundraising process.
This is broadly in line with the latest US and Canadian data and faster than the international benchmark of five months. The implied median investor cheque is approximately €27,000.
The surprising element is where this capital comes from. Approximately 85% of the search capital raised by surveyed Polish funds comes from outside Poland. International SF investors, family offices and private investors are therefore financing a significant part of the acquisition of Polish SMEs.
For the authors, this represents one of the clearest opportunities for the next phase of the market: greater participation from Polish family offices and private investors.
Acquisitions broadly match international SF economics
The companies acquired by Polish SF are, on average, larger and more profitable than those in the US.
The median Polish acquisition has approximately €9.5M in revenue, €3.3M of EBITDA and a 32% EBITDA margin, compared with $7.6M of revenue, $2M of EBITDA and a 23% margin in the US and Canada.
The median enterprise value is approximately €15.5M, corresponding to an EV/EBITDA multiple of 6.0x. This is broadly comparable with the 6.3x US/Canadian and 5.7x international benchmarks.
Polish targets are also more labour-intensive, with a median of 70 employees compared with 40 in the US. This has an important consequence: people management and organisational development are likely to be particularly significant challenges for Polish searchers, who often take over companies considerably larger than the businesses acquired by their North American counterparts.
Proprietary sourcing remains critical
Searchers rely heavily on direct approaches to business owners. Approximately 75% of sourcing activity is proprietary, compared with around 64% internationally.
This reflects the relatively limited role of brokers in the Polish SF ecosystem. Searchers report that many intermediaries are still unfamiliar with the model or do not necessarily consider SFs credible buyers.
The acquisition process takes a median of approximately 22 months, broadly in line with international SF markets. However, the first LOI tends to come relatively quickly, at around month four.
Sellers are not necessarily preparing for retirement
One of the report’s more interesting findings concerns the profile of sellers.
The median seller is only 44 years old, and around 75% of founders reportedly sold because they had reached an operational ceiling and wanted to reduce their personal exposure to the business.
This suggests that the SF opportunity in Poland may extend beyond the traditional succession narrative. SFs can also offer founders in their forties and fifties a way to obtain liquidity after building a company as far as their own capital, management capacity or appetite for risk allows.
Relationships are particularly important in winning these transactions. Reported successful approaches include establishing a personal connection with the owner, maintaining informal contact, explaining the searcher’s motivation and track record, and demonstrating a commitment to preserving the founder’s legacy.
Debt financing is already available
Financing does not appear to be a major constraint.
Every disclosed Polish transaction used senior debt, generally representing 40–50% of enterprise value. On average, investors’ equity accounted for 40% of EV, senior debt for 45%, and vendor participation for approximately 12.5% through rollover equity or vendor loans.
Vendor participation was present in 75% of the reported transactions.
This indicates that Polish banks and lenders are increasingly comfortable financing SF acquisitions, reducing one of the potential obstacles normally associated with developing a young market.
What does Poland need next?
The report identifies three main bottlenecks for the next stage of development.
First, more searchers. The supply of qualified entrepreneurs remains limited, and Poland does not yet have a strong domestic academic or ETA ecosystem producing candidates.
Second, more local investors. Despite the existence of a functioning market, most search capital comes from abroad. The authors see an opportunity for Polish family offices and private investors to become more active.
Third, more broker participation. Searchers currently rely heavily on proprietary sourcing because the intermediary market is still learning how to work with SFs. Greater broker awareness could increase the flow of suitable acquisition opportunities.
A market entering its next phase
The Polish SF market remains too young to provide meaningful aggregate return statistics, and the authors repeatedly caution that the sample is small. Nevertheless, the basic infrastructure is now in place: searchers are raising capital, banks are financing acquisitions, sellers are completing transactions and Search Fund-backed companies are reaching different types of buyers.
The evidence therefore suggests that Poland has moved beyond the experimental stage. The next challenge is not proving that the model works, but developing the ecosystem around it: attracting more entrepreneurs, bringing more domestic capital into the asset class and educating sellers and intermediaries about the Search Fund model.
For a market with 13 SF, 8 acquisitions and 3 exits, the Polish SF ecosystem is still small. But it is increasingly becoming a functioning part of the country’s SME ownership and succession landscape.
