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India is entering a defining moment for entrepreneurship. The country is experiencing a powerful combination of macroeconomic tailwinds and structural shifts that create a unique opportunity for ETA. As one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, India is benefiting from long-term secular business growth, particularly among SMEs that form the backbone of the economy. At the same time, its demographic advantage—with one of the youngest working-age populations globally—is creating a growing pool of ambitious professionals looking for new pathways to entrepreneurship.
Over the past three to four decades, India has produced a generation of first-generation entrepreneurs who built successful businesses following the economic liberalization of the early 1990s. Many of these founders created profitable, resilient companies from the ground up—businesses that today form the backbone of India’s SME economy. But a new challenge is emerging: succession.
As many of these business owners approach retirement age, a significant number lack a clear successor. Their children, often educated abroad, have chosen different professional paths and are not returning to take over the family business. This creates a unique opportunity: thousands of established companies with customers, teams, and cash-generating operations are now looking for the next generation of leaders.
This succession dynamic, combined with India’s expanding entrepreneurial talent base, creates the ideal environment for the SF model. This is where Searchlight ETA comes in.
Searchlight ETA is building India’s first generation of entrepreneurs through the Search Fund model, as it believes India is uniquely positioned for ETA adoption. The country combines a large universe of founder-led SMEs facing succession challenges with a growing pool of young professionals looking for an alternative entrepreneurial path.
As India’s SME ecosystem continues to mature, the opportunity extends beyond acquisition itself. A new generation of operators can help professionalize and scale these businesses, creating stronger companies and expanding future exit pathways through strategic acquisitions, private equity investments, and public market opportunities such as SME IPOs.
Founded by experienced operator and investor Chaitanya Rathi, Searchlight ETA aims to become the leading platform supporting this new generation of Indian entrepreneurs. Chaitanya brings more than 20 years of experience across consumer businesses, fintech, investing, and venture ecosystems in India, Singapore, and the UK. His mission is not simply to finance acquisitions, but to help build a full ecosystem around searchers and support them across their entire journey.
In the past 12 months, Searchlight has already built a portfolio of 6 SFs, including Okintek Capital, Milestone Search, Cicero Capital, Origin40, and Pravah Capital, and completed its first acquisition by participating in the acquisition of Clinevo Technologies and joining the board. The firm also expects to complete additional acquisitions in the next months, with a target of closing two more transactions before the end of 2026.
While Searchlight is currently investing deal-by-deal, over the next 12–24 months Chaitanya’s ambition is to launch a dedicated fund focused solely on Indian acquisitions, attracting more investors to this nascent asset class in the country, and continuing to expand India’s ETA ecosystem. He expects India could quickly see 10–15 new searchers entering the market annually, driven by increasing awareness of ETA and the growing succession needs among SME owners.
For Searchlight, the opportunity goes beyond individual acquisitions. The goal is to create a lasting institution that helps entrepreneurs throughout their full journey—from raising capital, to buying a company, to becoming successful long-term operators.
Searchlight ETA’s vision is to help build and consolidate the first generation of searchers, becoming the leading local platform and the indispensable investor on any Indian searcher’s cap table.
