Private Equity Firms in Illinois
31 mid-market firms headquartered in Illinois. Sector focus, check size, and investment criteria for each, drawn from the firms' own published materials.
Chicago sponsors skew industrial. Manufacturing and distribution dominate the list below, with food and beverage and business services behind them, and the typical target sits in the $5M to $40M EBITDA range. Many of these firms have run buy-and-build programmes for decades; they will ask for plant-level and SKU-level data, not just the consolidated P&L.
28 of 31 are based in Chicago. Most common sector focus: Manufacturing, Distribution & Logistics, Consumer. Published EBITDA targets: 16 at $5M-$15M, 4 at $15M-$40M, 3 at $40M+.
- Akoya Capital
Akoya runs a sector-leader model out of Chicago, pairing executive partners with industrial, distribution, specialty chemicals, and packaging deals.
- Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Company (BPOC)
BPOC is one of Chicago's longest-running pure-play healthcare investors, managing $1.7B.
- Benford Capital Partners
A Chicago firm buying $3M to $20M EBITDA food, consumer, and ingredients businesses, including categories like pet food and confections that bigger funds overlook.
- Center Rock Capital Partners
Chicago industrial specialists with an appetite for complexity: Center Rock will underwrite up to $50M EBITDA including negative-EBITDA turnarounds in $50M to $500M revenue industrial businesses.
- Chicago Pacific Founders
A healthcare investor built by former operators around two themes: care delivery and serving the aging population.
- CORE Industrial Partners
A Chicago firm with $1.58B raised, buying manufacturing, industrial technology, and industrial services companies up to $20M EBITDA.
- Cressey & Company
A Chicago healthcare institution.
- Entrepreneurial Equity Partners
Chicago food and beverage specialists with $1.7B under management, investing $25M to $150M in private label, contract manufacturing, and foodservice businesses.
- Frontenac Company
A Chicago firm investing through a CEO1ST model: it identifies proven executives first, then buys companies for them to run.
- Growth Catalyst Partners
A Chicago firm buying information, marketing, and tech-enabled services companies with $3M to $7M of EBITDA.
- Industrial Opportunity Partners
An Evanston firm deploying $15M to $100M into manufacturing and value-added distribution companies with $5M to $50M of EBITDA.
- InvestBev
A Chicago specialist in adult beverage: brands, infrastructure, and even inventory financing for aging spirits.
- Invision Capital
A Chicago firm investing $2M to $50M in manufacturing, distribution, and service businesses generally under $30M of EBITDA.
- Iron Range Capital
A Chicago firm buying niche manufacturing and value-added distribution platforms with $3M to $20M of EBITDA, add-ons any size.
- LaSalle Capital
A Chicago firm concentrated on lower-middle-market food and beverage: manufacturing, B2B supply chain, and agriculture-adjacent businesses with $2M to $15M of EBITDA.
- May River Capital
A Chicago firm investing $30M to $90M in industrial growth businesses: flow control, instrumentation, precision equipment, and technical services with $4M to $15M of EBITDA.
- Merit Capital Partners
A Chicago firm with $2.5B+ invested, providing junior capital and equity to manufacturing, distribution, and services companies from $4M of EBITDA, with checks starting at $20M.
- New Harbor Capital
A Chicago firm investing $10M to $40M in tech-enabled services, healthcare, and education companies with $2M to $15M of EBITDA.
- Onward Capital
A Chicago-area firm investing in industrial manufacturing and value-added distribution companies with $4M to $15M of EBITDA.
- ParkerGale Capital
A Chicago firm buying founder-owned B2B software companies with $2M to $10M of EBITDA and $10M to $30M+ of ARR.
- Pfingsten Partners
A Chicago firm that has run the same operationally-driven playbook on $3M to $12M EBITDA manufacturing, distribution, and services companies for thirty years, now on a $435M sixth fund.
- Prairie Capital
A Chicago firm with a $450M seventh fund investing $25M to $45M+ in consumer, food, packaging, and restaurant businesses with $4M to $15M of EBITDA.
- Prospect Partners
A Chicago firm buying niche manufacturing, distribution, and specialty services companies with $3M to $10M of EBITDA.
- RiverGlade Capital
A Chicago healthcare firm investing $15M to $100M in services businesses up to $20M of EBITDA: outsourced services, home-based care, behavioral health, pharma services.
- Sheridan Capital Partners
A Chicago healthcare firm with a $575M third fund buying provider services, healthcare IT, and outsourced services businesses.
- Shore Capital Partners
The most prolific microcap investor in the country, with ~$17B AUM and dedicated healthcare, food and beverage, business services, and industrial funds.
- Silver Oak Services Partners
An Evanston firm investing $15M to $150M per platform exclusively in services: healthcare, business, and consumer.
- Svoboda Capital Partners
A Chicago firm investing $10M to $25M in professional services, industrial and commercial services, and logistics businesses with $3M to $15M of EBITDA.
- Tercera
A Chicago growth firm built for one niche: cloud consulting and IT services firms that implement major SaaS platforms, investing $5M to $20M in companies with $5M to $50M of revenue.
- TJM Capital Partners
A boutique Chicago firm doing operationally intensive deals in manufacturing and services companies up to $7M of EBITDA, investing $2M to $10M+ per transaction.
- Wind Point Partners
A Chicago firm buying consumer products, industrial products, and business services companies with $10M to $75M of EBITDA.
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