For search fund entrepreneurs

Your entire search, sourced.

We screen 120M+ classified domains — the whole active web — against your thesis and send back every qualifying company with evidence. Proprietary deal flow, not brokered auctions.

120M+
domains screened
35+
signals per company
20
qualified companies free, as your pilot
1–2
business days to pilot results
100%
evidence-backed
The infrastructure advantage

You get an enterprise data engine — without paying to build one.

Acquisition Universe runs on Alpha Quantum's website-categorization platform — the same infrastructure behind our Website Categorization API and offline databases, trusted by 300+ clients for content filtering, brand safety and market intelligence.

Operating that engine — crawling and classifying 120M domains into the full IAB taxonomy of 700+ categories, re-verified every month, new domains added daily — runs $80,000–$110,000 a month. You reach it for a small fraction of that. Rebuilding it alone is precisely why no one else offers this at a searcher’s price.

$80k–$110k / month
to operate the engine — you pay a fraction
300+
clients trust our data and APIs
120M
domains classified into IAB, re-verified monthly
Why start from the entire web

We start from 120M+ domains — effectively the entire active internet. Nothing gets missed.

The manual search

Keyword searches, directories, databases, broker lists. They surface the companies that already describe themselves in the words you searched for — the same companies every other searcher finds — and building the list means hundreds of hours of reading websites one by one.

Full-web screening

We start from 120M+ classified domains — effectively the entire active internet — so no qualifying company is skipped. Every profile carries 35+ evidence-backed signals for quick verification, replacing hundreds of hours of reading. The result: companies most others do not have, because they never started from the entire active internet.

Why we can start from 120M+

We operate a leading standalone website categorization service used by leading institutions worldwide. Part of that platform is a database of 120M+ active domains — covering 99.99%+ of active internet usage — categorized across the IAB taxonomy and web-filtering categories, 700+ categories in total. That census is the starting line of every search we run.

Where searchers win

Brokered deals are auctions. Proprietary outreach is where search funds win.

Brokered deals come with competition, price pressure, and IOI/LOI deadlines set by someone else's process. The best search fund acquisitions come from proprietary, off-market outreach — contacting owner-operators directly, before they list, before a banker values the business, before other searchers find them. That requires knowing they exist. We map the entire long tail so you can build your own pipeline.

Brokered deals are auctions; proprietary outreach into the long tail is where searchers win — and the long tail is the only thing we sell. The companies that never list — founder-led, quietly profitable, no reason to sell today — are the ones worth reaching. Full-web screening finds them because it reads every website, not just the ones that tagged themselves correctly in a database.
50 searcher verticals

50 searcher verticals, every one with a mapped signal set

Click a vertical to see what it covers, the estimated universe, and the sample report.

Trades & field services

17

Commercial and industrial HVAC and mechanical contractors: heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration and mechanical piping for commercial buildings, institutions and industria...

≈ 25,000 independent companies (est.)

Plumbing contractors with meaningful commercial, institutional, multi-family or new-construction work: service plumbing, pipe replacement, backflow testing, drain services for business an...

≈ 17,000 independent companies (est.)

Commercial and industrial electrical contractors: power distribution, lighting, controls wiring, service upgrades and maintenance for businesses, institutions and light industry.

≈ 17,000 independent companies (est.)

Commercial and industrial roofing contractors: low-slope/flat roof systems (TPO, EPDM, modified bitumen, metal), roof asset management, inspection and preventive-maintenance programs for ...

≈ 8,300 independent companies (est.)

Foundation repair, structural underpinning, basement waterproofing and concrete lifting contractors serving building owners, commercial property and homes, with engineering-adjacent scope...

≈ 6,800 independent companies (est.)

Overhead door companies installing and servicing commercial overhead, rolling-steel and loading-dock doors and dock equipment alongside garage doors, with planned-maintenance and emergenc...

≈ 2,700 independent companies (est.)

Fence contractors with commercial, industrial, municipal or security fencing work: chain link, ornamental steel, gates and access-control integration, guardrails and perimeter security, b...

≈ 5,100 independent companies (est.)

Commercial and industrial painting and coating contractors: repaint programs for property portfolios, industrial coatings, epoxy floors, tank and structural steel painting, tenant-improve...

≈ 12,000 independent companies (est.)

Commercial flooring contractors: installation and refinishing of carpet tile, LVT, resilient, polished concrete, epoxy and sports floors for offices, healthcare, education and retail, oft...

≈ 12,000 independent companies (est.)

Insulation contractors serving commercial construction and industrial facilities: batt/blown/spray foam building insulation, and especially mechanical insulation for pipe, duct and proces...

≈ 1,900 independent companies (est.)

Commercial landscape maintenance and grounds management companies: recurring maintenance contracts for HOAs, corporate campuses, municipalities and property managers, plus enhancement, ir...

≈ 16,000 independent companies (est.)

Tree care companies with commercial, municipal and utility work: pruning and removal, plant health care programs, utility line clearance, storm response, serving municipalities, utilities...

≈ 14,000 independent companies (est.)

Pool companies serving commercial and institutional accounts: HOA, hotel, municipal and fitness-facility pool service, renovation and construction, certified pool operator programs and co...

≈ 3,600 independent companies (est.)

Asphalt paving and pavement maintenance contractors: parking-lot paving, sealcoating, crack sealing, striping and concrete flatwork for commercial property portfolios, municipalities and ...

≈ 3,200 independent companies (est.)

Commercial snow and ice management companies: seasonal or per-event contracts for retail, industrial, healthcare and property-management portfolios, with liability documentation, brine/an...

≈ 3,500 independent companies (est.)

Gutter and drainage contractors with commercial or multi-family work: box gutters, downspout systems, gutter maintenance contracts for property managers, and custom fabrication capability.

≈ 6,900 independent companies (est.)

Independent property restoration and remediation companies: water/fire/mold mitigation and rebuild for commercial and residential losses, working with insurance carriers, TPAs and propert...

≈ 19,000 independent companies (est.)

Property, facility & route-based services

10

Commercial janitorial companies: recurring contract cleaning of offices, medical facilities, schools and industrial sites, with day-porter services, floor care programs and supervised acc...

≈ 5,300 independent companies (est.)

Independent pest management companies with commercial accounts: food-plant and restaurant pest programs, multi-family and healthcare contracts, termite work, wildlife exclusion — recurrin...

≈ 21,000 independent companies (est.)

Commercial exterior cleaning companies: building washing, parking-garage cleaning, fleet washing, flatwork/sidewalk programs and window cleaning for property portfolios on recurring sched...

≈ 8,000 independent companies (est.)

Independent security integrators and alarm companies: intrusion, video surveillance, access control and fire alarm installation with monitored RMR accounts, serving commercial and institu...

≈ 6,100 independent companies (est.)

Fire protection contractors: sprinkler design/install, ITM (inspection, testing & maintenance) contracts, fire alarm, extinguishers, suppression systems and code-driven recurring complian...

≈ 11,000 independent companies (est.)

Commercial locksmith and door-hardware companies: master key systems, institutional hardware, electrified openings, access control and door service contracts for facilities, campuses and ...

≈ 7,300 independent companies (est.)

Third-party property management firms: fee-based management of residential rental portfolios, HOAs/community associations or commercial properties, with recurring management-fee revenue a...

≈ 44,000 independent companies (est.)

Independent self-storage facility operators: one to a handful of storage properties with unit rentals, climate control, truck rental add-ons — independently owned rather than REIT or nati...

≈ 340 independent companies (est.)

Portable restroom and sanitation route businesses: porta-potty rental and weekly service for construction sites and events, restroom trailers, hand-wash stations and holding-tank service.

≈ 1,000 independent companies (est.)

Independent roll-off dumpster and container companies: construction and commercial debris hauling with owned truck and container fleets, contractor accounts and transfer/recycling relatio...

≈ 7,400 independent companies (est.)

Industrial services & niche manufacturing

10

Precision CNC machining job shops: milling, turning, Swiss and EDM work producing parts to customer print for aerospace, medical, defense and industrial OEMs.

≈ 14,000 independent companies (est.)

Custom metal fabrication and welding shops: cutting, forming, welding and assembly of plate and structural steel weldments, frames, skids and custom equipment for industrial and construct...

≈ 23,000 independent companies (est.)

Precision sheet metal fabricators: laser cutting, punching, bending and welding of sheet-gauge parts, enclosures, chassis and brackets for OEMs, plus architectural and HVAC sheet metal sh...

≈ 9,900 independent companies (est.)

Custom plastic injection molders: contract molding for OEMs with press lists, tooling support, insert/overmolding and value-added assembly, from prototype through production.

≈ 5,400 independent companies (est.)

Tool and die shops and mold makers: design and build of stamping dies, injection molds, fixtures and gauges, plus die/mold repair and engineering changes for manufacturers.

≈ 6,100 independent companies (est.)

Industrial equipment repair and field service companies: rebuilds and on-site maintenance of rotating and production equipment — gearboxes, spindles, presses, blowers — with emergency res...

≈ 9,600 independent companies (est.)

Electric motor service shops: rewinding, rebuilding and dynamic balancing of AC/DC motors, pumps and generators, with EASA affiliation, motor sales counters and field service for industri...

≈ 200 independent companies (est.)

Fluid power companies: hydraulic cylinder/pump/valve repair, hose assembly counters, system design and power-unit builds, distributor lines and on-site hydraulic service for mobile and in...

≈ 2,400 independent companies (est.)

Industrial pump distributors and repair houses: engineered pump sales with named manufacturer lines, pump rebuilds, mechanical seal work, packaged systems and plant service for water, che...

≈ 390 independent companies (est.)

Compressed air system houses: sales, installation and service of air compressors, dryers and vacuum systems, with maintenance agreements, rental fleets, energy audits and named brand auth...

≈ 550 independent companies (est.)

Healthcare-adjacent B2B services

2

Medical billing and revenue cycle management firms: outsourced coding, claims, denials and AR management for physician groups and clinics — recurring B2B service contracts priced per coll...

≈ 6,900 independent companies (est.)

Durable medical equipment providers: accredited suppliers of mobility, respiratory and home medical equipment billing insurance/Medicare, with delivery, setup and resupply operations.

≈ 230 independent companies (est.)

Tech & digital services

10

Managed IT service providers: recurring per-seat/per-device IT management for SMBs — help desk, network monitoring, cloud administration and vCIO services under monthly agreements.

≈ 22,000 independent companies (est.)

Managed security service providers: SOC monitoring, MDR/EDR management, compliance (CMMC, HIPAA, PCI) services and security assessments delivered as recurring managed contracts.

≈ 9,700 independent companies (est.)

Bootstrapped or founder-owned vertical B2B SaaS: subscription software purpose-built for one industry workflow (e.g. field service, associations, dealerships), with published pricing and ...

≈ 24,000 independent companies (est.)

Value-added resellers and IT hardware providers: procurement, configuration and deployment of computing, networking and AV infrastructure with vendor authorizations and services attach.

≈ 55,000 independent companies (est.)

Business telecom providers: hosted VoIP/UCaaS service with own platform or white-label, SIP trunking, business internet aggregation and phone system installation with recurring seat revenue.

≈ 3,800 independent companies (est.)

Independent web hosting providers: shared/VPS/dedicated hosting, managed WordPress, email hosting and domain services with monthly recurring plans, run by identifiable independent operators.

≈ 16,000 independent companies (est.)

Full-service digital marketing agencies: paid media, SEO, creative and web work for SMB and mid-market clients on retainer, with named team, case studies and platform certifications.

≈ 140,000 independent companies (est.)

SEO and content marketing agencies: organic search strategy, technical SEO, content production and digital PR sold as monthly retainers, with published case studies and process.

≈ 30,000 independent companies (est.)

E-commerce channel agencies: Amazon/marketplace management, retail media advertising, storefront and listing optimization, and Shopify growth services on retainer or rev-share.

≈ 4,500 independent companies (est.)

Custom software development firms: web/mobile application development, systems integration and product engineering for business clients, with onshore teams, named leadership and portfolio...

≈ 90,000 independent companies (est.)

Don't see your vertical? We screen any thesis. Request a pilot with your own.

What you receive

Evidence-backed company profiles, not directory scrapes

35+ signals per company

Every profile carries 15 structured fields with verbatim evidence and source URLs. Not scraped metadata — LLM-read website content.

Scored and classified

Mandate Fit, Outreach Priority, Transition Risk — each with a confidence score you can audit.

Exclusions documented

We tell you who we excluded and why. Franchises, PE-owned, non-fits — every one documented with evidence, so you know the universe is complete.

Monthly refresh deltas

A "new companies this month in your thesis" email: new entrants, ownership changes, and new succession signals in your vertical. Your pipeline stays current for the life of your search without re-running it.

Pricing

Start free. Scale when the thesis proves out.

Full Vertical Run
from $999
Complete screening of your thesis against the full vertical. Typically 100–10,000+ qualifying companies.
Learn more
Search Subscription
$99–$199/mo
A monthly delta in your inbox: new companies matching your thesis, ownership changes, and new succession signals in your vertical — for the remaining life of your search. Cancel when you close.
Learn more

A full vertical run costs less than one week of a searcher's time — and covers companies no amount of manual searching would find. Then the subscription keeps the universe alive for the rest of your search: a typical search runs 12–24 months, and the market does not stand still while you work it. See full pricing.

Common questions

Straight answers

How is this different from Grata, Axial, or PitchBook?
Those are databases of companies that have been indexed and categorized. We start from 120M+ classified domains and screen every site against your thesis with LLM analysis. The result is companies those databases have never indexed — the long tail that doesn't self-tag, doesn't list on marketplaces, and doesn't appear in profile aggregators.
Do you cover SBA-sized businesses?
Yes. The web screening is size-agnostic. One-location service companies, $500K–$5M revenue businesses, sole proprietorships with a website — if they exist on the web and match your thesis, they surface. Roughly half of what we find in most service verticals is below the threshold PE firms care about — exactly the universe self-funded searchers need.
Do you cover companies outside the US?
Yes — the 120M+ domain universe is global. European, Australian, Canadian, and other markets are covered. Specify the geography in your thesis and we screen accordingly. The pilot is free regardless of geography.
How fast is the pilot?
Days, not weeks. You describe your thesis, we run the screening, and the first 10 qualifying companies are back in your inbox — typically within 3–5 business days, including a projection of the full-run yield.
Do you predict which owners want to sell?
No. And we decline to. No website signal reliably indicates willingness to sell, and manufacturing one would compromise the integrity of everything else. What we do capture is succession-relevant context the company states itself — "family-owned since 1981", a second-generation owner-operator, a founder still listed as principal — as verbatim evidence, never as inference. What you get is a defensible map of every company that matches your thesis, with evidence you can show your investors. Read our standards. Serious searchers tell us that page is why they trusted the rest.
Can I customize the thesis after seeing the pilot?
Yes. The pilot is designed to calibrate. After reviewing the 20 companies, you can narrow the thesis (only companies with maintenance contracts), widen it (include adjacent verticals), or redefine the ICP entirely — at no additional cost. Iteration is built into the process.

Start with your thesis. The first 10 companies are free.

Describe what you are looking for. We screen the entire web against it and send back the first 10 qualifying companies — with evidence for every one.

Request a Free Pilot