Private Equity Firms in Florida: Top Firms in 2026

Key Facts

• Florida hosts approximately 118 active private equity firms tracked by deal databases, spanning micro family office vehicles with $20 million in capital to a $184 billion global software platform.
• The top 10 Florida-headquartered or Florida-present firms collectively manage more than $450 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of 2025.
• Tampa leads the lower middle market buyout cluster with 11 active firms; Miami and Coral Gables account for 10, and Boca Raton hosts 9.
• The dominant strategy across Florida private equity is control buyout of founder-owned and family-owned businesses, concentrated in business services, industrial services, and healthcare.
• Thoma Bravo closed a $34.4 billion three-fund raise in March 2025, the largest fundraising event by any Florida-based general partner (GP) on record.
• Southeast-headquartered firms have raised less than 4% of total U.S. private equity capital committed since 2020, a structural supply-demand imbalance that benefits deal flow for established Florida managers.
• Fund sizes range from $20 million micro vehicles to Thoma Bravo's $34.4 billion flagship, with lower middle market (LMM) funds typically falling between $50 million and $500 million.

Florida Private Equity: Market Overview

Florida hosts 118 active private equity firms tracked by deal databases. The top 10 firms collectively manage more than $450 billion in AUM, with Thoma Bravo ($184 billion) and Starwood Capital Group ($115 billion) accounting for the majority of that total. Florida's no-income-tax environment and business-friendly regulation have accelerated PE firm migration into the state over the past decade. Thoma Bravo and Elliott Management both relocated their headquarters from New York to Miami.

Tampa is the largest concentration of LMM buyout activity, with 11 active firms including KLH Capital, HealthEdge Investment Partners, Ballast Point Ventures, and Osceola Capital. Miami and Coral Gables anchor the mega-fund and middle-market segment: H.I.G. Capital ($65-70 billion AUM), Starwood Capital Group, I Squared Capital ($40 billion), and RedBird Capital Partners ($10 billion) all maintain primary offices there. Boca Raton hosts Thoma Bravo, AE Industrial Partners, and Hidden Harbor Capital Partners. West Palm Beach anchors Comvest Partners and several family office-backed investment vehicles, while Jacksonville is home to Warren Equity Partners.

Florida's deal pipeline benefits from demographic and economic tailwinds absent in more saturated PE markets. Southeast U.S. GDP growth has outpaced the national average, expanding the addressable market for LMM fund managers. A baby boomer business owner succession wave is generating sustained deal flow, particularly in business services, industrial services, and healthcare sectors where Florida has dense firm clusters and deep operating expertise.

Florida Private Equity: Firm Comparison

The table below covers the most active and established firms in Florida PE, sorted by AUM where disclosed. It spans mega-funds to specialist lower middle market managers across the state's major investment hubs.

The mega-fund tier, comprising Thoma Bravo, Starwood, H.I.G., and I Squared, competes nationally and globally without meaningful Florida-specific geographic constraints. The LMM tier, concentrated in Tampa, Boca Raton, and Jacksonville, targets founder-owned businesses with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) between $1 million and $20 million, typically deploying equity checks of $5-75 million per transaction.

Top Picks by Investment Strategy

Largest AUM: Thoma Bravo ($184 billion) dominates Florida PE by fund size. Its March 2025 $34.4 billion three-fund raise is the largest fundraising event any Florida-based GP has executed.

Real Estate Leader: Starwood Capital Group ($115 billion) is the state's dominant real estate private equity platform, spanning hotels, single-family rentals, and private credit across $2.9 billion in new vehicles raised in 2025.

Strongest Global Middle-Market Platform: H.I.G. Capital ($65-70 billion) has invested in or managed more than 300 companies worldwide. Its current portfolio of 100+ active companies generates combined revenue exceeding $30 billion.

Top Aerospace and Defense Investor: AE Industrial Partners ($7.5 billion) has closed 140+ investments since 2015, including 48 acquisitions in aerospace alone. No other Florida PE firm matches its depth in national security-adjacent sectors.

Best for LMM Buy-and-Build: Hidden Harbor Capital Partners ($1.9 billion) has built 13+ platform companies and completed 12+ add-on acquisitions. Three of its current portfolio companies were sourced as corporate carve-outs, an unusual capability at LMM scale.

Growth Equity Leader in the Southeast: Ballast Point Ventures ($550 million+ committed) writes equity checks of $5-20 million into software, healthcare, and business services companies, with a two-decade track record of Southeast U.S. and Texas deal sourcing.

Healthcare Specialist: HealthEdge Investment Partners has completed 90+ transactions representing more than $10 billion in total transaction value across four funds since 2005. Fund IV is currently deploying exclusively in lower middle market healthcare.

Top Florida Private Equity Firms in Detail

Thoma Bravo

The largest Florida PE firm by assets under management, Thoma Bravo controls $184 billion from its Miami headquarters alongside offices in Chicago and San Francisco. Its March 2025 simultaneous raise of Flagship XVI, Discover V, and Europe I totaled $34.4 billion, making it the largest fundraising event in Florida PE history. The firm's defining strategy is control buyouts of enterprise software companies, with large-cap deals regularly exceeding $10 billion in enterprise value. Its April 2025 acquisition of Boeing's ForeFlight and Digital Aviation unit for $10.55 billion marks entry into aerospace software, extending its thesis into adjacent technology-enabled verticals. Limited partners seeking software-focused buyout exposure at global scale have no larger or more specialized option in the Florida market.

H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. Capital's defining edge is geographic breadth combined with multi-asset flexibility. The Miami-based firm manages $65-70 billion across middle-market buyouts, growth equity, credit, and special situations, with offices spanning London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, São Paulo, Bogotá, and Rio de Janeiro. No other Florida-headquartered investment firm operates across as many asset classes or geographies simultaneously. Its 2025 deal activity included the acquisition of ITH Group, a United Kingdom aseptic pharmacy specialist, and GetixHealth, a Houston-based revenue-cycle management platform. H.I.G. has invested in or managed more than 300 companies globally, and its current portfolio of 100+ holdings generates combined revenue exceeding $30 billion.

AE Industrial Partners

AE Industrial Partners occupies a uniquely defensible niche in Florida private equity: it invests exclusively in aerospace, defense, government services, power generation, and specialty industrial markets. The Boca Raton firm manages $7.5 billion in AUM and has closed 140+ investments since 2015, including 17 platform acquisitions and 31 add-on acquisitions through the initial fund cycle. Its deep sector relationships and knowledge of government contracting create proprietary deal sourcing advantages that generalist funds cannot replicate. Founders running aerospace MRO, defense services, or power generation businesses can access not just capital but direct procurement relationships from professionals who have spent careers inside these industries. The firm also maintains distinct aircraft leasing and venture capital strategies alongside its core buyout approach.

Hidden Harbor Capital Partners

The leading buy-and-build operator in Florida's lower middle market, Hidden Harbor Capital Partners has built 13+ platform companies and completed 12+ add-on acquisitions from its Boca Raton base. With $1.9 billion in AUM and $1 billion+ in committed capital, the firm focuses on operationally intensive businesses in facilities services, industrial services, transportation, automotive, and professional services. Its corporate carve-out capability is unusual at LMM scale: three of six current portfolio companies were sourced as corporate carve-outs, a complex transaction type most LMM fund managers avoid. The January 2025 acquisition of Coast to Coast Logistics anchored a national third-party logistics platform, the fourth logistics deal in the current fund cycle. CEO testimonials from Dayco, Inspire Aesthetics, and Stella Environmental Services consistently cite Hidden Harbor's day-to-day operational engagement as the primary post-close differentiator.

HealthEdge Investment Partners

Tampa-based HealthEdge Investment Partners has focused exclusively on lower middle market healthcare since 2005, completing 90+ transactions representing more than $10 billion in total transaction value across four funds. The firm targets companies with $10-75 million in revenue and $2-10+ million in EBITDA across specialty medical products and devices, outsourced services, healthcare IT, supply chain and distribution, and provider services. Its investment team includes professionals with operating backgrounds as healthcare company CEOs, COOs, and CFOs, giving it founder credibility that a generalist buyer cannot replicate. Fund IV is currently deploying. Healthcare business owners navigating reimbursement complexity, regulatory risk, or clinical staffing challenges will find HealthEdge the most operationally credentialed option in the Florida market.

KLH Capital

KLH Capital focuses on specialty services, value-added distribution, and niche manufacturing, targeting companies with $4-20+ million in EBITDA across the U.S. The Tampa firm has raised $935 million since its founding and has closed 33 tracked deals across industrial services, environmental compliance, specialty packaging, and telecommunications. Its willingness to take both majority and minority equity stakes sets it apart from most LMM peers, giving sellers flexibility on retained ownership at close. Portfolio end-markets deliberately span defensive sectors including energy, utilities, defense, healthcare, and transportation, reducing exposure to economic cyclicality. Recent investments including Thorpe Specialty Services, The Warehouse Rentals and Supplies, and Jackson Infrastructure Services reflect a consistent preference for asset-light service businesses with recurring customer relationships.

Ballast Point Ventures

Ballast Point Ventures is the premier growth equity firm in the Tampa market, having raised multiple funds totaling more than $550 million in committed capital since its 2001 founding. It writes equity checks of $5-20 million into companies generating $5-50 million in revenue, concentrating on capital-efficient, high-growth businesses in software and SaaS, healthcare, and business services. Its deliberate Southeast U.S. and Texas focus creates deal sourcing advantages in markets where coastal-focused growth equity players maintain thinner networks and less consistent coverage. Founders scaling past early product-market fit who want board-level strategic guidance alongside capital will find Ballast Point's regional depth and sector focus among the most differentiated options available to a Southeast-based company.

Investment Trends Shaping Florida Private Equity

Founder and Family Succession Buyouts

Baby boomer business owners across the Southeast are entering a peak retirement window, generating sustained deal flow for Florida's founder-focused LMM managers. Hidden Harbor Capital Partners and other founder-oriented fund managers have built their investment theses explicitly around this demographic shift. Recapitalization structures that give founders partial liquidity while retaining equity for a second bite have become the preferred deal format for sellers who want exit optionality without a full ownership transfer.

Buy-and-Build Roll-Ups in Fragmented Services

The buy-and-build approach, which involves acquiring a platform company and adding smaller businesses through add-on acquisitions, has become the dominant value creation model among Florida LMM funds. Hidden Harbor's logistics platform, Lincoln Road Global Management's landscaping and paving roll-up, and Osceola Capital's micro PE strategy all follow this playbook. Fragmented industries including pest control, HVAC, landscaping, and industrial services offer defensible niches with consistent cash flow, low customer concentration, and abundant acquisition targets at LMM-compatible valuations.

Infrastructure and Energy Transition Capital

I Squared Capital leads Florida PE into global infrastructure with $40 billion in AUM focused on energy, utilities, transportation, and digital infrastructure. Its May 2025 memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and Arab Energy Fund targets a Middle East sustainable infrastructure vehicle. The firm's investment thesis emphasizes decarbonization assets and data center power demand, two categories receiving accelerating capital flows from institutional investors globally. No other Florida-based GP has comparable infrastructure commitments at this scale.

Sports, Media, and Entertainment

RedBird Capital Partners ($10 billion AUM), operating from Miami, has built a portfolio at the intersection of sports, media, and entertainment that no other Florida PE firm replicates. Its £500 million acquisition of Telegraph Media Group in the United Kingdom in May 2025 followed a stake in Wasserman Media Group, a sports marketing and talent representation firm. RedBird treats media properties as platforms for audience aggregation and brand licensing, a thesis structurally distinct from the operational buyout strategies that define most of the Florida PE market.

Tech-Enabled Business Services and SaaS

Software and technology-enabled services represent the fastest-growing investment category among mid-size Florida PE managers. Ballast Point Ventures, CAVU Capital, Weatherford Capital, and Lightview Capital all target software and SaaS companies in the Southeast, while Thoma Bravo sets the ceiling for software buyout ambition at the large-cap end. Florida's concentration of technology talent following corporate relocations has expanded local deal flow for regionally focused growth equity funds that previously competed against New York and Silicon Valley investors with limited success.

How to Evaluate Florida Private Equity Firms

Match EBITDA range precisely before any outreach. Most Florida LMM firms have narrow, non-negotiable target ranges: Osceola Capital targets $1-10 million, KLH Capital targets $4-20 million, and HealthEdge Investment Partners targets $2-10 million exclusively in healthcare. Approaching a firm outside its stated range signals insufficient research and typically results in a polite pass with no follow-up.

Distinguish between committed fund capital and family office or pledge fund vehicles. Traditional PE funds have institutional limited partners and defined investment periods with hard return expectations. Family office vehicles such as Clearwell Group and MKH Capital Partners offer permanent or long-term capital without LP distribution pressure, allowing more flexible hold periods and deal structures. The differences in decision speed, governance, and exit timelines are material for sellers evaluating competing bids.

Verify current fund cycle before running a sell-side process. Many Florida LMM firms manage funds with three-to-five-year investment periods, and a firm between funds may be in monitoring mode rather than actively deploying dry powder. Deal tracking platforms show closed deal history that helps confirm whether a firm has been active in the past 12-18 months.

Assess operational team depth beyond the deal professionals. Firms like Hidden Harbor Capital Partners and HealthEdge Investment Partners maintain dedicated operating partners and internal operating teams that work inside portfolio companies post-close. Purely financial buyers without operational resources can deploy capital but add less measurable value during the ownership period, which matters to founders who plan to remain with the business post-transaction.

Which Firm Fits Your Needs?

Founders seeking a full or partial exit from a company with EBITDA under $15 million have a deep pool of Florida options. Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, KLH Capital, and HealthEdge Investment Partners all specialize in this transaction type and accommodate structures ranging from full buyouts to recapitalizations where the founder retains meaningful equity. KLH Capital's willingness to take both majority and minority stakes gives sellers additional flexibility on retained ownership.

Business owners in aerospace, defense, or specialty industrial markets should prioritize AE Industrial Partners, which has closed 140+ investments in these sectors and maintains procurement relationships that generalist PE buyers cannot offer. For healthcare businesses with $10-75 million in revenue, HealthEdge Investment Partners brings four funds and 90+ healthcare-specific transactions, with an operational team of former healthcare executives. Healthcare founders evaluating generalist buyers alongside HealthEdge will find the sector knowledge gap significant.

LPs building diversified alternatives portfolios can access Florida's mega-fund managers directly through their respective LP programs: Thoma Bravo for software buyout exposure, Starwood Capital Group for real estate and credit, and I Squared Capital for infrastructure and energy transition assets. Institutional investors seeking Southeast-specific exposure with differentiated deal flow should evaluate Ballast Point Ventures ($550 million+), which has built a regional sourcing network over multiple fund cycles that national competitors deploying at the same EBITDA tier cannot replicate. M&A advisors running sell-side processes in the $10-75 million enterprise value range will find Tampa cluster firms most consistently responsive: KLH Capital and Osceola Capital Management both cite intermediary relationships as a core operating principle and have the deal histories to support it.

Methodology

This guide covers private equity firms in Florida headquartered or maintaining significant offices in the state as of 2026. Firm data including AUM, EBITDA targets, investment strategy, and deal history was compiled from firm websites, regulatory filings, and deal tracking platforms covering Florida-based PE activity. Firms were selected based on documented deal history, fund-level data availability, and relevance to the major Florida PE investment strategies. AUM figures reflect the most recently disclosed data and may predate publication where firms have not published updated figures. Firms with no documented closed transactions were excluded from detailed profiles.