Growth Capital
Non-dilutive funding to accelerate expansion without sacrificing ownership
Network Access
Strategic introductions to customers, suppliers, and talent pools
Tech Enablement
Digital transformation and systems modernization expertise
Why Private Equity Accelerates Growth
Private equity funding brings far more than capital to the table. It delivers non-dilutive debt alternatives combined with operating expertise, technology access, and extensive networks that unlock hidden capacity. PE partners help you penetrate new markets and activate profitability levers you may not have identified independently.
Beyond the balance sheet, PE investors bring battle-tested playbooks from portfolio companies across sectors, enabling faster execution and reduced risk during critical growth phases.
Structured governance frameworks, KPI discipline, and strategic support help institutionalize your operations. PE partners implement board-level rigor that improves decision quality and organizational resilience through economic cycles.
This professionalization reduces key-person risk, strengthens management bandwidth, and creates sustainable competitive advantages that outlast the investment horizon.
Who We Fund: Sectors and Readiness
ThinkShift focuses on sectors where Indian private equity deployment remains robust and where our expertise delivers maximum value. We concentrate on industries with structural tailwinds, regulatory clarity, and proven paths to institutional-grade returns.
Healthcare
Hospitals, diagnostics, specialty chains, and healthtech platforms serving India's growing middle class
Manufacturing & Processing
Food/dairy, industrial components, and value-added processing with export potential
Textiles & Consumer
Branded apparel, home textiles, and consumer goods with distribution moats
Software & Technology
B2B SaaS, enterprise platforms, and tech-enabled services addressing large TAMs
Typical Minimums
- ₹75 Cr+ revenue run-rate
- 5+ years operating history
- Positive EBITDA or clear path to profitability
- Audited financials and tax compliance
Successful Private equity funding partnerships require established revenue scale and operating history demonstrating product-market fit and execution capability. Clear growth headroom whether through geographic expansion, channel development, or product extensions is essential to justify growth equity valuations.
A credible management track record with demonstrated ability to scale operations, manage working capital, and navigate competitive dynamics significantly improves alignment with growth equity investors seeking institutionalized businesses.
Founder Profiles That Attract Private Equity Funding Partnerships
Private equity funding works best when founder objectives and investor capabilities align around specific value-creation opportunities. We identify three core profiles where structured capital and governance unlock disproportionate returns.
1
Strong Revenue, Compressed Margins
Founders who have achieved significant top-line scale but operate with compressed margins due to sub-optimal procurement, pricing discipline, or SG&A structure. These businesses benefit from margin expansion initiatives that compound growth without proportional capital deployment.
- Procurement optimization and vendor consolidation
- Pricing strategy and product mix improvements
- Throughput and capacity utilization gains
- SG&A rationalization without compromising growth
2
Turnaround Situations
Stressed units with fundamentally sound business models that have experienced temporary setbacks due to leverage, working capital constraints, or management gaps. Structured governance, disciplined cash management, and targeted operational upgrades restore profitability while preserving enterprise value.
- Balance sheet restructuring and debt refinancing
- Working capital cycle optimization
- Management team augmentation
- Operational process standardization
3
Traditional Businesses Seeking Modernization
Family-owned or founder-led businesses with decades of operating history seeking expansion through new formats, digital channels, automation, and professionalized organizational design. Private equity funding brings change management expertise and technology enablement to unlock the next growth phase.
- Omnichannel and digital commerce capabilities
- Process automation and ERP implementation
- Succession planning and org chart professionalization
- Geographic or format expansion strategies
What Private Equity funding Typically Offers
Stake and Structure
Growth equity deals commonly involve significant minority positions, often in the 20–30% range, though exact percentages depend on valuation, perceived risk, and intended use of proceeds. Minority structures preserve founder control while bringing institutional discipline and strategic support.
Control transactions, where Private Equity Funding takes majority ownership, are reserved for situations requiring deeper operational intervention, succession scenarios, or where founders seek maximum liquidity. Structure follows strategic objectives rather than applying one-size-fits-all approaches.
Deal Structures at a Glance
Primary Issuance
Fresh equity capital deployed directly into the business to fund growth capex, working capital expansion, and operational modernization. Primary transactions strengthen the balance sheet and fund organic initiatives without requiring founder liquidity events.
- Growth capex for capacity expansion or new facilities
- Working capital to support higher revenue velocity
- Technology infrastructure and systems upgrades
- Geographic expansion and market entry costs
Minority or control structures are determined by investment objectives, risk allocation, and economics rather than rigid formulas. Larger primary raises often correlate with minority structures when founders remain fully committed to driving the business forward.
Secondary Components
Partial promoter liquidity or structured earn-in/earn-out mechanisms used selectively to align incentives, de-risk execution, and reward past value creation. Secondary proceeds recognize founder contributions while ensuring continued commitment through the investment period.
- Partial liquidity events providing founder diversification
- Earn-outs tied to revenue, EBITDA, or milestone achievement
- Ratchets and anti-dilution protections for downside scenarios
- Management retention pools and ESOP structures
Thoughtful secondary structures balance founder reward with skin-in-the-game, ensuring management remains incentivized to maximize enterprise value through the hold period and exit.
Hybrid Structures
Many deals combine primary and secondary components to optimize capital efficiency and stakeholder alignment. A typical growth equity transaction might deploy 70% primary capital for business growth and 30% secondary for partial founder liquidity.
Investment Readiness Criteria
Successful PE partnerships require established revenue scale and operating history demonstrating product-market fit and execution capability. Clear growth headroom whether through geographic expansion, channel development, or product extensions is essential to justify growth equity valuations.
A credible management track record with demonstrated ability to scale operations, manage working capital, and navigate competitive dynamics significantly improves alignment with growth equity investors seeking institutionalized businesses.
Process and Timeline: From NDA to Close
A well-managed PE process balances speed with thoroughness, compressing timelines through organized workstreams while ensuring comprehensive diligence. Understanding the typical cadence helps founders prepare appropriately and maintain business focus during fundraising.
Timeline Expectations and Velocity Drivers
From initial engagement to closing, mid-market PE transactions typically span 3-6 months, though well-prepared processes can compress this to 8-12 weeks. The NDA to term sheet phase usually takes 2-4 weeks with responsive management teams and clean data rooms.
Post-term sheet, diligence workstreams run in parallel financial, commercial, legal, tax, operational to compress timelines and increase certainty. Investment committee approval follows diligence completion, typically adding 2-3 weeks for IC scheduling and deliberation
NDA & Info Pack
Confidential info memo with business overview, financials, and investment highlights
Initial Screening
Fit assessment on sector thesis, size, growth profile, and strategic alignment
Term Sheet
Non-binding proposal outlining valuation, structure, governance, and key terms
Diligence
Confirmatory diligence across financial, commercial, legal, and operational workstreams
Investment Committee
Formal approval by fund IC with final valuation and terms confirmation
Definitive Docs & Close
SHA, SSA, and ancillary agreements finalized, followed by funds transfer
Definitive documentation and closing can span 4-8 weeks depending on transaction complexity, regulatory approvals, and stakeholder alignment. Factors that accelerate timelines include audited financials, organized data rooms, pre-cleared legal and tax issues, and decisive founder engagement.
Delays most commonly arise from incomplete financial records, pending litigation, unclear cap tables, regulatory compliance gaps, or key person dependencies that require mitigation strategies before close.
Governance That Accelerates Growth
Operating Rhythm and Performance Cadence
Effective Private equity funding governance establishes an operating rhythm focused on growth and cash conversion rather than activity tracking. Quarterly board meetings set strategic direction, review performance against milestones, and allocate resources to high-priority initiatives. Monthly KPI dashboards provide early warning signals on revenue trends, margin compression, cash conversion cycles, and operational metrics.
Risk reviews integrated into the cadence ensure proactive identification and mitigation of competitive threats, regulatory changes, key person dependencies, and market volatility. This structured approach elevates decision quality while preserving management bandwidth for execution.
Quarterly Board Meetings
Strategic reviews covering financial performance, growth initiatives, capital allocation, risk assessment, and milestone tracking with action-oriented agendas
Monthly KPI Dashboards
Operational metrics tracking revenue by product/channel, gross margin trends, working capital efficiency, customer acquisition costs, and cohort performance
Risk Reviews
Systematic identification of competitive, regulatory, operational, and financial risks with mitigation plans and ownership assigned to specific executives
Rights and Autonomy: Balancing Control with Oversight
Reserved matters clauses define decisions requiring investor approval typically major capital expenditures above thresholds, M&A transactions, related party dealings, changes to capital structure, and senior management appointments. These protections ensure alignment on material decisions while preserving founder autonomy for operational matters.
Well-structured governance frameworks avoid micromanagement, focusing board time on strategy, capital allocation, and risk rather than operational details. Founders retain day-to-day control with clear escalation paths for decisions requiring board input, maintaining execution velocity while leveraging investor expertise where it adds maximum value.
Typical Reserved Matters
- Capex above ₹X crores
- M&A transactions
- Related party transactions
- Senior management changes
- Capital structure modifications
- Annual budgets and strategic plans
- Debt above specified thresholds
Value Creation Levers: Profitability and Growth
Private equity funding value creation follows a systematic playbook focused on profitability optimization and growth acceleration. The most successful partnerships execute disciplined initiatives across both dimensions simultaneously, compounding returns through operational excellence and market expansion.
Procurement Optimization
Vendor consolidation, volume discounts, alternate sourcing, and payment term improvements reducing COGS by 2-5%
Mix and Pricing
Product portfolio optimization toward higher-margin SKUs, pricing discipline, and promotional rationalization
Throughput Gains
Capacity utilization improvements, yield optimization, waste reduction, and maintenance efficiency
SG&A Discipline
Lean organizational design, shared services, process automation, and non-critical expense rationalization
Board-level KPIs and Private equity funding benchmarking drive accountable, results-focused targets.
Market Expansion
Geographic rollout into underpenetrated regions, new customer segments, or international markets with proven playbooks
Channel Development
Omnichannel strategies, e-commerce platforms, distribution partnerships, and B2B2C models
Product Extensions
Adjacent category launches, white-label opportunities, and value-chain integration
Tech Enablement
CRM and ERP systems, data analytics, marketing automation, and digital customer acquisition
Growth initiatives have clear owners, budgets, and disciplined milestones.
Compounding Effect
The most successful PE partnerships execute profitability and growth levers simultaneously. A business improving EBITDA margins from 12% to 18% while growing revenue 25% annually generates exponential enterprise value gains that benefit both founders and investors through the hold period and exit.
Valuation, Terms, and Getting Started
Valuation Triangulation and Methodology
Private equity funding valuations employ multiple methodologies to triangulate fair value ranges. Trading comps from publicly listed peers establish market multiples, while precedent transaction analysis reflects control premiums and strategic value in recent deals. DCF modeling anchors valuations to unit economics, capacity constraints, and working capital requirements over the investment horizon.
No single methodology determines valuation rather, investors synthesize inputs considering growth rates, margin trajectory, competitive positioning, management quality, and exit visibility to arrive at justified valuation ranges.
8-12x
Typical EBITDA Multiple Range
For Indian mid-market growth equity deals in target sectors
2.5-3.5x
Money Multiple Expectation
Total return targets over 4-6 year hold periods
20-30%
IRR Target Range
Expected returns for PE funds across investment periods
Structure Matters: Beyond the Headline Number
Valuation is negotiated alongside protections and incentives that align outcomes across founders and investors through the hold period. Liquidation preferences, anti-dilution provisions, earn-outs, and management retention mechanisms materially impact effective economics beyond the headline valuation multiple.
Founders should evaluate term sheets holistically, considering downside protections, governance rights, exit optionality, and alignment mechanisms rather than optimizing solely for valuation. A slightly lower valuation with founder-friendly terms often delivers superior outcomes versus aggressive valuations with onerous protections.
Next Steps: Accelerate Your Private Equity Funding Journey
Well-prepared processes move faster to term sheet and closing, commanding better valuations and more favorable terms. Share a concise information pack to trigger a fit assessment and tailored investor outreach. A structured data room and aligned value-creation thesis materially improve deal velocity and valuation certainty.
ThinkShift provides end-to-end support from readiness assessment through closing, ensuring founders navigate PErivate equity funding partnerships from positions of strength with clear-eyed understanding of trade-offs and opportunities.
Data Room Essentials
- 3-5 years audited financials
- Management accounts and projections
- Corporate and cap table documents
- Tax/GST compliance records
- Key contracts and customer lists
- HR registers and compensation data
- Litigation and IP documentation
Resources
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FAQs
Private equity means putting money into a company to help it grow, getting ownership in return along with some influence on decisions; meanwhile, bank loans involve lending cash that needs paying back plus interest, usually without any extra guidance or involvement.
A decent chunk under half is typical – usually sits between 20 and 30%, shaped by how much it’s worth, what’s at stake, or where the money goes.
Investments usually last several years – often around 7–10 – with exit options like founders buying back shares, selling to new investors, going public, or merging; terms depend on signed contracts.
Investors usually pick a board member while adding hands-on know-how, tech support, connections, along with steady oversight – to make growth smoother.
Founders keep daily operations under their thumb, yet big calls go through a board check so investors stay covered when key moves come up.
Common moves start with an NDA plus a data bundle, then a quick check, followed by a no-strings outline, fact-checking review, green light from the decision group, solid paperwork, ending in final transfer.
Companies ready in advance usually go from term sheet to firm offer within weeks – then wrap up in just months, though tricky details or red tape can slow things down.
A tidy data space including company records plus ownership details, along with 3–5 years of verified finances, tax files, legal paperwork, main agreements, staff info, also performance metrics split by product and sales route – speeds up review.
Value’s figured by comparing market trades, past deals – then checked with cash flow forecasts tied to how much each unit makes and what it can handle.
Money, trade, law, or running checks happen regularly – lately, more focus pops up on ESG prep alongside how tough the oversight really is.
A typical setup might involve a spot on the board, access to company updates, or special approval powers over key decisions – shaped by what safeguards minority investors have under regional rules
What usually happens is a small upfront payment – then you pay more only if the deal goes through, where costs shift depending on how big or tricky the transaction gets.
A steady workflow usually ties together a strategy for generating value, updates for sharing progress, key hires or training goals, while also including deadlines both leaders and directors follow side by side.
Being open to shifts, trying fresh ways to earn – while also using tech tools like moving up or down the supply chain – is often tied to better team results.
ThinkShift bundles the investment narrative with key numbers, sets up an organized data space, picks suitable investors, while guiding review steps following proven private equity methods.
