Sell-Side M&A and Raising Capital
Pinpoint the Right Capital Partner for Every Deal
Axial puts the lower middle market’s capital partners at your fingertips. Research the buy-side by current deal criteria, transaction experience, and reputation, then confidentially reach out with complete control and discretion when it’s time to go to market.
Why Leading Advisory Firms Join Axial
Unrivaled Coverage of the Lower Middle Market
Over 4,500 financial investors and corporate acquirers target lower middle market investments on Axial every year.
- 250+ Family Offices
- 500+ Private Equity Firms
- 1500+ Acquisitive Portfolio Companies
- 2000+ Independent Sponsors & HNWIs
- 100+ Lenders and Private Credit Investors
The buy-side member base ranges from brand name private equity firms and corporations that are difficult to penetrate, to family offices and boutique investors that can’t be found in directories or databases.
Sophisticated Deal Marketing & Tracking Tools
With Axial, you get:
- A powerful deal marketing system built around privacy, customization, control, and seller confidentiality.
- Deal management tools that expedite NDA execution and other core deal process workflows.
- Unique data sets to help you understand the deal criteria, transaction experience, responsiveness, and reputation of any counter party you might engage on the Axial platform.
Axial’s platform reflects how lower middle market transactions get done — privately and confidentially. Unlike public deal listing sites, Axial members looking to sell or raise capital retain total control and confidentiality over whom, how, and when they approach buy-side targets.
Get Found by Key Target Audiences
Generating over 1 million page views of targeted traffic each year, Axial’s lower middle market directory is a critical digital destination. Our free member profile tools make it easy for you to maximize your visibility with exit-minded business owners, potential job candidates, and private equity firms looking for investment banks to represent their portfolio companies.
Pricing & Rewards
The only M&A platform where you earn instead of pay
Axial is complementary for qualified advisory firms. Whether you’re a solo practitioner or a large investment bank, your team gets unlimited access to thousands of buyers, and a host of workflow automation tools - while earning benefits from your platform usage.
Reach More Buyers - Efficiently
Axial’s platform serves as your marketing partner, helping you boost your outreach to find the buyers you wouldn’t have otherwise known about.
Our platform allows you to efficiently target the best potential buyers, and then automate the routine parts of the process, such as delivering NDAs and CIMs, leaving you more time to focus on higher value work.
Your Axial Usage Boosts Your Marketing Visibility
By consistently using Axial, you’ll unlock promotional opportunities that drive brand awareness for your firm:
- League Tables: Highlights top advisory firms each quarter and receives 50,000+ annual pageviews from business owners and acquirers.
- Advisor Directory Rankings: Appear higher in our most-viewed website asset, generating over 100,000 pageviews annually. The more active and successful you are, the higher you rank on the directory and the more visible you become. Your deals and activity on Axial will be highlighted for potential buyers and business owners.
Earn New Clients Through Business Owner Referrals
Top-performing advisors on Axial are rewarded with inclusion in Advisor Finder—our high-trust referral engine that introduces you to owners actively seeking M&A representation. We introduce you to new potential clients based on your engagement and deal flow data on the platform, in exchange for a small fee share once you’ve been engaged.
An Additional Employee
At No Additional Cost
Axial helps you find lesser-known targets such as family offices, strategic acquirers, and newly emerged financial sponsors to complement existing buy-side targets you have in mind.
Axial is like having an additional employee at no additional cost. The platform gives us a continuously updated and relevant list of recommended buyers and investors who are looking for deals like ours right now, with no research on our end. It’s opened up a whole new universe of potential buyers and investors in an organized and efficient way.![]()
Advisor testimonials
"Axial has quality, pre-qualified buyers and investors, and the platform is easy to use, providing automated document distribution."
Warren Rose
Groce, Rose & Moore, LLC
"Exceptional customer service, ease of use, and many potential buyers to communicate with."
Tiffany Kert
Next Phase Business Advisors
"Axial has been an integral part of Axiom's success. The ability to connect with so many buyers and begin conversations is a breeze. Axiom is excited for the future with Axial."
Daniel Emre
Axiom Acquisition
"I’ve been using Axial since the started. I am very pleased with the service and attention to detail."
Dock Reed
Reed Tindal, LLC
"It’s a great platform. Easy to use and excellent support."
Ran Assaf
CRES Corp. International
"It's a private venue where we offer our listings to real buyers who can financially close deals."
Jack Eskenazi
American HealthCare Capital
John Marsh Shares His Experience on Axial After Closing 4 Deals in 3 Years
John Marsh
Founder & Managing Partner
Closing 3 Deals with Axial | Jack Farris, CEO of Farris Capital Partners
Jack Farris
CEO of Farris Capital Partners
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Case Studies
TMT-focused Investment Bank Progress Partners Finds a Lender and a New Client
- Transaction Type Debt Financing
- Industry Digital Media
- Location New York, NY
Progress Partners, which specializes in the technology and digital marketing spaces, has been an Axial member since 2011. Founder Nick MacShane says that Axial has “supercharged” the firm’s buyer network and also helped bring in CEO clients. In 2016, Progress Partners connected with fellow Axial member Gibraltar Business Capital to help secure a $6 million ABL line of financing for its client, media tech company CPXi.
“We’ve essentially supercharged our buyer network through Axial. We’ve been able to engage a broader universe of buyers and financial partners for particular deals, namely private equity funds and strategic companies that may not have been in our network previously."
Axial events have also helped bring in new CEO clients. "One of our associates attended last year’s Axial Concord in New York City, and met an entrepreneur there who owns a marketing technology company in St. Louis and was looking to sell. He hired us, and now we’re on third base trying to get him a closed transaction."
Provides Financing To
Advised By
Boutique Investment Bank 41 North Closes 4 Deals with Axial Buyers
- Transaction Type Acquisition
- Industry Environmental Services
- Location Williston, ND
41 North is a 5-person boutique investment bank out of Newport Beach, California. Being a lean team that runs large, tailored limited processes with buyers and investors, the directors were looking for technology-based solutions to generate more competition for their clients.
Over the course of their 7+ year membership to date, 41 North has closed 4 deals with Axial buyers - 2 with Hillstar Capital, a Texas-based Private Equity Firm that the firm discovered through Axial.
"Axial is like having an additional employee at no additional cost. The platform gives us a continuously updated and relevant list of recommended buyers and investors who are looking for deals like ours right now, with no research on our end. It’s opened up a whole new universe of potential buyers and investors in an organized and efficient way."
Acquired
Advised By
Dane Manufacturing Secures Financing to Hit Their Goal of 3X Revenue in 3 years.
- Transaction Type Acquisition Financing
- Industry Heating & Cooling
- Location Troy, MI
In 2015, Dane Manufacturing CEO and president Troy Berg and COO Mike Lisle set the audacious goal of growing the company 3x in 3 years — from $10 to $30 million. By 2016, it was clear that Dane would need some serious inorganic growth to reach their goal.
Dane decided to join Axial in August 2016. In March 2017, Mike was contacted by an advisor representing Dantherm Cooling, a division of Dantherm A/S, a publicly traded Danish company originally formed in Spartanburg, SC in 1998. They fell in love with the opportunity, and soon realized that if they could close Dantherm, they’d get to ring the bell at 3X.
“It was more challenging to find the right deal financing than it had been the right target.” In May 2018, Mike, ran a search on Axial and found Crestmark Bank, an asset-based lender with a strong presence in Chicago, just a few hours away from Dane’s headquarters. Within two weeks, Dane had closed with Crestmark. “It was lightning speed for a $3 million line of credit facility. You had a motivated team in Dane Manufacturing and a motivated bank in Crestmark, and Axial brought us together.”
Provided Acquisition Financing to
To Acquire
