Hi all - we are in Dallas next week around McGuire Woods. We also have a busy October ahead at Road To Carry, with hands-on AI for PE workshops (AI for Market Mapping & Sourcing, AI at Portfolio Companies). Come get free training on AI for PE!
Before we dive into this week’s topic,
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State of Play
There’s been a lot of GP <> LP introductions around the RTC ecosystem lately. Making a few of those intros to Audax’s co-founder’s family office got me curious about the firm’s buy-and-build DNA (inspiring today’s case study).
In November 2017, Audax bought Ecolab’s Equipment Care business, an orphan commercial kitchen repair unit with $180 million of 2016 sales. Audax renamed it Smart Care, made 14 add-ons and sold it in March 2022 to Zone Climate Services (a Wind Point portco).
Zone took the Smart Care name and kept buying, with 10+ more add-ons since the combination. Interestingly, they’ve stopped buying since July 2025.
Let’s dive in.