SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--()--Inc., the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future, today announced its sixth annual Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the private equity, venture capital firms, and lenders with a track record of backing founder-led companies. Montage Partners, a people-first private equity firm, has been recognized for the fourth year in a row.

The prestigious list celebrates the investors that believe in backing founder-led businesses and helping them thrive. All companies on the list have successful track records of collaboration and remaining actively involved with the businesses they invest in.

“It has been a complicated few years for growth companies and the companies that fund them,” said Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. “So, we are happy to share with our readers the best, latest guidance on which venture capital firms, private equity firms, and growth-capital lenders have the track record and reputation of being especially good partners to founders and CEOs.”

“We’re incredibly proud to be named to the Founder-Friendly Investors list for the fourth straight year,” said Jordan Tate, co-Managing Partner of Montage Partners. “As a values-based investor, it’s rewarding to simultaneously achieve industry-leading returns while living up to our six core values. We strive to consistently cultivate a people-first culture both at our own firm and those companies that we partner with, and we’re honored that founders we’ve worked with have validated that through Inc.’s selection.”

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Montage Partners has invested in 20 companies since its inception. In an effort to ensure founders are achieving their personal and professional goals with each transaction, the firm’s investment structures are flexible, including majority and minority recapitalizations, full exits, and management buyouts. Where applicable, Montage Partners works with founders to build a sustainable succession plan for themselves and other key people in the company to ensure their legacy is protected.

As part of its commitment to providing more than just capital to founders, the firm recently introduced its Montage AccelerateTM program through which it helps founders unlock continued value creation with hands-on resources in areas such as strategy, marketing, recruiting, operations, and acquisitions. While more typical in the largest private equity firms, the level of support offered by Montage AccelerateTM is unique in the lower middle market where many founder-owned companies operate.

“We have the utmost respect and admiration for our partners and the successful companies they’ve built, and we are honored to be recognized by Inc. once again for our partnership approach,” said Rob Wolfman, co-Managing Partner of Montage Partners. “We’ve spent the last twenty years building a successful track record of collaborating with founders to scale and take their companies to the next level, and the positive feedback we consistently receive from founders confirms that we’re living up to our promises year after year.”

To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital, and debt firms and shared data on how their companies have grown during these partnerships.

To see the complete list, go to: https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors/2024

Introduced in 2019, the Founder-Friendly Investors list quickly established itself as one of Inc.’s most resourceful franchises. It has become a go-to guide for entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies while retaining an ownership stake.

The November 2024 issue of Inc. magazine is available online now at https://www.inc.com/magazine and will be on newsstands beginning October 29.

About Inc.

Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of our community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating our future. Inc.'s award-winning work achieves a monthly brand footprint of more than 40 million across a variety of channels, including events, digital, print, video, podcasts, newsletters, and social media. Its proprietary Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since its launch as the Inc. 100 in 1982, analyzes company data to rank the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The recognition that comes with inclusion on this and other prestigious Inc. lists, such as Female Founders and Power Partners, gives the founders of top businesses the opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

About Montage Partners

Founded in 2004, with offices in Scottsdale, Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah, Montage Partners is a people-first private equity firm dedicated to helping established businesses reach transformative growth. Montage Partners invests in companies headquartered in the U.S. or Canada with $1.5 million to $7 million in EBITDA in the technology and professional services, healthcare, industrial products and services, and consumer sectors. Above all other investment criteria, Montage Partners invests in exceptional people.