The 2022 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards recipients were selected through a rigorous assessment in consultation with leading limited partners, investment bankers, and other thought leaders in the private equity ecosystem. BluWave partners with more than 500 leading private equity firms and has a one-of-a-kind perspective that enables it to uniquely understand best practices and innovation in private equity.
The private equity firms considered for this recognition were assessed across the following criteria*:
Proactive due diligence practices
Transformative value creation
Modern private equity firm operations
ESG
Below is a list of this year’s Top 50 Private Equity Innovators.
| Company | HQ City | HQ State | Hidden |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accel-KKR | Menlo Park | California | |
| Advent International | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| Align Capital Partners | Shaker Heights | Ohio | |
| Altamont Capital Partners | Palo Alto | California | |
| Aterian Investment Partners | New York | New York | |
| Avance | New York | New York | |
| Bain Capital | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| Bertram Capital | Foster City | California | |
| BPOC | Chicago | Illinois | |
| Blue Sea Capital | West Palm Beach | Florida | |
| Clairvest Group | Toronto | Ontario | |
| Cortec Group | New York | New York | |
| Council Capital | Nashville | Tennessee | |
| Cressey & Company | Chicago | Illinois | |
| Crest Rock Partners | Denver | Colorado | |
| DFW Capital Partners | Teaneck | New Jersey | |
| Encore Consumer Capital | San Francisco | California | |
| Francisco Partners | San Francisco | California | |
| Gemspring Capital | Westport | Connecticut | |
| Genstar Capital | San Francisco | California | |
| Great Hill Partners | Boston | Massachusetts | |
| Great Range Capital | Mission Woods | Kansas | |
| GreyLion Capital | New York | New York | |
| GrowthCurve Capital | New York | New York | |
| GTCR | Chicago | Illinois | |
| The Halifax Group | Washington | District of Columbia | |
| Heartwood Partners | Norwalk | Connecticut | |
| Hellman & Friedman | San Francisco | California | |
| Hidden Harbor Capital Partners | Boca Raton | Florida | |
| Housatonic Partners | San Francisco | California | |
| ICV Partners | Miami | Florida | |
| Industrial Opportunity Partners | Evanston | Illinois | |
| Inverness Graham | Wayne | Pennsylvania | |
| Juggernaut Capital Partners | Washington | District of Columbia | |
| LLR Partners | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | |
| Long Ridge | New York | New York | |
| Main Post Partners | San Francisco | California | |
| MidOcean Partners | New York | New York | |
| Nautic Partners | Providence | Rhode Island | |
| New Harbor Capital | Chicago | Illinois | |
| New State Capital Partners | Larchmont | New York | |
| Pamlico Capital | Charlotte | North Carolina | |
| ParkerGale Capital | Chicago | Illinois | |
| Periscope Equity | Chicago | Illinois | |
| Serent Capital | San Francisco | California | |
| Sun Capital Partners, Inc. | Boca Raton | Florida | |
| The Riverside Company | New York | New York | |
| Trivest Partners | Coral Gables | Florida | |
| Water Street Healthcare Partners | Chicago | Illinois |
*BluWave, LP has not received investment capital from and holds no ownership interest in the PE firms evaluated or recognized under the Top 50 PE Innovator awards program. BluWave received no compensation from any of the PE firms in connection with this awards program. However, BluWave may otherwise provide services to the PE firms and/or portfolio companies, but BluWave confirms that its assessment of the PE firms was independent of any such service arrangements. Top 1% in the PE industry is based on BluWave’s review of the more than 5,000 PE firms in the U.S. and Canada from which 50 PE firms were selected as award recipients.