The best tools for finding strategic acquirers each do one part of the job, so use three or four of them together. PitchBook and S&P Capital IQ show which companies each buyer has already bought. Grata finds companies that do what your client does. SEC EDGAR full-text search is free and covers public buyers, while news searches and trade association directories cover private ones. An AI buyer list adds buyers who have a reason to buy your client.
What each tool does well
| Tool | What it does well | What it misses | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| PitchBook | Which companies each buyer has bought, and when | Private buyers that never announce their deals | Not published |
| S&P Capital IQ Pro | Searches of past deals, and public company financials | Private buyers that never announce their deals | Not published |
| Grata | Private companies that do what your client does | Whether a company wants to buy now | Not published |
| SEC EDGAR full-text search | Filings that name the companies a buyer bought | Private companies | Free |
| News and press releases | Deals that private buyers announce themselves | Deals nobody announced | Free |
| Trade association lists | Family-owned firms in your client's industry | Any sign that they want to buy | Free or membership fee |
| PrivSource AI Buyer List | Buyers who have a reason to buy, with the reason for each | You still check each reason yourself | Free for advisors |
We checked each vendor's site on November 12, 2026. PitchBook, S&P, and Grata do not publish prices and sell by quote. Grata says it has mapped more than 22 million companies, and it is part of Datasite.
When is a paid database worth the money?
PitchBook and Capital IQ earn their cost when your list depends on who bought what. They show which companies each buyer bought and when, and which private equity firm owns the buyer. That is the fastest way to find the PE-owned companies in your client's industry that keep buying smaller ones.
Grata answers a different question: which companies do what your client does? Any of them might buy your client, but nothing on that list says they want to. Each name still needs a reason to buy before it goes on your buyer list.
When do free sources do better?
If the buyer is a public company, its filings often name the companies it bought. EDGAR full-text search covers filings since 2001, and the SEC says anyone can use it for free. Search a phrase such as "completed the acquisition of" together with your client's service, and then filter the results to 8-K filings.
Private buyers do not file with the SEC, but most of them tell their customers when they buy a company. Search the news for "acquires" plus the service and the region, and go back 24 months. Then get the member directory from the industry's trade association. That is where you find the family-owned firms that never announce anything.
Do strategic buyers want small companies?
More of them do than most buyer lists assume. A mandate is a buyer's written description of the companies it wants to buy. In November 2026, the median corporate mandate on PrivSource covered $750,000 to $5 million of EBITDA.
About two in three of those mandates would include a company with $1 million of EBITDA, and more than half would include one with $5 million. A database shows you what a company bought in the past, but it cannot tell you what the company wants to buy now. A corporate development team that has written down what it wants tells you that directly.
How do bankers rank the buyers they find?
They judge every name on the same questions and then sort the list into tiers. The first question is whether the buyer has a reason to buy. The second is whether it can pay, and the third is how recently it bought a similar company. Our guide to ranking potential acquirers has the full worksheet with weights.
Write down where each answer came from. For every buyer, note who owns it, why it would buy, and what your client would add to its business. Then note the filing or web page that shows this, with the date you checked it, and how the buyer would pay. That could be cash on hand, a PE fund behind it, or a credit line large enough for the price. If you cannot point to a source, the buyer goes back for more research and does not get a tier yet.
A buyer that "pursues growth through acquisition" in a press release but has not bought anything in two years is a name to look into, not a Tier 1 buyer. Call your Tier 1 buyers before you send the teaser, and send the teaser to Tier 2. Hold Tier 3 for later, and write down why each one is waiting. A list of twenty buyers with a source for each is worth more than a list of eighty without one. To build the long list in the first place, see how to find strategic acquirers.
Where PrivSource fits
AI Buyer List reads a description of the company you are selling and returns the strategic and financial buyers that match it, each with the reason it would buy. Some of those buyers have told PrivSource what they want to buy. Others have published what they look for, have bought similar companies before, or run a business that would gain from owning your client. You see the list before you share any details about the deal, you choose who receives it, and it is free for advisors.
