What Cotton Creek Capital does

Cotton Creek Capital is a Texas-based private equity firm founded in 2000 that invests in and operates lower middle market companies, primarily in the South Central and Southern United States. The firm targets control investments in businesses with $5-15 million of EBITDA and enterprise values of $15-200 million, deploying $10-40 million of equity per transaction. It manages multiple private equity funds, with Cotton Creek Capital Partners II, L.P. ($160M, 2014) and Cotton Creek Capital Partners III, L.P. ($215M, 2019) representing its most recent vehicles. Capital is sourced from a diversified LP base of high net worth families, multi-family offices, endowments, foundations, and institutional investors.

The firm's investment approach emphasizes partnership with existing management teams on recapitalizations, generational transfers of family-owned businesses, growth capital, and buy-and-build strategies, rather than liquidity-only exits. It executes platform acquisitions followed by disciplined add-on roll-ups, as evidenced by Vecta Environmental (Polaris, Holeshot, SpecTech), Y-COM (GUCI, Atlantic Utility), Seatex (ChemQuest), and Platinum Power (Legacy Electric). Active and former portfolio companies span specialty chemicals (Seatex, Magnablend), infrastructure services (Bobcat Power, Alpine Infrastructure, Y-COM, Platinum Power, Chain Electric), environmental services (Vecta), geospatial (Landpoint), building products (Royal Manufacturing), pharmaceutical equipment (ConeCraft), food and bakery (Sterling Foods, Ne-Mo's), aerospace MRO (AirReady), and welding inspection (Precision Inspection).

Cotton Creek generates revenue through traditional private equity fee structures, including management fees on committed capital across its fund family and carried interest from portfolio company realizations. Headcount of 11-50 supports a lean Austin-headquartered team operating from offices in Austin, Dallas, and Fort Worth. The firm has no proprietary technology platform; its core 'product' is capital plus operating partnership, with the operating layer delivered via embedded Advisory Partners and co-investments with peer firms such as Yorktown Partners, Stony Point Group, TGF Management, and Austin Ventures.

Name

Cotton Creek Capital

Legal name

CCC Advisors, LLC

Website

https://cottoncreekcapital.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cotton Creek Capital is a Texas-based private equity firm that invests in and grows lower middle market companies (EBITDA $5-15M) in the South Central United States through control buyouts, recapitalizations, and buy-and-build strategies across funds totaling $375M+.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Equity / Investment Management

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Other Financial Vehicles (525990)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Small-Cap / Micro-Buyout (FSANABAD)

Keywords

• Private equity investments
• Lower middle market
• Management buyouts
• Growth capital investing
• Fund management services

Headquarters

HQ city

Dallas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Management Fees and Carried Interest: Cotton Creek Capital generates revenue through traditional private equity fee structures including management fees on committed capital and carried interest from portfolio company exits. The firm manages multiple private equity funds including Cotton Creek Capital Partners III, L.P. ($215M), Cotton Creek Capital Partners II, L.P. ($160M), and predecessor funds.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Cotton Creek Capital manages private equity funds that make control investments in lower middle market companies, typically those with $5-15M in EBITDA and enterprise values of $15-200M, investing $10-40M of equity per transaction. The firm partners with management teams to execute buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, and buy-and-build strategies across the South Central United States. Capital is deployed alongside operational expertise developed collaboratively with management, while portfolio companies retain their corporate identities.

Product overview

Cotton Creek Capital offers private equity investment services through its fund family (Cotton Creek Capital Partners II, L.P. and Cotton Creek Capital Partners III, L.P.), targeting lower middle market companies with enterprise values between $15-200 million. The firm's investment strategy centers on partnering with management teams to provide operational expertise and capital, leaving corporate identities intact. Cotton Creek's portfolio spans multiple sectors including specialty chemicals, infrastructure services, food and beverage, building products, and business services. Current and former portfolio companies include Ne-Mo's Bakery (baked goods), Sterling Foods (specialty bakery), Seatex (specialty chemicals), ConeCraft (pharmaceutical equipment), Landpoint (geospatial services), Alpine Infrastructure Partners (telecom services), Bobcat Power (substation services), Vecta Environmental Services, Y-COM Holdings (telecom infrastructure), Royal Manufacturing (bathroom products), and AirReady Holdings (aerospace MRO).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cotton Creek Capital Partners III, L.P. The third standalone private equity fund managed by Cotton Creek Capital with $215 million in capital commitments, targeting control investments in growth-driven lower middle market businesses.
• Cotton Creek Capital Partners II, L.P. The second private equity fund with approximately $160 million in capital commitments, focused on lower middle market companies primarily in the Southern United States.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Portfolio Company Management TeamscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCotton Creek Capital partners with exceptional management teams, collaborating to create operational road maps to support growth and evolution while leaving corporate identity intact. Management teams typically remain as significant shareholders and continue leading portfolio companies post-investment.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Main Street Capital: Publicly-traded principal investor focused on lower middle market private debt and equity investments, often serving as a direct competitor in the same $15-200M enterprise value range as Cotton Creek, with similar target company profiles.
• Sterling Group: Houston, Texas-based private equity firm focused on operationally-driven investments in the lower middle market, with strong overlap in geographic focus (Texas/Southwest) and similar control investment strategy as Cotton Creek.
• Trilantic North America: Middle market private equity firm investing in control and significant minority positions in North American companies, with comparable fund sizes and lower middle market focus areas to Cotton Creek's investment strategy.
• Trive Capital: Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm specializing in control investments in lower middle market companies across the Southern and Southwestern United States, with directly comparable geography, check size, and sector breadth to Cotton Creek.
• Shore Capital Partners: Chicago-based private equity firm focused exclusively on the lower middle market, partnering with management teams of companies in healthcare, food & beverage, business services, and industrial sectors similar to Cotton Creek's portfolio composition.
• Wynnchurch Capital: Middle market private equity firm focused on operationally intensive investments, often partnering with management teams of businesses similar in size to Cotton Creek's lower middle market target range.
• Gridiron Capital: Middle market private equity firm that Josh Gault (now Partner at Cotton Creek) previously worked at as a Principal, focused on consumer, business services, and specialty industrial companies in a comparable deal size range.
• Yorktown Partners: New York-based private equity firm specializing in energy and industrial growth investments, co-invested with Cotton Creek in Terrace Energy, sharing overlap in energy industry focus and middle market deal sourcing.
• Austin Ventures: Long-standing Texas-based venture and growth equity firm that co-invested with Cotton Creek in Magnablend, with overlapping regional networks and middle market investment activity in the Southwestern U.S.

Regional players

• Pharos Capital Group: Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm focused on healthcare and business services, sharing the Texas regional footprint and lower middle market deal size overlap with Cotton Creek, though with a more sector-concentrated mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A5 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cotton Creek Capital