Pilot Growth Equity
Pilot Growth Equity Partners is a private growth equity firm investing in growth-stage bootstrapped technology companies. Founded in 2008 in San Francisco, it operates the NavPod AI deal-sourcing platform and provides capital, operational expertise, and network access to portfolio companies.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2008
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Pilot Growth Equity does
Pilot Growth Equity Partners is a private growth equity investment firm that invests in growth-stage, bootstrapped private technology companies. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in San Francisco (1160 Battery Street East, Suite 100) with a regional office in New York (434 W. 33rd Street), the firm targets US-based technology businesses with established product-market fit and revenue-funded operations that need additional capital and operational support to pursue larger market opportunities. The firm serves two distinct customer sets: portfolio company founders seeking capital plus value-added operating support, and limited partners (LPs) supplying fund capital.
The firm's central operational differentiator is NavPod, an internally developed AI-driven deal sourcing and workflow platform launched in 2015. NavPod organizes, tracks, and prioritizes thousands of bootstrapped technology investment candidates, and the firm claims it automates approximately 90% of its deal sourcing workload. NavPod is stated to be 100% designed and built by Pilot Growth. The firm positions itself as a value-added partner beyond capital deployment, providing business development expertise, strategic guidance, and network introductions. Its business model follows traditional growth equity fund management economics: charging management fees on committed or invested capital plus carried interest (typically 20%) on realized gains above an LP hurdle. Active portfolio companies include CB Insights (private market intelligence), Perthera (precision oncology AI), r4 Technologies (enterprise AI), Bizzabo (event technology platform), Tailwind (SMB social marketing), Webgility (eCommerce operations), Metabiota (pandemic risk analytics), and Velocidi (customer data platform).
The firm's track record includes multiple realized exits to strategic acquirers: Zenedge acquired by Oracle (2017), Counsyl acquired by Myriad Genetics (2018), FirstBest Systems acquired by Guidewire (2019), The Theory Center acquired by BEA Systems (now Oracle), Sitaro Group acquired by Dentsu, and C-Legal acquired by EY. In 2022, Pilot Growth facilitated portfolio-level consolidation when Kevel acquired Velocidi, both Pilot Growth portfolio companies. The firm was recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Top Founder-Friendly Investor. Leadership comprises Founder and Managing Partner William Lee (inventor on two patents, prior exit via The Theory Center to BEA Systems), Co-founder and Managing Partner Neil Callahan, and Managing Director Rob Walker, with total headcount between 11 and 50 employees.
Pilot Growth Equity firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Pilot Growth Equity
- Legal name
- Pilot Growth Equity Partners
- Website
- https://pilotgrowth.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2008
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Pilot Growth Equity Partners is a private growth equity firm investing in growth-stage bootstrapped technology companies. Founded in 2008 in San Francisco, it operates the NavPod AI deal-sourcing platform and provides capital, operational expertise, and network access to portfolio companies.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Pilot Growth Equity industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Growth Equity / Private Equity Investment
- NAICS
- Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)
- SIC
- Investment Advice (6282)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Technology & Software Growth Equity (FSANACAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Healthcare & Life Sciences Growth Equity (FSANACAB)
Keywords
Where Pilot Growth Equity is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Pilot Growth Equity business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Growth Equity Fund Management: Returns generated through successful exits of portfolio companies via acquisitions and IPOs. Invests in growth stage private technology companies.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Pilot Growth Equity product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pilot Growth Equity is a growth equity investment firm that provides capital, operational expertise, and strategic relationships to growth-stage private technology companies, particularly bootstrapped, profitable, revenue-funded companies seeking outside capital to scale. The firm differentiates itself through its proprietary NavPod AI-driven deal sourcing system and an operator team with real-world technology company building experience.
Product overview
Pilot Growth Equity is a growth equity investment firm, not a product company. The firm does not offer a commercial product or service in the traditional SaaS sense. Its primary operational tool is NavPod, an internal AI-powered deal sourcing and workflow engine used for identifying investment opportunities in bootstrapped technology companies. The firm invests in portfolio companies including CB Insights, Perthera, r4, Tailwind, Webgility, Bizzabo, Metabiota, and Velocidi, each of which offers distinct technology products and services in their respective domains (market intelligence, precision oncology, enterprise AI, marketing, eCommerce, events management, pandemic risk analytics, and customer data platforms).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- NavPod: Pilot Growth's Chief Deal Sourcing and Workflow Officer - an AI-powered automated deal sourcing and workflow engine born in 2015, designed to organize, track, and prioritize thousands of companies to identify the best bootstrapped technology investment opportunities.
- The Sounding Line
Products and services
- NavPod AI-powered automated deal sourcing and workflow engine used internally by Pilot Growth to organize, track, and prioritize thousands of companies to identify the best bootstrapped technology investment opportunities. Automates approximately 90% of deal sourcing work.
Quantifiable outcome
- Pancreatic cancer patients using Perthera's precision medicine live an average of one year longer than those who do not
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Pilot Growth Equity
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Pilot Growth Equity technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability8 records
Feature1 record
Pilot Growth Equity partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.
- State of DelawareflagshipDelaware and r4 Technologies launched innovative Smart Food Program - first state to pilot an app helping SNAP recipients stretch food dollars and reduce food waste. Uses $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. r4's AI technology predicts surplus inventories and unfilled SNAP demand to connect recipients with discounted healthy foods.
- Colorectal Cancer AlliancecorePartnership provides molecular profiling with personalized treatment recommendations to improve colorectal cancer patient outcomes. Organizations enrolling 500 patients in clinical study to demonstrate impact of precision oncology, with focus on underserved populations.
- Willis Towers Watson (Willis Research Network)corePartnership leverages Metabiota's epidemiological data analytics capabilities to improve understanding of pandemic risk, build better pandemic risk models, and support mitigation and risk transfer decision making. Willis Towers Watson's research arm links more than 60 organizations in science, academia, think tanks and private sector.
- Pancreatic Cancer Action NetworkcorePerthera partnered with PanCAN on Know Your Tumor precision medicine service. Study published in Lancet Oncology showed patients receiving matched therapies lived an average of one year longer. PanCAN recommends molecular profiling for all pancreatic cancer patients.
- African Risk CapacitycoreMetabiota partnering with African Risk Capacity - specialized agency of African Union - on outbreak and epidemic insurance product being piloted in Guinea and Uganda.
- BarkynminorVelocidi's customer - DTC pet food company that used Velocidi's machine learning audiences tool to segment website visitors. Doubled retargeting return on ad spend and saw almost double the sales from retargeting.
- University of FloridaminorUniversity of Florida/IFAS Extension Family Nutrition Program partnering with r4 Technologies to develop nutrition recommendations for Smart Food Program to help families make better food choices.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Pilot Growth Equity competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Insight Partners: Large-scale growth equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies globally. Comparable as a growth equity investor in bootstrapped-to-growth-stage tech, but with materially larger AUM and broader sector mandate than Pilot Growth's boutique focus.
- Accel-KKR: Technology-focused private equity and growth equity firm investing in middle-market software and tech-enabled services. Overlaps with Pilot Growth's growth-stage technology focus, but typically targets larger, control-oriented transactions.
- Bain Capital Tech Opportunities: Growth-stage technology investing arm of Bain Capital targeting later-stage software, fintech, and tech-enabled services. Comparable in deploying growth capital into bootstrapped-to-growth tech, though with significantly larger fund sizes and broader international reach.
- Summit Partners: Established growth equity firm investing across technology, healthcare, and growth-stage companies. Overlaps with Pilot Growth's growth-stage tech investing approach and healthcare portfolio exposure (e.g., Counsyl/Perthera analogues), but at substantially greater scale.
- General Atlantic: Global growth equity investor in technology, consumer, financial services, and healthcare. Comparable growth-stage technology focus and operator-engagement model, but with multi-billion-dollar funds and global geographic diversification.
- TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures): Growth equity firm focused exclusively on technology companies, providing capital and operational support. Comparable in growth-stage tech investing philosophy, but operates at much larger check sizes and broader sector mandate.
Direct peers
- SignalFire: AI-native venture and growth investing firm that built its own data platform (Beacon) for deal sourcing and portfolio support. Closest peer to Pilot Growth's NavPod-driven AI deal sourcing thesis, though more weighted toward earlier-stage venture than growth equity.
- JMI Equity: Growth equity firm investing in high-growth software, internet, and tech-enabled services businesses. Closely comparable in targeting growth-stage, profitable/founder-led technology companies with operating support, similar boutique profile to Pilot Growth.
- FTV Capital: Growth equity firm focused on enterprise technology and tech-enabled services, providing capital and operational resources. Comparable target profile (growth-stage tech companies with operator-style support) and similar mid-market scale.
- Mainsail Partners: Growth equity firm focused on bootstrapped and founder-led software companies. Highly comparable thesis of investing in profitable, revenue-funded technology businesses with operating support—a near-direct peer to Pilot Growth's bootstrapped-tech focus.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Pilot Growth Equity social profiles
Digital presencePilot Growth Equity financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pilot Growth Equity leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Pilot Growth Equity funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pilot Growth Equity M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments14 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Pilot Growth Equity
What does Pilot Growth Equity do?
Pilot Growth Equity is a growth equity investment firm that provides capital, operational expertise, and strategic relationships to growth-stage private technology companies, particularly bootstrapped, profitable, revenue-funded companies seeking outside capital to scale. The firm differentiates itself through its proprietary NavPod AI-driven deal sourcing system and an operator team with real-world technology company building experience.
Is Pilot Growth Equity a public or private company?
Pilot Growth Equity is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Pilot Growth Equity founded?
Pilot Growth Equity was founded in 2008. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Pilot Growth Equity based?
Pilot Growth Equity is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Pilot Growth Equity make money?
One revenue line is on record: growth Equity Fund Management.
Who are Pilot Growth Equity's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Insight Partners, Accel-KKR, Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, Summit Partners, General Atlantic and TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures). Direct peers are SignalFire, JMI Equity, FTV Capital and Mainsail Partners.
Does Pilot Growth Equity have an API?
No public API is recorded for Pilot Growth Equity.
What industry is Pilot Growth Equity in?
Pilot Growth Equity's product category is Growth Equity / Private Equity Investment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANACAA, Technology & Software Growth Equity, with a secondary code of FSANACAB, Healthcare & Life Sciences Growth Equity. Its NAICS code is 523940 and its SIC code is 6282.