Ethos Capital

What Ethos Capital does

Ethos Capital LP is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 2020 by Erik Brooks and Fadi Chehadé that targets majority and control minority investments in middle-market information service companies across North America and Europe. The firm manages approximately $5 billion in assets under management and operates with a deliberately concentrated three-company portfolio: Identity Digital (the world's largest portfolio of top-level domains managing approximately 26 million domains), BroadStreet Partners (a middle-market insurance brokerage network with 30 Core Agency Partners and over 800 colleagues across the U.S. and Canada), and Newforma (project information management software serving more than 122,000 professionals in 1,200+ architecture, engineering, construction, and owner firms).

The firm's investment model is operator-led, combining investment and operating expertise through a network of 19 Partners and 21 Executive Partners, most with prior C-suite experience at Fortune 100 organizations including IBM, Honeywell, Disney, Google, Wayfair, Cisco, Salesforce, and AOL. Ethos generates revenue through traditional private equity streams — management fees on AUM and carried interest / incentive allocations on successful portfolio exits — and has brought in institutional co-investment partners for major transactions including The Baupost Group, Neuberger Berman, BCI, White Mountains Insurance Group, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, TPG GP Solutions, Accel-KKR, Coller Capital, and CVC Secondary Partners.

In January 2026, Ethos formalized its Office of Value Creation under Chief Value Creation Officer Stephen Gold, launching the proprietary Acceleration Vector (AV) Methodology — a framework for identifying, prioritizing, executing, and tracking value creation initiatives across the portfolio. The firm is led by Managing Partners Erik Brooks (Co-CEO, formerly Managing Partner at Abry Partners), Fadi Chehadé (Co-CEO, former President/CEO of ICANN and serial internet entrepreneur), and Brent Stone (joined February 2024, previously Co-Head of Buyout Funds at Abry Partners), with Marc Puglia serving as Partner and CFO since March 2026. Ethos pursues proprietary deal flow through its Executive Partner network and direct management team relationships, and is recognized as a 2022 Middle-Market Deal of the Year recipient from Mergers & Acquisitions magazine for its Donuts/Identity Digital transaction.

Name

Ethos Capital

Legal name

Ethos Capital LP

Website

https://www.ethoscapital.com/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Boston-based private equity firm founded in 2020 that targets majority and control minority investments in middle-market information service companies across North America and Europe, managing approximately $5 billion in AUM across a concentrated three-portfolio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Equity / Alternative Asset Management

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Offices of Other Holding Companies (551112)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Institutional Separate Accounts & SMAs (Mandates) (FSAAAGAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Managed Account / SMA Multi-Manager Platforms (FSANAGAL)

Keywords

• Private equity
• Alternative asset management
• Middle-market investing
• Growth equity
• Operational value creation

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Management Fees: Ethos Capital charges management fees on assets under management as a private equity firm. Partners receive certain compensation from Ethos, including some combination of a portion of its management fee and/or incentive allocation.
2. Carried Interest / Incentive Allocation: Performance-based carried interest from successful portfolio company exits and value creation.
3. Portfolio Company Revenue: Revenue generated by portfolio companies including software subscriptions (Newforma PIM), domain registration services (Identity Digital), and insurance brokerage commissions (BroadStreet Partners).

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Ethos Capital is a private equity investment management firm that pursues privately negotiated majority and control minority investments in middle-market information service companies across North America and Europe. The firm manages approximately $5 billion in assets under management and provides portfolio companies with sector-specific operating expertise through a network of former Fortune 100 C-suite executives, executing value creation initiatives via the proprietary Acceleration Vector methodology.

Product overview

Ethos Capital LP is a global alternative asset management firm that provides investment management services to institutional investors. The firm does not offer a unified product platform; instead, it manages a portfolio of portfolio companies in the information services sector. Its core offering is private equity investment and operational value creation support for middle-market companies across North America and Europe. The portfolio consists of three primary companies: BroadStreet Partners (insurance brokerage), Newforma (project information management software for the AECO industry), and Identity Digital (domain registry and digital identity services).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Private Equity Investment Management Primary offering of Ethos Capital, providing institutional investors with access to middle-market information service investments via majority and control minority transactions across North America and Europe; approximately $5 billion in AUM.
• Acceleration Vector Methodology / Office of Value Creation Proprietary operational framework used by Ethos Capital to identify, prioritize, execute, and track value creation initiatives across portfolio companies; delivered through the firm's Office of Value Creation led by Chief Value Creation Officer Stephen Gold.
• Identity Digital Portfolio company of Ethos Capital, a domain registry company operating the world's largest portfolio of top-level domains (277 TLDs) and managing approximately 26 million domains through its registry services platform.
• Newforma Portfolio company of Ethos Capital, providing project information management (PIM) and BIM collaboration software for the architecture, engineering, construction, and owners (AECO) industry; used by over 122,000 professionals in more than 1,200 firms.
• BroadStreet Partners Portfolio company of Ethos Capital, a leading middle-market insurance brokerage company focused on commercial and personal property and casualty and employee benefits; over 800 colleagues own equity across more than 30 Core Agency Partners in the U.S. and Canada.

Quantifiable outcome

• Manages approximately $5 billion in AUM
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• EvercoreminorOthers · 18 December 2025Evercore served as lead financial advisor for the Identity Digital continuation vehicle transaction.
• Moelis & CompanyminorOthers · 18 December 2025Moelis & Company served as co-advisor for the Identity Digital continuation vehicle transaction.
• Harris Williams LLCminorOthers · 3 April 2023Harris Williams LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Ethos Capital on its acquisition of Newforma. Harris Williams is a middle-market investment bank.
• Kirkland & Ellis LLPminorOthers · 3 April 2023Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to Ethos Capital on multiple transactions including the Newforma acquisition and Identity Digital continuation vehicle.
• Afilias, Inc.coreOthers · 31 March 2021Ethos Capital facilitated Donuts' merger with Afilias, Inc., a leading TLD registry operator and provider. The combined entity was renamed Identity Digital in June 2022 and now holds the world's largest portfolio of top-level domains.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• New Mountain Capital: Middle-market private equity firm that partners with management to apply operational expertise to information services and healthcare businesses. Similar size, similar operator-partner model, and similar sector emphasis make this a direct comparable.
• LLR Partners: Mid-market private equity firm with comparable AUM ($5–8B range) and an operator-led investment model focused on technology and services businesses. Highly comparable in fund size, sector tilt, and value-creation playbook.
• Abry Partners: Middle-market private equity firm focused on information services, media, and communications. Founded by Ethos co-founders Erik Brooks and Fadi Chehadé, and former employer of Managing Partner Brent Stone — making it the closest direct predecessor and peer in thesis, model, and senior team DNA.
• Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe: Long-established PE firm focused on healthcare and information services with deep operating partner networks. Comparable in scale and concentration on service- and data-driven platform companies.
• Bridgepoint: European-headquartered middle-market PE investor with overlapping information-services exposure and similar fund-size profile. Comparable for Ethos' North America + Europe geographic mandate.

Broad incumbents

• Vista Equity Partners: Enterprise software-focused PE firm with a much larger fund base. Targets the same end-market of vertically-focused, recurring-revenue information and software businesses but competes from a position of greater scale.
• Thoma Bravo: Largest software-focused private equity firm globally with substantially more AUM. Overlaps with Ethos' information-services / software thesis (e.g., Newforma-type assets) but operates at significantly larger scale and ticket sizes.
• Permira: Global private equity firm with technology and consumer-tech investments overlapping the information-services thesis. Substantially larger than Ethos but pursues adjacent portfolio construction.
• Insight Partners: Tech-focused PE/venture firm with much greater scale that targets similar software and information-services opportunities across growth stages.
• Hg Capital: European-headquartered software and services investor with similar information-services focus but materially larger AUM. Provides a useful comparison point for Ethos' international ambition across North America and Europe.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ethos-capital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A3 records

Investments6 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Ethos Capital