Pamlico Named to Inc's Founder-Friendly Investor List for Fifth Time

Inc. today revealed its 2024 Founder-Friendly Investors, our annual list of investment firms committed to supporting founder-led companies. Founder-Friendly Investors recognizes the capital providers entrepreneurs need when they need more than money.

We designed the list, which includes 269 firms in its sixth year, as a resource for founders to find reliable partners, whether they need venture capital, private equity, or debt.

Eligibility Requirements: How companies qualify for Inc.'s Founder-Friendly Investors

Founder-Friendly Investors is open to any private equity firm, venture capital firm, or lender that partners with founder-led companies. To apply, PE and VC firms should have exited at least one founder-led portfolio company in the past five years. Lenders should have provided capital to at least one founder-led portfolio company in the past five years.

Founder-Friendly Investors Application Process
Step 1: Application

To apply to Founder-Friendly Investors, firms complete a short application that covers basic information such as headquarters address and whether they manage PE, VC, or debt funds--or a combination of multiple strategies. As part of this first step, companies select which categories they would like to enter. The categories are based on industry verticals, size of portfolio companies, and regions of headquarters.

Step 2: Founder References

Firms provide Inc. with at least one and no more than five founder references. For PE and VC firms, references must be from founders of portfolio companies exited within the past five years. For lenders, references must be from founders of any portfolio company from the past five years. We send each founder reference a short survey about their experience partnering with the firm, which they return directly to us. If necessary, we follow up with a phone interview.

Selection: How Inc. determines the Founder-Friendly Investors list

To confirm the PE, VC, and debt firms' commitment to backing founder-led companies, we gather data on how those portfolio companies grew while partnered with the PE, VC, or debt firm and interview founders on how these partners helped them grow during investment holding periods. On that basis, we produce a proprietary score that determines the PE, VC, and debt firms whose missions most significantly support the men and women behind these portfolio companies. This score, along with findings from our editors' research, determines which companies make it onto the Founder-Friendly Investors list. Companies are listed alphabetically within each category, not by rank.