Third South Capital acquires and operates profitable niche software businesses. We're operators, not flippers.
We also help teams build AI as a competency they own, and run technical due diligence for software acquisitions.
We're four friends who, separately, got obsessed with the same idea: owning and running a portfolio of small software businesses.
Third South Capital began when Harrison introduced Colin and Justin. The three had been circling the same idea independently. They put their efforts together and settled on software as a focus. The name comes from where they met: the top floor of Yates dorm, third section south.
Over many long discussions, several months, and a few failed deals, they closed on the first couple of acquisitions. As the portfolio grew, Myles got to know the three well and eventually joined as the fourth partner.
Between the four of us:
Selling a software business is harder than it should be. VC wants hypergrowth. Private equity wants scale, and usually wants you locked in for years. Brokers take their cut and hand you off to whoever bids highest.
The result: founders who built something real often end up with bad options. Or none at all.
We live in the gap. Profitable, cash-flowing businesses that have outgrown one founder's bandwidth but haven't hit the size thresholds that attract institutional capital. This is where focused operators have the clearest edge.
The usual path: 6 to 12 months of negotiations, broker fees that eat your exit, earnouts that lock you in, and a buyer who flips the company in 3 to 5 years.
With Third South: a 30 to 90 day process, no broker fees, stay or go (your call), and a buyer who keeps what you built. We've done this seven times so far and are looking for more. All of our investments have been made off our own balance sheet, which means no fund timeline and no LP pressure.
We tend to be at our best in one of two situations.
The first is a founder or operator who simply wants out. They've built something real, they've been running it for years, and they don't want to spend much more time in it. They want to retire, move on, or get out of software entirely. For these situations, we move fast.
The second is messier. Maybe the capital structure is off: venture-backed but not going to be venture-scale. Maybe there are technical challenges the owner can't adequately solve. Maybe something has gotten out of hand and the owner doesn't have the ability or desire to see it through. We're comfortable with that kind of complexity. It's often where we add the most.
This is the right fit if you're a founder who:
We buy SaaS businesses which have:
Think you might be a fit? Tell us about your business. We respond quickly and won't waste your time.
Email us: hi@thirdsouth.capital
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