Private equity firms in Boston: the 85 PE advisers on file with the SEC, ranked by assets

Use this report if you're a founder or banker looking for a Boston buyer, a candidate mapping the city's firms, or a seller whose customers are private equity firms and their portfolio companies. It ranks the firms on what they report to the SEC, then shows what the Census Bureau's broader count adds.

The 20 largest private equity firms in Boston

Source: SEC, Registered Investment Advisers file, October 2026, from each adviser's latest Form ADV (Items 5.A, 5.F and 7.B). Included: a main office ZIP code in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro, private equity funds at least half of private funds, and private fund assets at least half of regulatory assets.

Two cautions. Employees are counted per filing entity, so ABRY Partners II reports 1 while its staff sit elsewhere. And regulatory assets add investors' uncalled commitments to each fund's value, so they aren't the AUM a firm advertises.

Bain Capital files three ways

Large firms often split into separate advisers, and only the private equity one makes this list. Bain Capital Private Equity ($96.4 billion) is ranked second. Bain Capital Credit ($76.3 billion) reports 3 private equity funds among 158 private funds and Bain Capital Ventures ($9.8 billion) 4 among 20, so neither qualifies. Wellington Alternative Investments ($92.2 billion, 48 PE funds of 128) drops out for the same reason. If you're mapping a firm rather than an adviser, search its name on the SEC's adviser site and collect every entity.

The Form ADV definition matters too: a private equity fund is any private fund that isn't a hedge, liquidity, real estate, securitized asset or venture capital fund and doesn't offer ordinary redemption rights. Fund-of-funds, secondaries and co-investment vehicles qualify alongside buyout funds, so read each adviser's brochure before assuming it buys companies directly.

Boston's market in counts

The 85 run from 6 advisers with $25 billion or more of regulatory assets through 19 at $5 billion to $25 billion, 20 at $1 billion to $5 billion and 15 at $500 million to $1 billion, to 25 with less. The median has 16 employees and $1.21 billion. Outside the city, Waltham and Cambridge have 3 each and Newton and Wellesley 2.

Venture is the other half of the scene. Exempt reporting advisers include those that advise only venture capital funds, and 124 in the Boston metro report VC funds, against 25 reporting private equity funds.

What the Census count adds

The Census Bureau has no private equity industry code. Private equity fund managers fall in NAICS 523940 with financial planners and mutual fund managers, and venture capital companies in 523910; both sit in the group used here, NAICS 5239, other financial investment activities.

Rockingham's employee count was published but flagged as high-noise: the noise the Census Bureau adds for confidentiality moved it by 5% or more. Suffolk County, which contains the city of Boston, averages 37.9 employees per establishment; Middlesex, with Cambridge, averages 6.3. By size, 1,310 establishments have 1 to 4 employees, 186 have 20 to 99 and 69 have 100 or more, including 23 with 250 to 499, 8 with 500 to 999 and 2 with 1,000 or more. These are locations with paid employees, not firms, and the self-employed aren't counted.

No listed private equity firm calls Boston home

The SEC's company list for the investment-firm codes with a Boston-area business address shows only Netcapital and Fidelity's exchange-traded Ethereum fund, neither of them a private equity manager. Boston's large managers are privately held, so Form ADV, and in particular the Part 2A brochure that registered advisers file, is where to read about strategy, fees and conflicts.

Prospecting Boston private equity firms

The firm buys little; its portfolio companies buy a lot. The people who open that door are operating partners and talent partners, and Boston's firms are small enough that you can know each by name.

Illustrative example. The firm, fees and results are invented; the counts are from the SEC data above.

Commonwealth Search (commonwealthsearch.example) places CFOs at private equity-backed companies. It starts with the 45 Boston PE advisers with $1 billion or more of regulatory assets and the operating or talent partner at each. A placement fee of 30% on a $300,000 salary is $90,000; five placements a year from this list is $450,000. Its trigger is a new platform acquisition, when the founder-era finance lead often gives way. For timing outreach around deals and fundraises, see funding signals. Bebop can pull the firms that match and research each one.

Subject: CFO bench for [firm]'s new platforms

Hi [first name],

[Firm] added [company] in [month]. In our experience the first finance hire after close is the one that decides whether the 100-day plan holds.

We place CFOs and VPs of finance at PE-backed companies in New England, usually with a shortlist inside three weeks.

Would it help to see who we'd put forward for [company]?

[Your name]

Where to look

Next step: compare Boston with private equity firms in New York City, or start a list with how to build a prospect list.