Augusta Advisors identifies 30%+ more high-quality targets with Inven

Identifying all small businesses within specific verticals

Augusta Advisors saw a problem across the M&A industry: target lists heavy on quantity, light on quality. Founder Cam Bryan, who came to advisory from a career in private equity, wanted to change that — helping clients find not just a big list of target companies, but the right target companies for each unique mandate.

With clients spanning multiple buy-side industries across the US, each engagement came with its own acquisition criteria. Augusta needed software that could cover them all. The team explored various tools, but several fell short. Platforms relying on conference lists for their data missed most smaller businesses entirely. Others excelled in narrow industries but couldn’t scale across verticals.

Bryan realized a modern AI solution might be the answer. Then he found Inven.

Identifying similar companies and their data effortlessly with AI

Several of Inven’s features stood out for Augusta Advisors. The most-used is the ability to search using example companies — finding similar businesses to a known-good fit.

“If one company is a fit for that buyer, you’re obviously going to want to find something very similar to that. I’ve gotten good use out of that particular feature.” — Cam Bryan

The intent-to-sell signal adds another layer of filtering, surfacing companies where the owner is already in or near a sale decision.

“Having that additional context on both the company and the decision-maker is definitely helpful. It allows you to prioritize which companies make the most sense to reach out to first — based not only on the company’s characteristics but also on the founder’s current situation.” — Cam Bryan

Bryan also highlights headcount growth tracking and custom company descriptions as features that round out each search. “Inven just feels very thorough,” he notes.

Over 30% more target companies compared to other software

Where other platforms left gaps in Augusta’s searches, Inven filled them.

“Inven really just checked all the boxes — like, okay, I’m really capturing everything here.” — Cam Bryan

“Compared to other platforms, Inven has added at least 30% more targets for me. It provides a more thorough search experience, almost like scrubbing the entire internet.” — Cam Bryan

The result is a sourcing process Bryan describes as “a more fulsome, thorough search” — one that delivers not just more targets, but the right ones for each client’s mandate.