# Mainsail Partners

Mainsail Partners is a Private Equity based in Austin, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Private Equity
- **Headquarters:** Austin, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** San Francisco, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 2003
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** mainsailpartners.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/mainsail-partners

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 157775
- **SEC file number:** 801-73647
- **Registration status:** Registered
- **Reports private funds:** Yes
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/157775

## About

Mainsail Partners is a growth equity firm investing in B2B software and AI-enabled companies. It invests in founder-led, bootstrapped companies and partners with a concentrated portfolio to maximize their potential for market leadership. The firm has a purpose-built growth and AI team and prioritizes culture and values alignment.

## Sectors

- Enterprise Software
- FinTech
- Healthcare Services
- Industrial Tech

## Offices

- Austin, TX, United States

## People

- Gavin Turner — Co-Founder & Managing Partner

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Mainsail Partners?

Co-founders Gavin Turner and Jason Payne serve as managing partners and lead the investment committee. Both were previously at Summit Partners, where they focused on growth-stage technology investments. The firm operates a relatively flat partnership structure, with investment decisions made collectively by the senior partners.

### How does Mainsail Partners source proprietary deal flow?

Mainsail sources almost exclusively from non-auction situations, targeting founder-owned, bootstrapped B2B software companies that have never taken institutional capital. The firm's operations team participates in sourcing by attending industry conferences, hosting executive roundtables, and publishing data-driven content that attracts founder CEOs. This outbound, relationship-led model reduces competition from auction processes.

### What size company does Mainsail typically invest in?

Mainsail targets bootstrapped B2B software companies with $5 million to $30 million in annual recurring revenue. The firm has occasionally invested in tech-enabled services businesses within the same revenue band. Check sizes range from approximately $10 million to over $100 million, depending on deal structure and growth capital needs.

### How does Mainsail's operations team actually work inside portfolio companies?

Mainsail employs over 40 full-time operating professionals across functions including sales, marketing, engineering, finance, and data science. These operators embed inside portfolio companies for multi-month engagements following close — not as advisors or fractional executives, but as execution-oriented team members. They work on pricing strategy, churn reduction, sales-process redesign, and management hiring until the company can support those functions independently.

### Does Mainsail invest outside North America?

While Mainsail's primary geographic focus is the United States and Canada, the firm has made investments in English-speaking markets abroad — notably Australia and the United Kingdom — where the bootstrapped B2B software profile it targets is increasingly common. The firm's offices in San Francisco and Austin serve as hubs for North American deal activity.

### What sectors does Mainsail not invest in?

Mainsail explicitly avoids consumer technology, hardware, biotech, and capital-intensive industrial businesses. The firm does not invest in pre-revenue companies or heavily venture-funded startups. Its model is built for capital-efficient, recurring-revenue B2B software companies with demonstrated product-market fit and profitable unit economics.

## Related profiles

- [Main Quad Capital](https://altss.com/profile/main-quad-capital)
- [Main Sequence Ventures](https://altss.com/profile/main-sequence-ventures)

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T15:07:19.634Z

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