Updated:
PieLAB Capital
PieLAB acquires Australian businesses and provides permanent ownership grounded in discipline, stability and operational experience. The firm focuses on...
Overview
PieLAB acquires Australian businesses and provides permanent ownership grounded in discipline, stability and operational experience. The firm focuses on established, profitable Australian SMEs at succession and transition points, and is open across sectors. Its active fund, PieLAB Council Capital Fund, is an evergreen fund; PieLAB prefers to hold businesses long term rather than resell them.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
2016
Location
Region
Oceania
Country
Australia
City
Brisbane
Corporate office
The Precinct, Level 2, TCB Building, 315 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley Qld 4006, Australia
Principals
Chris Rolls
Managing Partner
Shaun Bassett
Partner
Jeff McKee
Non Executive Director
Katrina Glendinning
Non Executive Director
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at PieLAB Capital?
Managing Partner Chris Rolls leads the investment team alongside Partner Shaun Bassett. Rolls built and exited four businesses before launching PieLAB in 2016, most notably Queensland’s largest residential property management firm, Rental Express. The board includes Non-Executive Directors Jeff McKee and Katrina Glendinning.
How is PieLAB Capital’s permanent-ownership model different from a standard private equity fund?
PieLAB operates PieLAB Council Capital Fund, an evergreen vehicle with no fixed liquidation date. Standard PE funds must exit investments within 5–7 years to return capital to limited partners; PieLAB’s model compounds through indefinite ownership, removing the resale pressure that drives cost-cutting or asset-flipping. The firm states it has never resold a business.
What does PieLAB look for when acquiring an Australian SME?
The firm targets established, profitable businesses with at least ten years of trading history, consistent free cash flow, a defensible market position, and management that can operate without founder dependency. Sectors are secondary to business quality, resilience, and long-term potential. The website’s own guidance flags recurring revenue, customer diversification, and clean financials as essential criteria.
What is PieLAB Council Capital Fund, and how is it structured?
PieLAB Council Capital Fund is the firm’s active, evergreen investment vehicle. It pools capital from PieLAB’s network of investors and deploys it into wholly-owned portfolio companies with no predetermined exit timeline, aligning with the firm’s stated preference to never sell the businesses it acquires.
Which industries does PieLAB explicitly avoid?
PieLAB does not publish explicit sector exclusions. The firm states it is "open across sectors" and evaluates each opportunity on business quality and long-term resilience. In practice, the existing portfolio clusters around professional services, compliance, fire safety, and health, with no exposure to resources, technology startups, or speculative-growth sectors.
Profile maintained by Altss. Updated: . To correct this record or make a privacy request, send the page URL and your evidence to privacy@altss.com; corrections are free.
Need institutional-grade insight on private equity firms?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: