Small-cap transformation equity.
Chroma is an investment firm. We acquire established companies earning $1–10M a year and put our own engineers to work modernising how they run and grow.
- $1–10M EBITDAEstablished, profitable companies
- Majority ownershipWe take control and stay involved
- Little or no debtWe don’t lean on leverage
- In-house engineersOur own team, not consultants
- 12–18 monthsFrom people to systems
The plan, sketched
How we build what a business was never given.
- 01Day oneWe buy a good business.
Established, profitable, $1–10M of EBITDA, usually from a founder. It works, but almost everything runs through one or two people.
- 02Months 0–12We move it from people to systems.
Our engineers build one data layer for jobs, quotes, schedules and customers. Monthly numbers arrive in days, not weeks.
- 03Months 6–18We fix pricing and make revenue recurring.
Every job priced from real data. One-off work turned into service contracts that customers renew.
- 04Months 9–18We build a sales engine.
Every call answered, every quote followed up, lost customers won back, without depending on the founder.
- 05Every quarterWe plug in a bench of AI partners.
One vertical AI partner for each job: front office, sales, billing, collections. Re-tested every quarter as the models improve.
- 06At exitWe sell a bigger, easier-to-own company.
More predictable, more valuable, and employing more people than when we bought it.
The opportunity
Great small businesses are priced as if no one can see inside them.
Much of what makes a smaller company valuable lives in people: the founder’s relationships, the general manager’s know-how, decades of reputation. Buyers can’t measure it, so they pay less for it. We see it, and we make it visible.
What buyers typically pay
Purchase price as a multiple of annual EBITDA
The same profit is worth more once a buyer can see how the business runs.
Sources: GF Data (US lower middle market, H1 2025); PitchBook, Q2 2026 US PE Breakdown (StepStone data, median 2025). Market context, not Chroma results.
Our approach
From running on people to running on systems.
Most of the companies we look at depend on one or two people for everything. We build the systems around the work, so the business no longer has a single point of failure.
The owner is the system
Every quote, schedule and customer call goes through one person. When they step away, the business slows down.
- WhereKnowledge lives in people’s heads
- ReportsBuilt by hand, weeks late
- RiskOne point of failure
The business runs on systems
Work flows through shared software and data. Leaders lead instead of routing every decision.
- WhereProcesses documented and shared
- ReportsLive numbers, in days
- RiskNo single point of failure
Our engineers map how the work really gets done, then replace the bottlenecks with software, data and applied AI where it makes a real difference. It usually takes 12 to 18 months, and nothing customers rely on is switched off along the way.
On the floor
A day on the floor beats a week in the data room.
We get to know a business, and the people who run it, before we own it.
For owners
Thinking about what comes next for your business?
Whether you’re a founder planning your exit, a fund nearing the end of its life, or a company with a division that no longer fits, we’d like to talk.
A direct conversation
We try not to buy through auctions. We’d rather get to know the business with you, at a pace that works for you.
A free first look
A half-day working session with you before anything is signed, with no cost and no obligation.
Certainty on price
We agree the price in the letter of intent and hold to it, with any adjustments set out in writing up front.
A second bite
Keep a stake if you’d like, and share in what the business becomes.
Engineers, not consultants
Our own team does the work, and we don’t bill your company for it.
Little or no debt
We don’t load the business with borrowing to make the numbers work.
- First conversationConfidential, no paperwork
- Free working sessionHalf a day with you, on site
- Letter of intentPrice agreed up front
- Time in the business4–6 weeks working alongside your team
- CloseAnd a plan we wrote together
Where we invest
What we look for
Many good businesses. A few we pursue.
Illustrative- Solid, cash-generating models
- Durable advantages
- Consistent fundamentals
- A growing corner of the market
- The right incentives
How we screen
Six million exits. One company at a time.
The largest change of business ownership in American history is under way, and most of it is ending in closure. We look for the few that deserve a builder.
Sources: McKinsey, cited by Washington University Olin Business School, The Silver Tsunami and Ownership Transitions (2026). Illustrative screen, not a record of Chroma deals.
After we buy
We invest like a buyout firm and build like a technology company.
We own the business, with little or no debt, the way a buyout firm does. Then our engineers do what good software companies do: build products customers buy again and again, and a sales engine that doesn’t depend on one person. The company’s own cash flow pays for it.
The first 18 months after we buy
IllustrativeWhat changes is agreed first
What changes and what stays is written down before we sign, not after.
More jobs, not fewer
Our target is that every company we own employs more people when we sell it than when we bought it.
Growth first
Cutting costs makes a business leaner. Revenue makes it bigger.
Most small businesses have never had a salesperson, a price increase or a service contract. That is where we start.
Chroma Primaries
A bench of AI partners for every company we buy.
The largest buyout firms partner with the frontier AI labs. A business earning $1–10M doesn’t need a model. It needs the phone answered, the quote followed up and the invoice collected. So we partner with vertical AI companies that do exactly that, and our engineers make their tools work inside each business we own.
One partner per job, one connected business
IllustrativeFor AI partners
A direct route into established businesses, with engineers who put the product to work and a share in the value it helps create.
For business owners
Tools already proven in companies like yours, connected to your systems rather than bolted on.
For investors
Faster results in every company, from one bench we reuse across everything we own.
Partnerships are in discussion; none has been signed.
For investors
Investing with Chroma
We’re building Chroma one company at a time with a small group of partners, ahead of a first fund.
Materials are shared with qualified investors on request.
Principles
How we operate
- Little or no debtReturns come from building the business, not from borrowing.
- One company at a timeWe don’t assemble roll-ups. Each business stands on its own.
- The business firstWe buy a great company, then the technology. Never AI for its own sake.
- Sound businessesWe back companies that already work, not turnarounds.
Research
Thoughts and research
Chroma sees in color.
Build what the business was never given, and sell what the market can finally see.