We’re proud to announce the fifth annual 2026 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards recognizing private equity firms advancing modern growth practices*.
BluWave is the leading market network and enablement platform that connects private equity firms and their portfolio companies with top-tier vetted service providers, independent consultants, senior advisors, and interim executives. We work with many hundreds of leading private equity firms and their thousands of portfolio companies and have a unique perspective of the private equity industry that enables us to differentially understand best practices and innovation in the private equity industry.
In an effort to acknowledge top PE firms that are uniquely demonstrating innovation and leadership across multiple categories, for the fifth time we are formally recognizing a select group of PE firms that differentially meet a rigorous set of criteria. The 105 Top Private Equity Innovator awardees were selected by a cross-functional committee that assessed candidates in consultation with a broad universe of limited partners, investment bankers, industry thought leaders, and service providers in the private equity ecosystem. As part of their selection process, the committee evaluated more than 6,000 private equity firms and utilized more than 75 different factors, incorporating more than 400,000 data points.
You can learn more about our selection process and see the full list of firms in our 2026 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards overview video:
“The 2026 Top Private Equity Innovators stand out for their ability to pair innovation with disciplined execution,” said Sean Mooney, Founder and CEO of BluWave. “Their leadership is empowering business growth, expanding employment, and reinforcing private equity’s role as a catalyst for economic progress and value creation.”
The Top Private Equity Innovator Awards recognizes the top 2% of private equity firms that differentially embrace proactive due diligence, transformative value creation, modern private equity firm operations, and corporate citizenship practices.
San Francisco-based private equity firm Bertram Capital was selected as the 2026 Private Equity Innovator of the Year for its innovative use of data and technology through Bertram Labs, paired with a distinctive firmwide investment evaluation process.
Sean Mooney sat down with our 2026 Private Equity Innovator of the Year executives for an exclusive interview.
You can read all 105 awardee profiles of our 2026 Private Equity Awards winners, including Innovator of the Year, Bertram Capital.
Press Release: BluWave Recognizes Private Equity Firms Advancing Modern Growth Practices With 2026 Top PE Innovator Awards
*BluWave, LP has not received investment capital from and holds no ownership interest in the PE firms recognized under the Top Private Equity Innovator awards program. BluWave received no compensation from any of the PE firms in connection with this awards program. However, BluWave may otherwise provide services to the PE firms and/or their portfolio companies, but BluWave confirms that its assessment of the PE firms was independent of any such service arrangements. Top 2% in the PE industry is based on BluWave’s review of the more than 6,000 PE firms in the U.S. and Canada from which the 105 PE firms were selected as award recipients.
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