Independent Sponsors Dataset

DFX currently tracks 1,041 independent sponsors in the Independent Sponsors Dataset, as of 10 October 2026.

Published by DFX Intelligence. As of .

Description

Independent sponsors (buyers who raise capital deal by deal), their observed deals, the capital providers named as financing them, and the companies on the lower middle market record.

Firms the independent sponsor graph records as sponsors: buyers who raise capital deal by deal instead of from a committed fund, verified and candidate alike.

Coverage

Records
Independent sponsors, Capital providers, Deals, Companies
Geography
United States lower middle market.
Independent sponsors
1,041

Update schedule

Recounted every time the graph's published totals are rebuilt, which happens several times a day; the date above is the latest rebuild.

Methodology and sources

Limitations

  • The headline count includes candidates as well as verified sponsors; only verified sponsors are listed by default.
  • Capital relationships are the ones DFX has read, mostly in lender and sponsor news archives, so they undercount.
  • DFX does not pair companies with sponsors: blind audits found the pairs wrong too often, so they were withdrawn.

Cite this dataset

Recommended citation. Select the text below to copy it.

DFX Intelligence. (2026). Independent Sponsors Dataset [Data set]. Retrieved 10 October 2026, from https://dfxintel.com/datasets/independent-sponsors

The date is the latest rebuild of the figures above. Quote a figure with its date, and link to this page so a reader can see what it counts.

Machine-readable versions

The figures, summary and sample above, and nothing more: CSV and Markdown. Cite this page, not the files.

The statistics in this dataset

Rankings built from it

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