A Dallas private equity firm has defied the odds, closing its inaugural fund $90 million above a $350 million target during an otherwise very bad time to seek money.
On Tuesday, Broadwing Capital Management announced the final close of its Fund I, which launched in 2023 and finished oversubscribed with $440 million in total committed capital. Founded by Eliot Kerlin and Andrew Boisseau, Broadwing carved a successful niche investing in what Kerlin called the “older economy”: small but established family- and founder-owned businesses in the manufacturing and distribution and services sectors.
“We found strategically it was very helpful to make our investments as we raised the fund, so give investors an idea of what our fund would look like and what our strategy was by investing in platform companies as we went along,” Kerlin said in an interview. “By the time we had our final close, we had six investments in the fund, and in total, we probably will only have 11 companies in the fund. So we were more than halfway done by the time we had our final close.”
Broadwing’s success stands out in a tough field for private equity fundraising, especially for first-time funds. According to accounting firm KPMG, U.S. private equity fundraising hit a decade low in 2025 after three years of decline, with limited partners (providers of capital) consolidating in large funds. The total number of private equity funds also plummeted, sitting at around 300 total by the end of last year, down from more than 1,000 at the start of 2023.
“Investors don’t have a lot of cash,” Kerlin explained, with partner money tied up in funds with longer and longer holding times as exit opportunities dwindled in number despite exit values shooting up.
“What we’re focused on is shortening that hold period. We are looking to make a lot of impact in a short amount of time,” he said. “We started the firm in 2022. Initially, we had four or five folks on the team. We were working out of La Madeleine over on Northwest Highway, just brainstorming, sitting around the table, and trying to put our strategy into writing.”
Kerlin said Broadwing provides its portfolio companies with extra resources, like outside consulting, that they perhaps couldn’t afford before in order to “fortify the foundation” and then scale with the help of an experienced operations team. In a release, Kerlin said he was “humbled and energized” by investors’ enthusiastic response to Broadwing’s model.
“Many firms talk about operational partnership, but we purpose-built our model around it, with a Resource Group that equips and enables management teams to drive sustainable growth,” said Boisseau in the release.
“Our mantra is enhancing companies, cultures, and communities. … We don’t want to just make money on our investments. We also want to improve the employees’ lived experience and the communities where our companies operate,” Kerlin said. “We invest in training and education. Sometimes it’s more on the counseling side, or it might be on opportunities. And then, how can we have that company plug in to strengthen their community? And that also resonates with a lot of sellers who care about their legacy.”