October 29, 2025

Gauge Capital Named to Inc.’s 2025 Founder-Friendly Investors List

Southlake, TX, October 2025 – Gauge Capital is proud to announce its recognition on the Inc. Founder-Friendly Investors list, honoring the private equity firms, venture capital firms, and lenders with a track record of backing founder-led companies.
 
The prestigious list celebrates the investors that believe in backing founder-led businesses and helping them thrive. All companies on the list have successful track records of collaboration and remaining actively involved with the businesses they invest in.
 
“Raising capital is no small feat for today’s entrepreneurs. That’s why discovering investors who offer more than just financial backing—those who bring mentorship, resources, and a true spirit of partnership to your growth journey—is both rare and invaluable,” says Bonny Ghosh, editorial director at Inc. “The 2025 Founder-Friendly Investors are collaborators and dedicated to helping their portfolio companies succeed.”
 
“We are grateful to be recognized among the nation’s most founder-friendly investors for the 6th year in a row,” said Drew Johnson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Gauge. “Our passion continues to be partnering with founders to help scale their vision while preserving their culture and values.”
 
“We deeply value the trust founders place in us as partners. Between management typically rolling a meaningful amount of proceeds, and the internal Gauge team being the largest investor in the fund, we believe our model creates significant alignment with our partners” said Tom McKelvey, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Gauge.
 
Gauge Capital remains steadfast in their mission to partner with founders and management teams to unlock the full potential of their businesses. Since the close of the $1.4 billion Fund IV in early 2024, Gauge has completed five new platform investments, backing exceptional companies. While Gauge continues to grow and raise larger funds, its dedication to partnering with founders remains a defining part of the firm’s identity.
 
To compile the list, Inc. went straight to the source: entrepreneurs who have sold to private equity and venture capital firms. Founders filled out a questionnaire about their experiences partnering with private equity, venture capital, and debt firms and shared data on how their companies have grown during these partnerships.
 
For more information or to view the complete list of honorees, visit https://www.inc.com/founder-friendly-investors.
 
About Gauge Capital
Gauge Capital is a middle-market private equity firm based in Southlake, Texas. Gauge invests in five key sectors: business services, food & consumer, government & industrial services, healthcare, and technology. The Firm manages more than $3.0 billion in capital. For more information, please contact Andrew Peix, Partner, Business Development at apeix@gaugecapital.com.
 
About Inc.  
Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
 
The “Founder-Friendly Investors” award is a program designed by Inc. Magazine to help founder-led companies accelerate growth and create revenue.  Private equity, venture capital firms and lenders that have exited U.S.-based, founder-led portfolio companies are eligible to apply.  For investments to qualify, portfolio company founders must have remained actively involved in their business for at least one-year post-investment.  Winning firms are selected based upon their track record, reputation, leadership and founder references.  Gauge Capital is not aware of the number of advisers also surveyed for the award. Like all entrants, Gauge Capital paid a fee to be considered for this award and pays a fee to Inc. Magazine to use the collateral associated with the award and logo. This award is not to be construed as indicative of Gauge Capital’s future performance. Reference to an award is only one piece of information relevant to an evaluation of an investment adviser such as Gauge Capital.  Finally, this award represents information as of a specific date and time and may not reflect important information related to an evaluation of the investment adviser which has occurred prior to, or subsequent to, the award.  Gauge Capital is not affiliated with Inc. Magazine. Gauge Capital received this award in 2025. More information about the Founder-Friendly Investors award is available at https://incprivateequity50.secure-platform.com/