Jonathan Smidt

Jonathan D. Smidt is a former KKR partner who now runs his own family office, Equable Capital, and co-founded and leads SAINVUS, a platform for acquiring and growing U.S. CPA practices. He began his career at Ernst & Young as an auditor before moving to Goldman Sachs & Co., where he worked in investment banking with a focus on the energy and power sector and M&A. He holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Smidt spent 18 years at KKR, from July 2000 to May 2018, in the firm's private equity practice. His final role was as head of the Industrials investment team and a member of the Investment Committee, with responsibility spanning KKR's private equity platforms in North America and Europe. Across his career at KKR his work covered the industrial, consumer, and energy sectors, and he was involved in transactions ranging from roughly $100 million to $48 billion in size, including corporate carve-outs, build-ups, IPOs, public-to-privates, leveraged buyouts, and growth investments.

After leaving KKR in 2018, Smidt founded Equable Capital, a New York–based family office that invests in and acquires private businesses and also holds a portfolio of venture and growth positions. In 2025 he and co-founder Hilliard Milner (a chartered accountant and technology entrepreneur) launched SAINVUS, a platform designed to acquire, support, and grow CPA practices; Smidt serves as CEO. He is active in civic and nonprofit work: he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, served on the board of the veteran-disaster-response nonprofit Team Rubicon (2016–2025), and has advised the board of overseers of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health (2015–2023, now senior advisor). He lives in New York with his two sons.

• Long-term, operationally engaged ownership. Through Equable, he targets private businesses with a 7–10+ year horizon, positioning himself as a patient, "value-added services and advice" partner rather than a quick-flip financial buyer.
• Buy-and-build platforms in fragmented services. SAINVUS is the clearest expression of his current thesis — consolidating CPA practices while letting them keep their brand, culture, and client relationships. In his words: *"Our goal is to build a network of top-tier CPA practices and empower them to prosper. Firms can retain their brand and independence or integrate more closely with us, accessing tools and support to meet today's challenges."*
• Check size / profile: Equable has stated it looks to invest roughly $5M–$50M in a single business or portfolio, targeting companies with ~$2M–$15M of EBITDA.
• Differentiation from traditional consolidators: emphasizes long-term partnership, providing growth capital, operational resources (HR, admin, offshore workforce), technology, and expanded service lines (e.g., valuation, forensic accounting) rather than aggressive cost-cutting.
• Broad venture/growth appetite alongside control deals: his portfolio spans early-stage software, healthcare, fertility, and digital media, indicating he backs founder-led companies at venture stages as well as buyouts.