Paul Caragher
Managing Partner
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- Full Name
- Paul John Caragher
- Title
- Managing Partner & Founding Partner
- Firm
- Pike Street Capital
- Firm Type
- Private Equity (lower-middle-market control buyouts) — *not an angel/seed investor, despite the stub classification*
- Investment Stage
- Control equity / buyout (majority recapitalizations and platform acquisitions), not seed
- Check Size
- Not publicly disclosed; drawn from a $237M inaugural fund, so equity investments are typically in the tens of millions
- Target Company Profile
- Profitable, founder/owner-led businesses with ~$10M–$100M in revenue that serve demanding technical customers
- Sector Focus
- Industrial technology, specialty manufacturing, distribution & logistics, and business services
- Geographic Focus
- Primarily North America (U.S. Pacific Northwest and beyond)
- Location
- Seattle, Washington
Background
Paul Caragher is a founding and managing partner of Pike Street Capital, a Seattle-based private equity firm he co-founded in 2017 alongside David Dandel and Ed Whatley. At the firm he sits on the operations side of the house, applying an operator's lens to control investments in lower-middle-market industrial technology companies. Pike Street closed its inaugural fund in November 2020 at $237 million, oversubscribed against a $200 million target.
Before founding Pike Street, Caragher was President and CEO of Radiant Zemax, a business formed through an Evergreen Pacific Partners–backed combination of two founder-led companies, Radiant Imaging and Zemax Development. He participated in the diligence and cultivation of both businesses and then joined to run the combined company's growth strategy. Under his leadership Zemax was sold to Arlington Capital Partners in 2014, and Radiant Vision Systems was acquired by Konica Minolta for approximately $241 million in 2015.
Earlier in his career, Caragher spent years within the Danaher portfolio in senior operating roles, including President of Tektronix Service Solutions, President of Fluke Networks, and leadership roles at the Hach-Lange environmental platform. He began his career at General Motors (in its Latin America, Africa and Middle East operations) and at the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand.
He earned an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School in 2002, where he was awarded a General Motors Fellowship, and holds a BA in Accounting from Michigan State University. He has also served on company boards including Aeryon Labs and Abracon.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Makes control (majority) investments, not minority/seed rounds — Pike Street buys and builds profitable industrial-technology and adjacent businesses in the lower middle market.
- Targets companies with roughly $10M–$100M in revenue that "serve demanding technical customers," with strong technical expertise, established market positions, capable management, and identifiable growth drivers.
- Sectors of interest: industrial technology, specialty manufacturing, distribution & logistics, and business services.
- Favors an operator-partnership model — buying founder/owner-led businesses and executing growth strategies (organic growth plus add-on M&A / platform building).
- In his own words: *"We believe growing a business is a process and team sport. Pike Street looks to partner with founders, owners, and management teams to implement successful growth strategies."*
Notable Investments
- Impel Company — Platform in fluid-management systems for water/wastewater treatment and other industrial end markets; formed by Pike Street in June 2021. Subject of a ~$199M single-asset continuation vehicle in March 2025.
- PumpTech — Washington-based distributor of pumps, process and environmental products; acquired to seed the Impel platform (2021), with add-ons including Don Pedro Pump (2024) and Pump Dynamics (2025).
- US BioTek Laboratories — Clinical/specialty laboratory business.
- Head Rush Technologies (TruBlue LLC) — Engineering company known for auto-belay and climbing-safety technology.
- QuickBox Fulfillment — E-commerce logistics and fulfillment provider.
- DigiStor (formerly CRU Data Security Group) — Provider of secure data-at-rest / encrypted storage solutions.
- Radiant Zemax / Radiant Vision Systems *(pre–Pike Street, as CEO)* — Sold to Arlington Capital (2014); Radiant Vision Systems acquired by Konica Minolta for ~$241M (2015).
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