Sanjay Pitchai
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Hey Sanjay — congrats on launching Catamaran. Similar IB → PE background here — been deep in industrial services origination lately. Would be good to connect.
Hey Sanjay, see we share a similar PE path, though I was in London doing growth equity not launching a search fund in water services. most funds I talk to have a database — PitchBook or Grata — maybe a CRM, and then the origination setup is mostly Excel and email from there. but proprietary deal flow stays inconsistent. nothing connects systematically — the firm's thesis and network intelligence don't feed into each other, so origination never builds on itself. do you disagree? — Russ
Hey Sanjay, see we share a similar PE path, though I was in London doing growth equity not launching a search fund in water services. most funds I talk to have a database — PitchBook or Grata — maybe a CRM, and then the origination setup is mostly Excel and email from there. but proprietary deal flow stays inconsistent. nothing connects systematically — the firm's thesis and network intelligence don't feed into each other, so origination never builds on itself. do you disagree? — Russ
hey Sanjay — this kept rattling around. when I was doing growth equity we had every subscription going — PitchBook, CRM, enrichment tools, the lot — and I still spent half my time manually pulling origination together across all of it. always wondered if that was just us being disorganised or if it's genuinely universal. did you ever run into that at Catamaran, or was it just us? — Russ
hey Sanjay — appreciate the connect either way. I'm in and around industrial services origination all day — if you ever want to swap notes on what's working for finding those family-owned water treatment businesses, I'm easy to find. — Russ
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Hey Sanjay, looks like we share a similar IB → PE path, though I was doing growth equity for a European fund not launching a search fund in water services. most industrial services funds I talk to are running on PitchBook or Grata, maybe Affinity, and then basically Excel and email for everything else on the origination side. yet the off-market pipeline stays weirdly thin. the intelligence is all there but it's scattered across tools and inboxes — so nothing compounds into a real origination edge. do you disagree? Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23
Hey Sanjay, something I keep coming back to with industrial services funds. most funds I talk to are still 70-80% broker-dependent for deal flow. works fine until two funds get shown the same deal and it becomes a pricing war. the proprietary pipeline is the thing that's supposed to prevent that — but it rarely gets built systematically. curious whether Catamaran has cracked that or if it's the same pattern. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23
hey Sanjay — one more thought on this. at my old fund we had a solid stack and smart people, and origination still felt like it restarted from scratch every cycle. took me a while to realise it wasn't a people problem — the tools just didn't talk to each other. did you ever run into that at Catamaran, or was it just us? Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23
hey Sanjay — been thinking about this a lot — the difference between funds that build origination infrastructure in the first couple of years vs those that keep running on brokers and inbound. by year 3-4 the gap is pretty hard to close. curious if you've been thinking about this at Catamaran. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23
hey Sanjay — no stress on any of this. spend most of my time thinking about origination infrastructure for funds — if that ever becomes a thing worth talking about, I'm around. Russell searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23
Prospect Research
## PROSPECT INFORMATION: Name: Sanjay Pitchai Title: Founder & Managing Partner Fund: Catamaran Equity Partners Background: Sanjay Pitchai is the Founder and Managing Partner of Catamaran Equity Partners, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is an investor and operator currently focused on acquiring and scaling a single service-based business within the industrial services sector, with a specific "buy and hold" interest in the water and wastewater treatment industry. He describes his investment philosophy as a long-horizon responsibility, contrasting it with typical quick-capital investors. Current Focus: He is actively seeking introductions to founders and operators in water treatment, cooling tower/boiler services, RO/EDI systems, wastewater compliance, and stormwater O&M. He is particularly targeting family-owned businesses between $7M and $25M in revenue looking for succession planning. Background and Education: Sanjay recently completed his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he served as Co-President of the Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) Club and was a VP for the MIT Climate and Energy Prize. Before his MBA, he built a strong foundation in finance and operations, notably spending two years at Toast where he worked on international expansion and helped with the $1B IPO roadshow materials. His earlier career includes three years in Technology Investment Banking at Perella Weinberg Partners and an internship at Arrowroot Capital. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Actuarial Mathematics and Economics from UCLA. Key Skills: Strategic Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA), Investment Banking, Industrial Water Systems, Financial Modeling, and SMB Operations. Recent LinkedIn Posts and Activity: January 13, 2026: Sanjay shared a detailed market report on the water sector, stating, "Roughly one-third of pipelines are now more than 50 years old, and utilities still experience ~260,000 main breaks each year." He noted that "PFAS testing and compliance alone represents a ~$430M global market growing ~14.5% annually." January 6, 2026: He wrote a personal post about his transition into the water industry, quoting: "This industry is full of founders who built trust the slow way. Route by route. Inspection by inspection." He emphasized his long-term commitment by saying, "My goal is not to sell your business in a few years but to carry forward the work you started and strengthen it for the next twenty." November 10, 2025: Reflecting on his networking, he posted: "I've been blown away by how humble, hard-working and passionate these individuals are, and how much they care about their customers, the community and the environment." September 2, 2025: Sanjay officially launched his firm, stating: "I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Catamaran Equity Partners, an investment vehicle I founded to acquire and operate one incredible business." He mentioned leaving Toast because he "realized that I wanted something different from my career and life." August 22, 2023: He shared his excitement about starting his MBA, noting he was interested in "learning about #entrepreneurship, #investing and #cleanenergytransition." Fund details: - Description: Helping business owners chart their next adventure. We are here to acquire your exceptional business and allow your legacy to flourish. Catamaran Equity Partners was established by a group of entrepreneurs, operators and investors to identify a single great business in the United States. Our goal is to acquire and operate a business for the long-term - Website: https://www.catamaranequitypartners.com - Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States - Lead qualification: Research: - Query: =Catamaran Equity Partners Sanjay Pitchai recent investments fund thesis - Answer: Sanjay Pitchai leads Catamaran Equity Partners, focusing on acquiring U.S. companies for growth, leveraging The Good Jobs Strategy. His fund targets established firms with potential for expansion. Pitchai's background includes roles at Toast, Inc. and Perella Weinberg Partners.