Southfield Capital Makes Investment in Metric Search
March 27, 2026 – Private equity firm Southfield Capital has made a majority investment in Metric Search, Ltd., a specialized provider of talent solutions and human capital placement services for niche, high-growth sectors, including MedTech, life sciences, engineering, and data centers. “Metric has built a highly compelling platform by staying disciplined in its focus on specialized, high-growth sectors where talent is both scarce and mission-critical,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO of Hunt Scanlon Ventures. “Their micro-niche approach, combined with a strong internal talent engine and global footprint, positions the firm to scale effectively in a market that increasingly rewards depth over breadth. Southfield’s investment underscores the growing importance of sector-focused search firms.”
“We were immediately impressed by the differentiated offering Metric has created since its founding in 2019, especially in a market that is often commoditized,” said Chris Grambling, partner at Southfield Capital. “Their focus on sectors with structural talent scarcity, together with their depth of expertise and track record within those sectors, has allowed them to establish an exceptional, best-in-class, and highly scalable platform. We are excited to be partnering with Joe and the rest of the Metric team as part of their ambition to be a global leader in the specialist executive search space.”
Founded in New York in 2019, Metric has established itself as an industry leader in the executive search and talent solutions space with over 130 consultants globally across seven offices in the U.S. and U.K. The firm, which delivers senior and executive-level search through four specialist sub-brands – Metric Geo (engineering and infrastructure), Metric DCX (data centers), Metric Bio (life sciences and MedTech), and Metric Exec (C-suite and PE-backed executive search) – has been recognized in the Financial Times FT1000 list of fastest-growing companies in both 2025 and 2026.
Metric founder and CEO, Joe Jani, will remain in his position as part of the firm’s management team and work alongside Southfield to continue executing on the next phase of the company’s ambitious growth strategy.
“This is a defining moment, not because of the capital, but because of what it represents,” said Mr. Jani. “Every decision we have made since 2019 has been about staying disciplined, staying specialist, and earning the trust of the clients and candidates we work with.”
“Our sectors, data centers, life sciences, infrastructure, and engineering, are at the center of the most important capital flows in the global economy, and the cost of getting talent wrong in those markets is high,” Mr. Jani continued. “Metric exists to solve that problem, and with Southfield’s backing we now have the platform, the resources, and the team to do it at scale.”
Metric’s experienced leadership team, highly specialized micro-niche service strategy, distinctive internal recruitment and training model, and compelling client value proposition position the firm to continue leveraging emerging labor market imbalances. Partnering with Southfield provides Metric with substantial runway and support for both organic and inorganic growth in a fragmented industry, while also enabling the expansion of its service offerings to better serve both existing and prospective clients.
Having invested in more than 100+ entrepreneur-built businesses since 2002, Southfield’s majority investment in Metric is the third platform made from its current flagship fund, Southfield Capital IV.
Tree Line Capital Partners provided debt financing. Finn Dixon & Herling LLP and Simmons & Simmons LLP provided legal counsel to Southfield. Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Metric.
Southfield Capital is a private equity firm with a foundational commitment to driving value at high-growth, lower middle market companies in the business services sector. The firm leverages its deep team of highly-experienced investment, technology and value-creation professionals, combined with fully-integrated AI-driven capabilities to partner with founders and manager-owned teams.
M&A Transactions
In line with this growing momentum in the specialist search sector, Hunt Scanlon Ventures has facilitated a number of M&A transactions across the executive search space in recent months.
Talento Human Capital has acquired R2 Global, a highly respected technology recruitment and staffing firm known for its niche expertise across cloud & data, business systems, and e-commerce. This strategic move will expand TalentoHC’s existing footprint in the technology sector and launch, as well as strengthen, its technology search & staffing service lines. “The combination of TalentoHC’s talent acquisition expertise with R2’s deep technical focus marks an exciting new chapter for both organizations,” said Juan Gaitan, CEO of TalentoHC, based in Coral Gables, FL. “R2’s agile approach to technology staffing and recruiting aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver tailored recruitment solutions. Together, as R2 Powered by Talento, we are positioned to become a premier go-to partner for IT talent and innovation,” he added. “TalentoHC and R2 Global customers will benefit tremendously from the portfolio of human capital offerings that the combined organizations now provide,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO and co-founder of Hunt Scanlon Ventures.
Global talent advisory firm ZRG has acquired Aspen Leadership Group, a search firm focused on placing and supporting top fundraising leaders and executive talent in educational institutions and the broader non-profit sector. “The addition of Aspen Leadership Group is nothing short of transformative,” said Larry Hartmann, CEO of ZRG. “Their expertise in development and advancement is the perfect complement to our growing education practice, and as we roll into 2025 we are unlocking the collective power of these exceptional niche businesses under the unified banner of ZRG’s education practice, creating unmatched solutions for academic and non-profit leadership.” Aspen Leadership Group, established in 2013, conducts a wide range of searches across the fundraising, education and non-profit sector and is widely considered the eminent leader in its field. Its clients include Brown University, PBS, Robin Hood, the Humane Society of the United States, the Leakey Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Denver Zoological Foundation, among others.
Talento Human Capital (TalentoHC) has acquired The PeterSan Group and PeterSan Legal Staffing. The merger brings expertise in legal recruiting to TalentoHC’s customer experience model and comprehensive human capital services, including retained executive search, professional and management recruiting, RPO, staff augmentation, and human capital consulting. Managing partners Peter Gosule, Peter Goldfeder, and Sandy Friedman of The PeterSan Group will lead the TalentoLegal business unit from New York City, where the firm has been rooted for three decades. “The PeterSan transaction fits in well with our platform strategy as we build onto our customer-centric model and expand our industry and functional vertical focus,” said Juan Gaitan, CEO of TalentoHC, based in Coral Gables, FL. “The intersection of these two approaches will create opportunities for continued growth and value for our customers, candidates, associates and shareholders.”
ZRG acquired Jamesbeck, a New York City-based recruitment firm specializing in senior-level talent for the broad investment management community across private market and traditional firms. “This strategic move aims to establish ZRG’s presence in asset management and will support the firm’s existing private markets clients by adding a new channel for senior roles at the management company level across investments, product, and fundraising,” said ZRG. “Jamesbeck has been at the forefront of decisive changes that have impacted asset management leadership for more than two decades,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO of Hunt Scanlon Ventures. “The firm’s acquisition by ZRG will be beneficial to clients across the global investment management space who have come to rely on its network, judgment and guidance around senior-level leadership talent,” he noted. Jamesbeck specializes in the investment management industry across public and private markets. The firm recruits senior-level talent across investing, distribution, product and C-suite positions on behalf of a range of clients from boutiques to the largest multi-product organizations. Jamesbeck’s Melissa Norris, managing partner, and Beth Rustin, founding partner, will become the co-heads of asset management search at ZRG.
Related: How Search Firms are Winning Through M&A and Unlocking Value
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
