NEW CANAAN, CT, March 26, 2025 – Gridiron Capital, LLC (“Gridiron Capital”), an investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, is pleased to announce that BluWave, the Business Builders’ Network that connects the private equity industry with best-in-class talent, industry consultants, and service providers, today announced Gridiron Capital as a 2025 Top PE Innovator Award winner.
BluWave’s fourth annual Top Private Equity Innovator Awards recognize the top 2% of private equity firms that differentially embrace proactive due diligence, transformative value creation, modern private equity firm operations and corporate citizenship practices.
“We are thrilled to be named a top Private Equity Innovator for 2025 by BluWave,” said Tom Burger, Managing Partner. “At Gridiron, we strive to lead with innovation and integrity in everything we do. Over the past 20 years, we’ve found that our greatest successes have come from working with partners who share our values of hard work, honesty, perseverance, and a deep desire to win.”
Kevin Jackson, Managing Partner at Gridiron Capital, added, “The strategic investments in our team, operational capabilities, and technology, combined with our culture of innovation, have been vital to our firm’s success. We are incredibly grateful for the dedicated and talented professionals at Gridiron and our partner companies, whose unwavering pursuit of innovation drives sustainable value creation.”
The Top Private Equity Innovator awardees were selected by a cross-functional committee that assessed candidates in consultation with a broad universe of limited partners, investment bankers, industry thought leaders, and service providers in the private equity ecosystem. As part of their selection process, the committee evaluated more than 6,000 private equity firms and utilized more than 75 different factors, incorporating more than 400,000 data points.
“The 2025 top private equity innovators are providing differential leadership in the world of business,” said Sean Mooney, founder and CEO of BluWave. “Their innovative practices are strengthening companies, creating jobs and catalyzing our economy.”
The Top Private Equity Innovator Awards are distinctive in that they involve no financial obligations from any participants and the selection process is independent of any customer relationships.
As the go-to connector of private equity-grade resources for due diligence and value creation needs of the business builders of PE, BluWave has a one-of-a-kind perspective that enables it to uniquely understand best practices and innovation in the private equity industry. For further information on the BluWave 2025 Top Private Equity Innovator Awards, including the selection process, selection criteria, and recipients, please visit bluwave.net/awards.
About Gridiron Capital
Gridiron Capital is an investment firm focused on partnering with founders, entrepreneurs, and management teams, and creating value by building middle-market companies into industry-leaders in consumer products & services, industrial growth, and business services segments in the United States and Canada. We help transform growing companies by winning together through hard work, partnerships grounded in shared values and a unique culture that comes from hands-on experience building and running businesses. As a team led by former operators and entrepreneurs, we know what it takes to run successful businesses on a day-to-day basis. Additional information is available on the firm’s website: www.gridironcapital.com.
About BluWave
BluWave is the Business Builders’ Network for private equity-grade service provider needs. The company’s market network platform combines AI, technology, and data with concierge-like consultative support to expertly connect businesses with differential providers across due diligence, value creation, and prep for sale. The BluWave Vetted™ network is an invite-only, pre-certified ecosystem of top-tier service-providing groups, independent consultants, and interim executives. Based in Nashville, Tenn., BluWave ranks as one of America’s fastest-growing companies and today serves many hundreds of leading private equity firms and thousands of proactive companies. Visit BluWave.net to learn more.
*BluWave, LP has not received investment capital from and holds no ownership interest in the PE firms evaluated or recognized under the PE Innovator awards program. BluWave received no compensation from any of the PE firms in connection with this awards program. BluWave, however, may otherwise provide services to the PE firms and/or portfolio companies, but BluWave confirms that its assessment of the PE firms was independent of any such service arrangements. Top 2% in the PE industry is based on BluWave’s review of the more than 6,000 PE firms in the U.S. and Canada, from which the private equity firms were selected as award recipients.