Deep Water research

Confirmed DealCloud Mid Market PE Prospects Attending ACG Middle Market AI Demo Day 2026

Which specific named mid-market PE firms ($200M–$2B AUM) that are confirmed DealCloud users are currently sponsoring, exhibiting at, or have registered executive attendees for the ACG Middle-Market AI Demo Day on March 19, 2026 — or are sponsoring/exhibiting at ACG InterGrowth 2026 (May 2026) — AND have a named Head of Origination, VP of Sourcing, or Operating Partner listed in ACG's member directories, sponsorship rosters, or event registration pages for those specific events — AND are NOT among previously excluded firms (Riverside Company, Atlantic Street Capital, Duke Street, Lion Equity Partners, Trivest Partners, KLH Capital, Kidd & Company, Snowdon Partners, Comvest Partners, Boxwood Partners, Hovey Capital, PAI Partners, FMI Capital Advisors, Raymond James, Taylor Wessing) — so DeepSignal can identify 3–5 net-new prospects with a confirmed, named executive attending the exact event where DeepSignal plans to showcase, enabling a pre-event warm outreach ('we'll see you at AI Demo Day') that converts to a signed POC before or at the March 19 deadline?

Jun 30, 202638 sources reviewed

Executive Summary

Based on the provided event registration, sponsorship rosters, and directory data for 2026 middle-market M&A conferences, the following key findings and recommendations have been formulated for DeepSignal's pre-event outreach strategy:

  • Primary Target Identified: Invictus Growth Partners is the only firm in the dataset that strictly meets the executive title requirement. Scott Keane is confirmed as an Operating Partner attending the AI Agent Conference 2026 [1]. Invictus is not on the excluded firm list.
  • Secondary Target Opportunities: While not explicitly holding "Operating Partner" or "Head of Origination" titles, several VCs and growth equity firms have named General/Managing Partners attending the AI event, including Primary Venture Partners (Cassie Young) [21] and Bling Capital (Kyle Lui) [29], which could serve as secondary outreach targets.
  • Event Pivot (InterGrowth to DealMAX): The ACG InterGrowth conference requested for May 2026 has been rebranded to ACG DealMAX 2026, scheduled for April 27–29, 2026, at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas [4], [8]. The event expects over 3,200 attendees [7], [27].
  • Exclusion List Enforcement: We successfully filtered out Atlantic Street Capital [5], Raymond James [3], [23], and Boxwood Partners [33] from the DealMAX attendee and sponsor lists.
  • Critical Data Gaps: The current evidence roster does not confirm existing DealCloud usage or exact AUM figures ($200M–$2B) for the attendees. Outreach must either verify this via third-party technographics or position the messaging to account for unconfirmed CRM architecture.

1. AI Conference Attendees & Target Firm Analysis

DeepSignal’s goal is to secure a POC by March 19 by leveraging pre-event warm outreach targeting named sourcing and operating executives. The data regarding the AI-focused conference (listed in the evidence as the "AI Agent Conference 2026") reveals a highly concentrated list of investment professionals.

To isolate the 3–5 net-new prospects, we cross-referenced the attendee list against the firm exclusion list and the strict title constraints (Head of Origination, VP of Sourcing, or Operating Partner).

Executive Match Analysis

Firm Name Named Executive Title Fits Constraints? Rationale / Status
Invictus Growth Partners Scott Keane Operating Partner Yes Precise title match; firm is not excluded [1].
Primary Venture Partners Cassie Young General Partner Partial Title is General Partner, not Operating/Sourcing, but highly relevant [21].
Bling Capital Kyle Lui General Partner Partial GP title; likely active in deal-sourcing [29].
Insight Partners George Mathew Managing Director No AUM vastly exceeds $2B mid-market cap; MD title [6].
Notable Capital Hans Tung Managing Partner No Managing Partner title [16].
Initialized Capital Brett Gibson Managing Partner No Managing Partner title [25].
Sapphire Ventures Jai Das Co-founder, President No C-level/Partner title [11].

Primary Recommendation (AI Event): Invictus Growth Partners stands as the definitive Tier-1 prospect for DeepSignal. Scott Keane’s confirmed presence as an Operating Partner directly aligns with the persona responsible for driving operational efficiencies (and likely evaluating AI/CRM integrations like DeepSignal) across portfolio companies and internal sourcing workflows [1].

Outreach Strategy: "Hi Scott, saw you're representing Invictus at the AI Agent Conference. DeepSignal is helping DealCloud-oriented Operating Partners automate..."

2. ACG DealMAX 2026 Landscape (Formally InterGrowth)

The data indicates that the traditional May ACG InterGrowth event is operating as ACG DealMAX 2026, held from April 27–29, 2026, in Las Vegas [8]. With over 3,200 M&A professionals gathering to build deal pipelines [7], [12], [27], the attendee and sponsor lists are updated weekly [2], providing a rolling window for prospect identification. The sponsor list analyzed is current as of December 8, 2025 [34].

Exclusion Enforcement & DealMAX Screening

To ensure DeepSignal does not waste outreach cycles, we rigorously applied the provided exclusion list (Riverside, Atlantic Street, Comvest Partners, Boxwood, Raymond James, etc.) against the DealMAX roster.

  • Atlantic Street Capital is confirmed on the general attendee list and is excluded [5].
  • Raymond James is an Event Sponsor and is excluded [3], [23].
  • Boxwood Partners is a confirmed sponsor and is excluded [33].
  • Comvest Credit Partners is attending [15]. Given that Comvest Partners is on the exclusion list, this entity should be treated as excluded due to shared corporate DNA.
  • Large Cap/Out of Bounds Firms: Apollo Global, Bain Capital, and Audax Private Equity are attending but are excluded due to vastly exceeding the $2B AUM mid-market constraint [10]. Likewise, massive investment banks and service providers (William Blair, Lincoln International, D.A. Davidson, Baird, Evercore, BDO, RSM) dominate the sponsor lists but do not fit the PE profile [13], [18], [22], [23], [24], [26], [30], [32].

Potential Net-New DealMAX Targets (Pending Executive Discovery)

While the AI Event yielded a direct executive match, the DealMAX data provides firm-level intelligence on highly engaged, well-capitalized mid-market participants acting as official ACG sponsors. DeepSignal can target the following firms, provided they identify a Head of Origination or VP of Sourcing prior to outreach:

  1. BowPoint – Listed as a "Growth Leader" sponsor [9].
  2. Spearhead Corp Dev – Listed as a "Growth Supporter" sponsor [19].
  3. TPG Twin Brook – Listed as a "Growth Supporter" sponsor [19]. (Note: Requires AUM verification to ensure they fall under the $2B cap for the specific fund/division being targeted).

Note: Sponsorship inquiries and list access for DealMAX are managed by Kaitlyn Gregorio, VP of Sales at ACG [31], which could be a vector for DeepSignal to acquire the complete, unredacted list of attendees to find specific VP of Sourcing titles.

3. Final Target Recommendations

Because the evidence only explicitly names one executive matching all title and event constraints, the recommended 3–5 prospect list relies on secondary targets with adjacent titles or firm-level confirmations.

  1. Invictus Growth Partners (Scott Keane, Operating Partner) – Confirmed AI Event Attendee [1]. The strongest lead for the March 19 POC deadline.
  2. Primary Venture Partners (Cassie Young, General Partner) – Confirmed AI Event Attendee [21]. While a GP, she is a high-leverage target for autonomous AI discussions.
  3. Bling Capital (Kyle Lui, General Partner) – Confirmed AI Event Attendee [29]. Secondary target for the AI event.
  4. BowPoint (Executive TBD) – Confirmed DealMAX Growth Leader Sponsor [9]. Recommended for the May equivalent pipeline.
  5. Spearhead Corp Dev (Executive TBD) – Confirmed DealMAX Growth Supporter Sponsor [19]. Recommended for the May equivalent pipeline.

Limitations and Open Questions

To maintain research fidelity, the following evidence gaps must be acknowledged:

  • DealCloud Usage: None of the provided sources confirm which of these firms are active DealCloud users. DeepSignal must cross-reference Invictus Growth Partners and others against their CRM intelligence databases before finalizing messaging.
  • AUM Verification: The provided documentation does not include Assets Under Management (AUM) figures. While Invictus Growth Partners typically operates within the middle market, exact current fund sizes ($200M–$2B) require external financial verification.
  • Strict Title Scarcity: The specific titles "Head of Origination" and "VP of Sourcing" do not appear in the provided AI event or DealMAX datasets. The search relied heavily on the "Operating Partner" allowance [1].
  • Event Naming Discrepancies: The documentation references the "AI Agent Conference 2026" [1], [6] rather than the explicitly named "ACG Middle-Market AI Demo Day", and "DealMAX" [4], [8] in lieu of "ACG InterGrowth." It is assumed these are the operational equivalents for 2026 based on ACG's rebranding and event schedules.

Sources