Nicolás Lulli·April 23, 2026

The Searchers Building a $10m EBITDA Powerhouse | Nicolás Lulli Interview

Nicolás Lulli and two partners launched Colca Capital, the first search fund in Peru, in April 2019 and acquired Bolisistemas — a records management business generating ~$1m EBITDA — in December 2020, just as COVID struck. Peru's government imposed some of the world's most draconian lockdowns, eliminating all non-storage revenue lines overnight and driving EBITDA to zero; the team was forced to lay off roughly 200 of 350 employees and restructure entirely around recurring box-storage. Over the next two years, the founders operated with extreme intensity — 12-hour days, performance-based incentives installed down to front-line supervisors, and a relentless focus on winning large anchor contracts — growing organically from zero to $5–6m EBITDA. A December 2023 recap provided partial liquidity, brought in new equity, and launched an M&A campaign; Colca has since acquired six companies (entering Ecuador and Bolivia) and raised ~$50m in committed equity across all rounds, reaching $25m in revenue and $10m in EBITDA today with a stated path to $25m EBITDA. The business now operates as the largest independently owned records management platform in the Andean region, positioned as buyer-of-choice for subscale local operators that are too small for Iron Mountain or Access, with a plausible strategic exit to one of those global players as the long-term outcome.

Deal facts

multiple: 4–6x EBITDA (stated as the range they pay for acquisitions; acquisition multiple of Bolisistemas not explicitly disclosed)
sde ebitda: EBITDA $1m at acquisition (2020); dropped to ~$0 in 2021; grew to $5–6m organically; now $10m EBITDA
revenue: $25m in sales (current)
financing structure: Search fund equity raise (US-based investors via Colca Capital); 2023 recap raising new equity with some investor liquidity; subsequent committed capital raise; leverage/debt used for M&A; total ~$50m committed equity across all rounds
notes: Acquired Bolisistemas (Peru records management) in December 2020. Colca Capital launched April 2019. Six add-on acquisitions completed in ~2 years post-recap; two more under contract. Also acquired File Storage in Ecuador. Greenfielded Bolivia under Polisistemas brand. Three co-founders/partners. Recap done December 2023 enabling inorganic growth phase.

Why this business

Lulli and his two partners launched the first search fund in Peru (Colca Capital) and deliberately targeted the records management industry because it is highly recurring, asset-light once racked out, has no meaningful customer churn, is hyper-local creating subscale acquisition targets, and has a clear set of strategic acquirers (Iron Mountain, Access, VRC) who have a demonstrated track record of paying good prices for top-tier assets. The industry's simple economics — pay per box per month, near-zero maintenance capex at scale — matched their hustle-based operating philosophy and their private equity background in deal-making.

What's working

Near-zero churn in records storage: customers essentially never leave once boxes are stored, creating fully recurring revenue
Roll-up strategy in an underconsolidated market: buying subscale hyper-local competitors at 4–6x EBITDA while the business is worth materially more, creating value on each deal
Performance-based ownership culture built from scratch: micro-KPIs and incentives down to front-line supervisors, modeled on a 'sports team, not a family' ethos
First-mover advantage and buyer-of-choice status in the Andean region: six acquisitions completed in two years, giving Colca credibility and deal flow that larger players ignore
One-stop-shop differentiation vs. Iron Mountain: offering storage plus BPO imaging plus software creates stickier relationships with large financial-services clients
Country-manager structure: mini-CEOs in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia allow the founders to work on the business rather than in it
Strong investor network with deep records-management expertise ('RIM Mafia') providing operational guidance, capital, and debt

What's hard

COVID decimated the business in 2021: government-mandated shutdowns dropped EBITDA from $1m to effectively zero, forcing layoffs of ~200 of 350 employees and shutting down three to five revenue lines overnight
Severe customer concentration immediately post-acquisition: four large contracts represented essentially all revenue after the turnaround, creating enormous dependency
Capital-intensive growth phase: winning large step-function contracts required significant upfront cash (racking record centers, trucks, insurance, labor) before box-storage revenue arrived
Early years required extreme founder intensity: 12+ hours per day in-office with all three partners for the first three years before management layers were built
Thin local private-equity ecosystem: very few buyers and limited local capital in the Andean region, requiring US-based fundraising and complex cross-border structuring
Operating across multiple currencies and political environments adds risk: currency, regulatory, and political exposure across Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and future markets

Notable quotes

We went from a million bucks in EBITDA to basically zero the next year. And then bet everything on record storage and trying to win these big step function contracts that would take us to basically back to par.

Sports team, not a family. Company's not a family. Company's a sports team. We exist to win games. In our market, winning games is taking boxes from Iron Mountain and putting them on our record center.

We went from one to zero to five to six, we did a recap. And that was all organic, and the next phase became inorganic growth.

We just do EBITDA. We don't really do other things.

The 200,000th box is pure free cash flow. You don't need to hire any more guys to manage your record center. Maybe it's you hire three guys to manage an empty one and 20 to manage a full one.