Private Equity Firms Acquired More Than 500 Autism Centers Between 2015 & 2024

Private equity firms acquired 574 autism service delivery centers between 2015 and 2024, according to an analysis of acquisition data from PitchBook and autism prevalence data from the Special Education Child Count dataset.

The centers were acquired through 147 deals. Most (79.6%) of the 147 private equity acquisitions closed between 2018 and 2022. The researchers did not speculate about why the pace of acquisitions slowed after 2022.

The 574 autism centers acquired by private equity between 2015 and 2024 were located in 42 states. The states with the largest numbers of acquired centers were California (97), Texas (81), and . . .