Sell a Autism / ABA Therapy business

Owner-operator autism / aba therapy businesses trade at 2.5x–4.5x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 7x–11x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from PitchBook Healthcare Services 2025 + Bass Berry LMM Healthcare Report. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

LEARN Behavioral, Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD, now Blue Sprig), Autism Learning Partners, and Butterfly Effects lead consolidation. Active buyer archetypes in healthcare include Physician-services PE platform, Health system / MSO, Physician successor. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

ABA practices with BCBA-heavy staff mix and Medicaid and commercial payer diversification trade at premium — the BCBA credentialing is the constrained resource in the market. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in healthcare are payer mix (commercial vs government) — commercial-weighted practices command premium; provider retention post-close (employment agreements + earn-outs standard); multiple providers/practitioners (not solo-owner-dependent).

ABA reimbursement varies materially by state Medicaid coverage; buyers scrutinize your state-level regulatory exposure and any prospective rate compression. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize payer reimbursement rate compression and physician recruiting difficulty. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for autism / aba therapy is $1.5M–$40M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 624190 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in healthcare. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.