Advantage Investigations Acquires NorStar

Advantage Investigations, an insurance investigative services platform backed by Align Capital Partners (ACP), has acquired NorStar Investigations, a founder-owned surveillance and claims-investigation firm serving insurers and law firms across the Northeast. Advantage, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina and led by CEO Shelly Kummings, was founded in 1998 and works for property and casualty insurers, third-party administrators running claims for self-insured employers, and defense law firms. Its services include field surveillance, desktop research of public records and social media under the NetSweep brand, recorded statements, background and activity checks, remote camera monitoring, and analysis of vehicle event-data recorders. Advantage staffs assignments with investigators it employs directly, a model it says keeps evidence defensible when claim decisions are contested, and it tracks cases through a proprietary case-management system.

NorStar, based in Fishkill, New York, about 60 miles north of New York City, handles surveillance, insurance-fraud and claims investigations, background checks and legal investigations for general liability carriers, third-party administrators and law firms in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. According to founder Bill Troiano, the acquisition gives NorStar access to Advantage's national resources, technology and operational support, while allowing clients to keep the same experienced personnel and investigative resources. For Advantage, the deal adds a book of carrier, administrator and law-firm relationships in three contiguous states to a network already reaching 45 states.

NorStar is the second add-on for Advantage under ACP ownership. In June 2026 Advantage acquired Lange Technical Services, a Long Island-based provider of forensic vehicle investigation, including fire origin and cause determinations, collision damage analysis, accident reconstruction and event data recorder retrieval. ACP acquired Advantage from MD Holdings, a Texas-based private equity firm, in November 2025. MD Holdings had taken a majority stake in 2019 and added four investigation businesses before the sale.

The acquisition sits within a broader trend. According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, fraud costs US insurance lines about $309 billion annually, giving carriers a direct incentive to scrutinize suspicious claims. The investigation industry remains fragmented and largely made up of small, founder-owned firms licensed state by state, a structure that favors buyers able to offer national coverage, uniform compliance and shared technology. Mordor Intelligence estimates the global insurance fraud detection market, spanning investigative services and analytics software, at about $8.5 billion in 2026, projected to reach $20.2 billion by 2031, a compound annual growth rate of roughly 18.9%, with North America the largest regional market. ACP, a Cleveland- and Dallas-based firm, typically invests $20 million to $60 million of equity in lower-middle-market business-to-business companies with enterprise values up to $150 million. The ACP transaction team was led by Partner Matt Iodice, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Rob Langley, Operating Partner Stuart Schardin, Vice President Sarah Whitney and Managing Director of Portfolio M&A Joe Vitale.