Cathay Capital Launches Ascendia Autism Care ABA Platform

A Launch With One Name Withheld

NEW YORK – Cathay Capital launched Ascendia Autism Care on June 30. The new ABA platform is based on a founding affiliate that runs 20 centers in 8 states. The financial details were not shared, and the affiliate’s name was not included in the release.

Cathay said the investment will support the initial deal and provide significant growth funding, with plans to open new centers in every market within two years. Ascendia aims to build new centers rather than buy existing ones and will also seek additional partnerships with clinical providers.

Gladstone Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: GLAD), a business development company that mainly lends to lower-middle-market businesses, was a capital partner in the deal. Berkery Noyes was the financial advisor, and Haynes Boone provided legal counsel to Cathay.

“Family-centered providers represent the kind of mission-driven, clinically rigorous business we are proud to back,” Mark Woods, partner and head of North American private equity at Cathay Capital, said in the release.

What the Release Does Describe

The release describes the affiliate in detail but not by name. It delivers center-based ABA focused on early intervention for children ages 2 to 6, with a clinical team of over 400, including more than 70 BCBAs and 300 registered behavior technicians (RBTs). It reports a 4.2-star family satisfaction rating and says the company “has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by strong organic demand from families and the consistent opening of new clinics.”

“Our role is to provide the resources and operating support to extend their work to more children and families, at the same level of quality that has earned them the trust they have today.” – Mark Woods, Partner, Head of North American Private Equity, Cathay Capital (2026)

On Ascendia’s website, it describes the platform as clinician-led and working with providers in several U.S. markets. The site lists the services it offers affiliates, including clinical quality standards, operations, recruiting, workforce development, school and community partnerships, and a long-term growth strategy.

Schools are the second growth channel of the release names, after new centers. The platform plans to deliver ABA in schools and school districts, settings the release says help families, educators, and clinicians coordinate around a child’s goals.

The 2026 Platform-Formation Wave

Ascendia is at least the fourth new private equity-backed autism platform created this year, following three others Mertz Taggart counted in the first quarter: Momentum Health Partners with Advanced Autism Center for Treatment, Aquitaine Capital with KidsChoice, and Elysium Management with InBloom Autism Services. According to the advisory firm’s May report, 10 autism and I/DD (intellectual and developmental disabilities) deals closed in the first quarter of 2026, up from 7 in the last quarter of 2025, but fewer than the 12 closed in the first quarter of 2025.

“Three new PE platforms launched in the space in Q1 alone, which tells you something about where institutional capital is placing its bets,” Mertz Taggart managing partner Kevin Taggart said in the report.

The capital is entering a field PE already knows. Between 2015 and 2024, private equity firms acquired 574 ASD service delivery sites across 42 states through 147 acquisitions. Nearly 80% of those deals occurred between 2018 and 2022, according to a Brown University-led research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics on January 5, 2026. On the demand side, the launch release cites the CDC estimate that 1 in 31 U.S. children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder and notes that in many communities families wait months to begin services.

Ascendia is not Cathay’s first multi-site U.S. healthcare services bet. Founded in 2007, the firm says it manages more than $5.5 billion and has made over 250 investments in verticals including healthcare, technology, and consumer. In November 2023, it backed Parkview Dental Partners, a 22-practice Florida dental service organization, the first North American investment from its Small Cap IV growth fund.

The affiliate’s name may be revealed soon. Gladstone Capital’s quarterly SEC filings list its portfolio investments by name, and the lender’s June 30 reports have been released in early August for the past two years.

AT A GLANCE

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