Author: Tatjana Anderer

Berlin/London — Berlin-based energy and tech scale-up metiundo has secu­red a €40 million finan­cing round from funds raised by Octo­pus Energy Gene­ra­tion, the leading inves­tor in rene­wa­ble energy and green infra­struc­ture. With the fresh capi­tal, metiundo intends to signi­fi­cantly acce­le­rate the roll­out of smart meter­ing systems and further deve­lop its soft­ware plat­form in a targe­ted manner. 

This will enable new, data-driven solu­ti­ons to be imple­men­ted more quickly — and measur­a­bly advance the energy tran­si­tion in the buil­ding sector. metiundo offers “Smart Meter­ing as a Service” and covers almost the entire value chain of smart meter­ing systems in-house: from plan­ning and instal­la­tion, opera­tion and market commu­ni­ca­tion to the soft­ware inte­gra­tion and proces­sing of cross-sector meter­ing data. For the first time, this crea­tes an over­all picture of a proper­ty’s energy and water consump­tion and thus a key prere­qui­site for combi­ning consump­tion and gene­ra­tion in a meaningful way instead of looking at indi­vi­dual sectors in isolation. 

More instal­la­ti­ons, more soft­ware, more speed

In view of the high pres­sure to imple­ment the nati­on­wide smart meter roll­out, smart meter­ing systems must be rolled out quickly. Compe­ti­tive meter­ing point opera­tors are a key lever for spee­ding up the rollout. 

“The market is so dyna­mic precis­ely because compe­ti­tive meter­ing point opera­tors are driving imple­men­ta­tion forward. From the very begin­ning, we have consis­t­ently inves­ted in our own soft­ware and thus achie­ved a level of quality and flexi­bi­lity that sets us apart from the compe­ti­tion. With the new finan­cing, we are now deter­mi­ned to conti­nue scaling: more instal­la­ti­ons, higher quality and even more speed in expan­ding our plat­form,” says Dennis Nasrun, Co-Foun­der and CEO of metiundo.

An all-in-one plat­form for inte­gra­ted meter­ing across energy and water “The buil­ding and heating sector is one of the biggest CO₂ emit­ters in Germany and is respon­si­ble for around 30% of energy-rela­ted emis­si­ons. At the same time, the meter­ing indus­try is deve­lo­ping rapidly and rethin­king how we measure, control and connect energy systems. When solu­ti­ons like metiundo’s are scaled, house­holds and busi­nesses in Germany can become gree­ner and reduce costs by opti­mi­zing the use of tech­no­lo­gies such as photo­vol­taics and on-site battery storage. We are proud to support metiundo in driving this much-needed trans­for­ma­tion,” Alex Brier­ley, Co-Head of Octo­pus Energy Gene­ra­ti­on’s fund manage­ment business.

The funding will go towards the further deve­lo­p­ment of the soft­ware plat­form and the expan­sion of the instal­la­tion and assem­bly team. metiundo plans to hire addi­tio­nal specia­lists in a targe­ted manner — parti­cu­larly in the areas of soft­ware deve­lo­p­ment, instal­la­tion and opera­tion. The aim is to set up inte­gra­ted smart meter networks across seve­ral proper­ties in order to enable addi­tio­nal data-based solu­ti­ons for customers. 

About metiundo

metiundo is an energy scale-up with exper­tise in regu­la­tion, IT and measu­re­ment tech­no­logy. The company has offices in Berlin and Heidel­berg and was foun­ded in 2021 by Dennis Nasrun and Felix Mücke. With 70 employees, metiundo offers a compre­hen­sive solu­tion for the digi­ta­liza­tion of energy and water data — even in complex buil­dings. This crea­tes the basis for the decen­tra­li­zed energy tran­si­tion in the buil­ding sector. — www.metiundo.io

About Octo­pus Energy Generation

Octo­pus Energy Gene­ra­tion is driving the expan­sion of rene­wa­ble energy and buil­ding green energy for the future. The company is resha­ping the market by driving the tran­si­tion to a clea­ner, gree­ner future through rene­wa­ble projects that are more closely connec­ted to custo­mers and busi­nesses. As one of Euro­pe’s largest specia­li­zed inves­tors in rene­wa­ble energy and the energy tran­si­tion, Octo­pus Energy Gene­ra­tion mana­ges 4.9 GW of green energy projects in 21 count­ries — inclu­ding wind and solar farms as well as other tech­no­lo­gies such as grid infra­struc­ture and e‑mobility char­ging points. The port­fo­lio is worth £7 billion (US$9 billion / €8.5 billion). The plants gene­rate enough green elec­tri­city for 3.2 million house­holds every year — the equi­va­lent of taking over 1.3 million petrol cars off the road. — www.octopusenergygeneration.com

metiundo

+++ UK green tech inves­tor Octo­pus Energy Gene­ra­tion invests 40 million euros in metiundo. The Berlin-based start-up, foun­ded in 2021 by Dennis Nasrun and Felix Mücke, offers “property owners a compre­hen­sive solu­tion for the trans­pa­rency and opti­miza­tion of their energy and water consump­tion”. In parti­cu­lar, the aim is to “reduce CO2 emis­si­ons in the real estate sector”. Berli­ner Volks­bank recently provi­ded the company with 5 million euros as part of project finan­cing. Prior to this, the EnBW subsi­diary Enpulse Ventures (33.5%) in parti­cu­lar inves­ted in metiundo. — www.metiundo.io

Berlin / Munich — YPOG has advi­sed Munich-based drone specia­list Quan­tum Systems on the acqui­si­tion of 100 percent of the shares in Hacker Motor GmbH. With this tran­sac­tion, Quan­tum Systems streng­thens its verti­cal inte­gra­tion in the field of elec­tric propul­sion systems and expands its tech­no­lo­gi­cal base for unman­ned aerial systems (UAS). All employees and exis­ting loca­ti­ons of Hacker Motor will be retai­ned as part of the takeover. 

Quan­tum Systems is a leading German manu­fac­tu­rer of AI-supported drone systems for civil and mili­tary appli­ca­ti­ons and is pursuing a targe­ted growth and acqui­si­tion stra­tegy. The inte­gra­tion of Hacker Motor, an estab­lished provi­der of high-quality elec­tric motors and drive solu­ti­ons for the model and UAV sector, will enable Quan­tum Systems to deve­lop and produce key compon­ents from a single source in the future. 

“Tran­sac­tions at the inter­face of defense tech­no­logy, auto­no­mous systems and soft­ware place parti­cu­larly high demands on legal struc­tu­ring and imple­men­ta­tion. It is precis­ely in this envi­ron­ment that YPOG has been advi­sing tech­no­logy-driven compa­nies on complex growth and M&A projects for years. With the acqui­si­tion of Hacker Motor, Quan­tum Systems is support­ing its stra­te­gic posi­tio­ning by acqui­ring another key tech­no­logy — we are plea­sed to have supported this project with our inter­di­sci­pli­nary team,” says Dr. Adrian Haase, Part­ner at YPOG.

The take­over is a further buil­ding block in Quan­tum Systems’ expan­sion stra­tegy, which includes stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons as well as orga­nic growth. The aim is to further increase the perfor­mance of its own drone systems, secure supply chains and trans­form inno­va­tions in the field of elec­tric drive tech­no­logy into market-ready products more quickly. 

YPOG has alre­ady advi­sed Quan­tum Systems on seve­ral take­overs and finan­cing rounds, most recently on the acqui­si­tion of the mobi­lity start-up Fernride.

About Quan­tum Systems

Quan­tum Systems is the leading German manu­fac­tu­rer of civil and mili­tary AI-supported drone systems. Foun­ded in 2015, the Munich-based company employs over 850 people and is repre­sen­ted inter­na­tio­nally at seve­ral loca­ti­ons, inclu­ding Austra­lia, Ukraine, Roma­nia, the United King­dom and the USA. Its custo­mers include govern­ments, minis­tries of defense, civi­lian autho­ri­ties and compa­nies world­wide. — https://quantum-systems.com

Consul­tant Quan­tum Systems : YPOG

Dr. Adrian Haase(Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Hamburg
Benja­min Müller (Tran­sac­tions), Senior Asso­ciate, Berlin
Dr. Miriam Peer (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Hamburg
Dr. Malte Berg­mann (Tax), Part­ner, Hamburg
Dr. Jacob Schrei­ber (Tax), Senior Asso­ciate, Munich
Martin Acker (Tax), Asso­ciate, Hamburg
Dr. Lutz Schrei­ber (IP/IT/Data Protec­tion), Part­ner, Hamburg
Dr. Florian Witt­ner (IP/IT/Data Protec­tion), Asso­ciate, Hamburg

About YPOG

YPOG stands for You + Part­ners of Game­ch­an­gers and forward-looking tax and legal advice. The firm advi­ses compa­nies focu­sed on future tech­no­lo­gies with the aim of using change as an oppor­tu­nity and jointly crea­ting opti­mal solu­ti­ons. The YPOG team offers compre­hen­sive exper­tise in the areas of Funds, Tax, Tran­sac­tions, Corpo­rate, Banking, Regu­la­tory + Finance, IP/IT/Data Protec­tion, Liti­ga­tion as well as Corpo­rate Crime + Compli­ance + Inves­ti­ga­ti­ons. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses in Germany for venture capi­tal, private equity, fund struc­tu­ring and appli­ca­ti­ons of distri­bu­ted ledger tech­no­logy (DLT) in finan­cial services. YPOG employs more than 180 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers, tax advi­sors and tax specia­lists as well as a notary in offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Colo­gne, Munich, Cambridge and London. — www.ypog.com

Frankfurt/ Munich — WEIL is conti­nuing the expan­sion of its Euro­pean private equity prac­tice: With the arri­val and return of Dr. Kamyar Abrar, who will lead WEIL’s private equity prac­tice in Germany toge­ther with Dr. Sebas­tian Pauls, the firm is consis­t­ently pursuing its ambi­tious growth course.

Kamyar Abrar is the 17th part­ner to return to WEIL since the begin­ning of 2023. The firm is expe­ri­en­cing an excep­tio­nal influx of top lawy­ers world­wide. Kamyar Abrar joins from Will­kie Farr, where he was most recently Co-Mana­ging Part­ner for Germany. “Kamyar is one of Germany’s leading private equity lawy­ers and an excep­tio­nally accom­plished advi­sor. We are deligh­ted to welcome him back to WEIL,” said WEIL Execu­tive Part­ner Barry Wolf. 

Sebas­tian Pauls, co-mana­ging part­ner of WEIL’s German offices and co-head of the German private equity prac­tice, says: “This was a clear and logi­cal decis­ion for both of us. Kamyar is one of the most outstan­ding lawy­ers in the market and will imme­dia­tely expand our strength in large, complex and stra­te­gi­cally important private equity tran­sac­tions and thus decisi­vely drive the next growth phase of our practice.”

WEIL’s global co-head of the private equity prac­tice, Marco Compa­gnoni, says: “Kamyar is one of the most renow­ned and sought-after private equity and M&A lawy­ers in Germany. He advi­ses on complex, large-volume Euro­pean and US cross-border tran­sac­tions. We are deligh­ted to welcome him to our top Euro­pean team. Our ambi­tion remains unch­an­ged: to build the leading global private equity plat­form with the brigh­test minds.”

Kamyar Abrar (Photo: WEIL): “I am looking forward to working with Sebas­tian and the part­ners in Germany with great anti­ci­pa­tion. Retur­ning to WEIL was a logi­cal step for me, as we share a clear commit­ment to colla­bo­ra­tion and first-class advice for the leading global sponsors.”

Kamyar Abrar’s return follows just three months after Sebas­tian Pauls’ highly acclai­med move from Latham to WEIL with a renow­ned team — inclu­ding part­ner Susanne Decker, part­ner Dr. Andreas Holzgreve and coun­sel Dr. Julia Schö­fer. The move was seen throug­hout the indus­try as a “game chan­ger” for the German legal market and as a signi­fi­cant gene­ra­tio­nal change in private equity advice. — WEIL has recently signi­fi­cantly increased the strength of its Euro­pean private equity prac­tice. In addi­tion to new late­rals in Germany, the firm has also streng­the­ned its London team with the arri­val of secon­da­ries part­ner Simon Saito­witz, who was invol­ved in the five largest GP-led tran­sac­tions in Europe in 2025. The firm has also appoin­ted five new private equity part­ners in London and Paris. 

About WEIL’s Private Equity practice

WEIL’s Private Equity prac­tice is a global market leader. We have outstan­ding experts in all areas of the private equity spec­trum inclu­ding buyouts, growth capi­tal, tech­no­logy and credit. Our clients include the largest and best-known private equity funds, sove­reign wealth and pension funds, as well as family offices and other finan­cial inves­tors. WEIL advi­ses more than 300 private equity clients world­wide, inclu­ding over 70% of the 20 largest global private equity funds (PEI 300 2025). 

About WEIL

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm with more than 1,200 lawy­ers. WEIL has offices in New York, Austin, Boston, Brussels, Dallas, Frank­furt, Hong Kong, Hous­ton, London, Los Ange­les, Miami, Munich, Paris, Shang­hai, Washing­ton, D.C. and Sili­con Valley. In Germany, the Ameri­can law firm has two offices in Frank­furt and Munich. The focus here is on provi­ding specia­li­zed advice to natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal clients on cross-border private equity and M&A tran­sac­tions, high-profile liti­ga­tion manda­tes, complex restruc­tu­rings and finan­cings as well as tax struc­tu­ring. — www.weil.com

Berlin — The inter­na­tio­nal law firm BCLP has advi­sed The Gund Company, Inc. on the acqui­si­tion of the Compo­si­tes Divi­sion of the Von Roll Group. The tran­sac­tion includes produc­tion sites in Augs­burg (Germany) and Brad­ford (UK).

TGC is a US manu­fac­tu­rer of high-perfor­mance compo­site mate­ri­als for elec­tri­cal insu­la­tion and indus­trial appli­ca­ti­ons. The acqui­red compa­nies specia­lize in the produc­tion and proces­sing of indus­trial compo­si­tes. The divi­sion will be inte­gra­ted into TGC’s global acti­vi­ties under the VRI Compo­si­tes — A Divi­sion of The Gund Company brand. 

Tonio Sadoni, Part­ner at BCLP (photo © BCLP), says: “This tran­sac­tion high­lights the regu­la­tory requi­re­ments for cross-border acqui­si­ti­ons. We are deligh­ted to have advi­sed The Gund Company on its first acqui­si­tion in Germany and the UK.”

BCLP advi­sed TGC on all legal aspects of the tran­sac­tion, inclu­ding due dili­gence, struc­tu­ring, contract nego­tia­tion and the filing and execu­tion of the invest­ment review in Germany.

The BCLP team was led by Tonio Sadoni (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Aslan Sönmez (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and was supported by colle­agues from Employ­ment, IP/IT/Data, Tax and Finance in Germany as well as Corpo­rate, Real Estate, Employ­ment, Data, Tech & Commer­cial and Tax in London.

About BCLP

BCLP is a fully inte­gra­ted, global busi­ness law firm with appro­xi­m­ately 1,200 lawy­ers in 32 offices across North America, Europe and the Middle East, provi­ding clients with compre­hen­sive legal services where­ver and when­ever they need them. The firm is known for its service- and team-orien­ted culture and indus­try-speci­fic inno­va­tion, offe­ring clients one of the most active real estate, finan­cial services, liti­ga­tion, corpo­rate risk and M&A prac­ti­ces in the world. — bclplaw.com

Dres­den — Morpheus Space has raised over USD 15 million in a new finan­cing round from inves­tors Alpine Space Ventures, the Euro­pean Invest­ment Fund, Lavrock, Morpheus Ventures, Pallas, Vsquared and others. This will be used to drive the company’s next phase of growth and innovation. 

As more and more satel­li­tes popu­late Earth orbit, opera­tors need propul­sion systems that allow them to fly around debris and other satel­li­tes without incur­ring addi­tio­nal costs. Morpheus Space solves this problem with elec­tric thrus­ters like the GO‑2, desi­gned for large satel­lite constellations. 

Morpheus recently recei­ved $15 million in stra­te­gic funding from inves­tors inclu­ding Alpine Space Ventures, the Euro­pean Invest­ment Fund, Lavrock, Morpheus Ventures, Pallas, Vsquared and others.

This fresh capi­tal is inten­ded to boost produc­tion at the head­quar­ters in Dres­den and bring more talent on board so that the company can deli­ver even faster.

The reloa­ded faci­lity in Dres­den will allow us to scale produc­tion to 100 units per year, with the ability to expand to 500 units as custo­mer demand and constel­la­tion programs grow. We have a strong team in place today and conti­nue to hire addi­tio­nal tech­ni­cal staff to support this produc­tion expan­sion,” shares CEO Kevin Laus­ten

Keeping satel­li­tes agile and safe as space gets more crowded

Morpheus was foun­ded in 2021 at the Tech­ni­cal Univer­sity of Dres­den by Daniel Bock, István Lőrincz, Chris­tian Schunk, Chris­tian Boy and Phil­ipp Laufer, all experts in German drive technology.

Seeing a need for mass-produ­ced engi­nes to keep up with the incre­asingly frequent laun­ches, the team expan­ded its opera­ti­ons and opened a faci­lity in Cali­for­nia. The GO‑2 and simi­lar systems deli­ver powerful thrust with low fuel consump­tion, making them ideal for maneu­vers in high-traf­fic orbits. 

Kevin Laus­ten: “GO‑2 is charac­te­ri­zed by its relia­bi­lity and effi­ci­ency, which is based on a design with 40 fully inde­pen­dent drive units. This redun­dancy prevents the single-point fail­ures asso­cia­ted with other elec­tric drive systems. Each thrus­ter is indi­vi­du­ally control­led and driven, deli­ve­ring consis­tent, highly effi­ci­ent power over a long period of time. GO-2’s proprie­tary low melting point metal­lic propel­lant redu­ces ther­mal stress and energy requi­re­ments, and its faster heat-up time of 30 to 45 minu­tes compared to up to 2 hours for other systems gives opera­tors far more flexibility. 

He adds: “The system is also easy to use, requi­ring only three steps to start the drive, and it uses carbon nano­tube cold catho­des, which elimi­nate the power consump­tion and short life of conven­tio­nal ther­mal cathodes.”

While chemi­cal rockets use up their fuel quickly, Morpheus relies on elec­tric propul­sion for longer-lasting, more sustainable perfor­mance. The company has alre­ady over­ta­ken compe­ti­tors such as ThrustMe, Exotrail and Aria­ne­Group in produc­tion for satel­lite constellations. 

Laus­ten concludes: “In a future charac­te­ri­zed by auto­no­mous, maneu­vera­ble satel­lite constel­la­ti­ons, Morpheus Space sees itself as the back­bone of sustaina­bi­lity in orbit. GO-2’s highly effi­ci­ent FEEP propul­sion deli­vers high total impulse in a compact package, while its 40 indi­vi­du­ally controll­able thrus­ters enable precise, long-dura­tion maneu­vers that keep constel­la­ti­ons agile, respon­sive and safe.”

www.morpheus.space/company

Alpine Space Ventures

Munich — Menold Bezler has advi­sed the invest­ment company Egeria on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in SEALABLE Solu­ti­ons by Egeria’s port­fo­lio company Elas­to­firm. The seller is the Hamburg-based private equity inves­tor BPE. 

With the buy-and-build tran­sac­tion supported by Egeria, Elas­to­firm increa­ses its commit­ment to the infra­struc­ture market and streng­thens its presence in Germany. SEALABLE remains entre­pre­neu­ri­ally inde­pen­dent, but bene­fits from a more inte­gra­ted value chain within the Elas­to­firm Group. 

Elas­to­firm, based in the Nether­lands, is a leading Euro­pean supplier of rubber and sili­cone solu­ti­ons for various indus­tries. The company has been backed by Egeria Private Equity since 2021. 

SEALABLE Solu­ti­ons, based in Walters­hau­sen, Thurin­gia, manu­fac­tures rubber-based seal­ing and insu­la­tion solu­ti­ons for indus­try, track and tunnel cons­truc­tion. BPE has been inves­ted in SEALABLE since 2020. 

Since 1997, the inde­pen­dent pan-Euro­pean invest­ment company Egeria has focu­sed on invest­ments in medium-sized compa­nies with an enter­prise value of up to 500 million euros. Egeria’s private equity port­fo­lio compri­ses invest­ments in more than 20 compa­nies with a total turno­ver of around 2.5 billion euros and over 14,000 employees. Menold Bezler has alre­ady advi­sed Egeria on seve­ral transactions. 

Advi­sor Egeria: Menold Bezler, Stuttgart

Jost Ruders­dorf (Part­ner, Lead), Dr. Jan Nehring-Köppl (Lead/Photo: Menold Bezler), Vladi­mir Cutura (Part­ner), Dr. Björn Stau­din­ger, Lisa Maria Jäger, Simon Schwa­ger, Michelle Gutjahr, Ann-Chris­tin Heine­mann (all Corporate/M&A), Marc Ehrmann, LL.M. (Part­ner, Real Estate), Stef­fen Foll­ner (Part­ner), Dr. Alex­an­dra Kier­ner (coun­sel; both banking and finance law), Alex­an­der Häcker (part­ner), Dr. Janina Helde (both envi­ron­men­tal and plan­ning law), Isabelle Hörner (commer­cial), Kath­rin Hoyer (coun­sel, employ­ment law), Dr. Markus Kleinn (IP), Armin Kojic (anti­trust law), Clemens Mauch (part­ner), Laura Bommer, Michael Leins (all tax) 

 

Munich — SKW Schwarz has advi­sed the trans­for­ma­tion consul­tant Qiado GmbH, based in Bernau am Chiem­see, on its take­over by EY GmbH & Co. KG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft.

EY acqui­res Qiado as part of an asset deal to expand its Finan­cial Accoun­ting Advi­sory Services (FAAS). The company will be fully inte­gra­ted into EY GmbH & Co KG WPG with effect from Janu­ary 1, 2026; the Qiado brand name will be discontinued. 

EY’s FAAS divi­sion has 355 consul­tants and 28 part­ners in Germany. With the acqui­si­tion of Qiado, it has grown to include a team of around 40 people who specia­lize in contract lease manage­ment services, finan­cial process opti­miza­tion and SAP transformation. 

Advi­sor Qiado GmbH: SKW Schwarz, Munich

Marion Anzin­ger (Photo: SKW Schwarz) Lead Part­ner, Tobias Rode­hau (both Corporate/M&A), Nicole Wolf-Thomann (Tax), Alex­an­der Möller (Employ­ment, Frank­furt); Asso­cia­tes: Vincent Walch (Tax), Raluca-Ramona Calin (Corpo­rate Paralegal)

About SKW Schwarz

SKW Schwarz is an inde­pen­dent full-service law firm. With around 120 lawy­ers at three loca­ti­ons in Germany, the firm provi­des advice in all rele­vant areas of commer­cial law. At the end of 2018, the firm foun­ded SKW Schwarz @ Tech GmbH, in which the lawy­ers bundle all acti­vi­ties in the area of legal tech across loca­ti­ons and disciplines.

Munich — Fort­ino Capi­tal, one of the leading private equity firms focu­sing on invest­ments in B2B SaaS compa­nies in the Bene­lux and DACH region, has appoin­ted Phil­ipp Remy as Mana­ging Part­ner. Fort­ino is thus expan­ding its manage­ment team and under­li­ning the growing importance of the DACH region within the company’s long-term growth and invest­ment stra­tegy. Since joining Fort­ino in 2022, Remy has played a central role in its further deve­lo­p­ment in the German-spea­king region. 

Remy was instru­men­tal in setting up the Munich office and has sustain­ably streng­the­ned Fort­i­no’s posi­tion as a relia­ble part­ner for entre­pre­neurs and manage­ment teams in the B2B soft­ware and arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence sector. With in-depth sector exper­tise, strong imple­men­ta­tion skills and a clear focus on value crea­tion, he has made a signi­fi­cant contri­bu­tion to the success of the port­fo­lio and the conti­nuous growth of Fortino. 

Fort­ino recently closed its third private equity fund with capi­tal commit­ments of EUR 700 million — a signi­fi­cant portion of the new capi­tal will be used to realize new invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in German-spea­king count­ries. The latest (pre)seed to Series A invest­ment fund “Fort­ino Venture III”, for which fund­rai­sing is still ongo­ing, is also expec­ted to be heavily active in DACH. 

About Fort­ino

Fort­ino Capi­tal, foun­ded in 2013, is a leading Euro­pean venture capi­tal and private equity invest­ment firm focu­sing on high-growth B2B SaaS compa­nies. Fort­ino invests in soft­ware compa­nies that provide solu­ti­ons for busi­ness-criti­cal proces­ses and supports their foun­ders and CEOs in acce­le­ra­ting their growth. The 35-strong Fort­ino team works from Antwerp, Amster­dam and Munich. Fort­ino has raised more than 1.5 billion euros in capi­tal to date. The private equity port­fo­lio includes compa­nies such as Worklinq (DK), Simcon (DE), Mehr­werk (DE), Modell Aachen (DE), Addac­tis (BE), VanRoey (BE), Bizz­mine (BE), Efficy CRM (BE), Seenons (NL) InTouch (NL), SpeakUp (NL), Maxx­ton (NL) and Boni­ta­soft (FR). The venture capi­tal port­fo­lio includes Revel8 (DE), Tanso (DE), Sides (DE), Spott (BE), Legal­Fly (BE), Donna (BE), Bizzy (BE), Vertuoza (BE), Tech­Wolf (BE), Zaion (FR), Salon­kee (LUX), D2X (NL), Altura (NL), Billy Grace (NL) and Kosli (NO). More infor­ma­tion at fortino.capital

 

 

 

 

Berlin — FoodLabs has closed its third venture capi­tal fund with a volume of over EUR 105 million. FoodLabs is a Euro­pean early stage inves­tor and venture studio specia­li­zing in invest­ments in the food, health and sustaina­bi­lity sectors. The approach combi­nes venture capi­tal with active venture buil­ding and a strong indus­trial network. Invest­ments are made along the entire value chain of the food indus­try — in parti­cu­lar in tech­no­lo­gies, infra­struc­ture and scalable busi­ness models that bring inno­va­tion effi­ci­ently from rese­arch to the market. 

With the third fund FoodLabs is further expan­ding this approach. The fund is supported by stra­te­gic indus­try part­ners such as Rewe Group, Henkel and Bitbur­ger Holding as well as the Euro­pean Invest­ment Fund and Renten­bank, among others, and addres­ses topics such as agri­cul­tu­ral tech­no­logy appli­ca­ti­ons, indus­trial auto­ma­tion, new produc­tion and proces­sing tech­no­lo­gies as well as market-ready solu­ti­ons in the field of nutri­tion and health. 

YPOG advi­sed FoodLabs in parti­cu­lar on the legal struc­tu­ring of the fund, inclu­ding the design of the fund and manage­ment struc­ture and the imple­men­ta­tion of regu­la­tory requirements.

“For initia­tors who combine venture capi­tal funds and indus­trial co-inves­tors with venture buil­ding, the struc­tu­ring is much more complex than with tradi­tio­nal VC funds. It is a matter of balan­cing econo­mic inte­rests, gover­nance struc­tures and regu­la­tory requi­re­ments in such a way that they enable long-term growth and at the same time reflect the stra­te­gic added value of the indus­trial part­ners. FoodLabs pursues a clear and profes­sio­nal approach here, which we were happy to support in struc­tu­ring the third fund,” says Jens Kretz­schmann, Part­ner at YPOG.

Consul­tant FoodLabs: YPOG

Jens Kretz­schmann (Lead, Funds), Part­ner, Berlin
Michael Blank (Funds), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Berlin
Johan­nes Gehring (Funds), Asso­ciate, Berlin
Alina Shchukina (Funds), Legal Project Mana­ger, Berlin

About FoodLabs

FoodLabs is an early-stage venture capi­tal fund and venture studio based in Europe with a growing inter­na­tio­nal presence. FoodLabs works with foun­ders to turn scien­ti­fic breakth­roughs into indus­tri­ally viable compa­nies that contri­bute to a more resi­li­ent, safer and healt­hier food system. The team invests along the entire food value chain, combi­ning seed capi­tal with hands-on opera­tio­nal support with a “from mole­cule to market” approach. Since its foun­ding in 2016, FoodLabs has supported more than 90 early-stage start­ups and worked with foun­ders to over­come tech­ni­cal, regu­la­tory and opera­tio­nal chal­lenges early on. — www.foodlabs.com

About YPOG

YPOG stands for You + Part­ners of Game­ch­an­gers and forward-looking tax and legal advice. The firm advi­ses compa­nies focu­sed on future tech­no­lo­gies with the aim of using change as an oppor­tu­nity and jointly crea­ting opti­mal solu­ti­ons. The YPOG team offers compre­hen­sive exper­tise in the areas of Funds, Tax, Tran­sac­tions, Corpo­rate, Banking, Regu­la­tory + Finance, IP/IT/Data Protec­tion, Liti­ga­tion as well as Corpo­rate Crime + Compli­ance + Inves­ti­ga­ti­ons. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses in Germany for venture capi­tal, private equity, fund struc­tu­ring and appli­ca­ti­ons of distri­bu­ted ledger tech­no­logy (DLT) in finan­cial services. The firm and its part­ners are regu­larly reco­gni­zed by renow­ned publi­ca­ti­ons such as JUVE, Best Lawy­ers, Cham­bers and Part­ners, Leaders League and Legal 500. YPOG employs more than 180 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers, tax advi­sors and tax specia­lists as well as a notary in its offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Colo­gne, Munich, Cambridge and London. — ypog.com

 

Frank­furt a. M. — Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP has advi­sed Blackstone Growth (“BxG”) on its invest­ment in the Series F finan­cing round of French fintech company Pennylane SAS (“Pennylane”), which builds and opera­tes an inte­gra­ted finan­cial manage­ment and accoun­ting plat­form aimed prima­rily at small and medium-sized enter­pri­ses and accoun­ting firms.

Pennylane was valued at appro­xi­m­ately EUR 3.5 billion (fully diluted) in the EUR 175 million Series F finan­cing round. As part of the invest­ment, BxG acqui­red addi­tio­nal shares in exis­ting Pennylane compa­nies. Pennylan­e’s plat­form acts as a unified “finan­cial opera­ting system” where busi­ness owners and their accoun­tants can colla­bo­rate in a shared workspace. It uses auto­ma­tion and AI to reduce manual tasks such as data entry, bank recon­ci­lia­tion, docu­ment proces­sing and tran­sac­tion cate­go­riza­tion. Pennylane also offers busi­ness account func­tion­a­lity and payment tools, often in part­ner­ship with licen­sed finan­cial insti­tu­ti­ons, so custo­mers can make payments, manage tran­sac­tions and even issue profes­sio­nal payment cards — all on the same platform. 

Blackstone Growth is an expe­ri­en­ced growth equity inves­tor with offices in New York City (head­quar­ters), San Fran­cisco, London and Tel Aviv, acqui­ring and inves­t­ing in compa­nies with proven busi­ness models in the follo­wing five sectors: Finan­cial Services, Consu­mer Products, Enter­prise Soft­ware, Health­care and Consu­mer Technology.

Advi­sor to Blackstone: Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP

The Will­kie team was led by part­ner Dr. Kamyar Abrar (Frank­furt) and compri­sed part­ners Ed Fernan­dez, Hugo Noce­rino (both Paris), Dr. Michael Ilter (Frank­furt), coun­sel Sebas­tian Bren­ner (Frank­furt) and asso­ciate Sylvain Bureau (Paris).

About WILLKIE

Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP provi­des leading legal solu­ti­ons to complex, busi­ness-criti­cal issues that span markets and indus­tries. Our appro­xi­m­ately 1,300 lawy­ers in 16 offices world­wide provide inno­va­tive, prag­ma­tic and sophisti­ca­ted legal services in around 45 areas of law. — www.willkie.com

Hamburg/ Frankfurt/ Berlin/ Luxem­bourg — DTCP, a global invest­ment manage­ment plat­form with more than €3 billion in assets under manage­ment, announ­ced the launch of Project Liberty, its eighth fund and the first dedi­ca­ted exclu­si­vely to defense, secu­rity and resi­li­ence tech­no­lo­gies. YPOG acted as legal advi­sor to DTCP on the launch of Project Liberty. With a target volume of EUR 500 million, Project Liberty is the largest priva­tely mana­ged venture capi­tal fund in Europe focu­sed exclu­si­vely on invest­ments in this segment. 

The fund is inde­pendently mana­ged by DTCP and is aimed at insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors, family offices and corpo­rate inves­tors. The aim is to support the growth of high-performing Euro­pean defense and dual-use tech­no­logy compa­nies and to contri­bute to Euro­pe’s long-term tech­no­lo­gi­cal perfor­mance and secu­rity resilience. 

While Europe remains the clear invest­ment focus, Project Liberty can also selec­tively invest in defense and secu­rity tech­no­lo­gies of NATO member states and close allies when these invest­ments are of stra­te­gic importance to Euro­pean secu­rity interests.

DTCP’s exis­ting port­fo­lio alre­ady includes defense and secu­rity tech­no­logy compa­nies such as Quan­tum Systems, Anomali and Axonius.

Vicente Vento, CEO of DTCP, commen­ted: “Project Liberty repres­ents a highly consis­tent exten­sion of our role as a specia­li­zed invest­ment plat­form. Defense and resi­li­ence have been conver­ging with tech­no­logy and infra­struc­ture invest­ments for more than a decade-precis­ely where DTCP has deep exper­tise and multi­ple touch­points with the defense indus­try through DTCP Growth and DTCP Infra. There are few areas that fit more natu­rally with our exis­ting platforms. 

At the same time, we see an attrac­tive long-term invest­ment oppor­tu­nity. For deca­des, Europe has inves­ted too little in defense, while geopo­li­ti­cal risks have steadily increased. At the same time, we are expe­ri­en­cing profound tech­no­lo­gi­cal change across the entire value chain — from surveil­lance and sensor tech­no­logy to soft­ware-defi­ned systems, advan­ced mate­ri­als, auto­no­mous plat­forms and satel­lite and commu­ni­ca­ti­ons infrastructure. 

Now that the major Western govern­ments have embarked on a long-term and irrever­si­ble path to moder­nize their defence capa­bi­li­ties, we are very confi­dent about the struc­tu­ral growth pros­pects of this sector for the coming decades.”

DTCP expands its defense tech­no­logy invest­ments with new fund

DTCP has been successfully inves­t­ing in IT and secu­rity tech­no­lo­gies for more than a decade. Its exis­ting port­fo­lio is heavily focu­sed on cyber­se­cu­rity and AI compa­nies, inclu­ding Arctic Wolf, Axonius, Zenity, Anomali and Ox Secu­rity. This is comple­men­ted by dual-use compa­nies such as German defense tech­no­logy unicorn Quantensysteme. 

These invest­ments unders­core DTCP’s proven exper­tise in buil­ding and scaling tech­no­logy-driven busi­nesses at the inter­sec­tion of digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion, secu­rity and infrastructure.

Thomas Preuß, Mana­ging Part­ner at DTCP and Chief Invest­ment Offi­cer of Projekt Liberty: “We named the fund Projekt Liberty because it is about more than just capi­tal. Tech­no­lo­gi­cal perfor­mance is a basic prere­qui­site for Euro­pe’s sove­reig­nty, secu­rity and demo­cra­tic stability.” 

Up to 30 invest­ments in defense tech­no­logy compa­nies planned

Project Liber­tyDTCP actively invests in Euro­pean defense and dual-use tech­no­logy compa­nies in all Series A to C finan­cing stages. The fund plans to invest in up to 30 compa­nies, with an average invest­ment size of appro­xi­m­ately €20 million. 

The invest­ment focus is on compa­nies that supple­ment exis­ting defense and secu­rity systems or advance them with new tech­no­lo­gi­cal approa­ches. The main areas of focus include soft­ware solu­ti­ons, cyber defense, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and auto­no­mous systems. 

About DTCP

DTCP is a global invest­ment manage­ment plat­form foun­ded in 2015. The firm mana­ges appro­xi­m­ately €3 billion across multi­ple tech­no­logy and infra­struc­ture funds and has comple­ted more than 50 invest­ments world­wide, inclu­ding over 19 successful exits.
DTCP’s growth port­fo­lio includes compa­nies such as Groq (Nvidia), Cognigy (Nice), LeanIX (SAP), Signa­vio (SAP), Auth0 (Okta), Fastly (IPO), Pipedrive (Vista Equity Part­ners) and Quan­tum Systems. DTCP has offices in Hamburg, Frank­furt, Berlin, Luxem­bourg, London, San Fran­cisco and Tel Aviv. — www.dtcp.capital

DTCP has a long track record at the inter­sec­tion of tech­no­logy, secu­rity and infra­struc­ture. The exis­ting port­fo­lio includes compa­nies from the cyber­se­cu­rity, AI and defense tech sectors, inclu­ding Quan­tum Systems, which has alre­ady advi­sed YPOG on seve­ral finan­cing rounds and acqui­si­ti­ons. With Project Liberty, DTCP is bund­ling its exper­tise in the defense sector for the first time in an inde­pen­dent, thema­ti­cally focu­sed fund vehicle. 

Advi­sor DTCP: YPOG

Jens Kretz­schmann (Lead, Funds), Part­ner, Berlin
Lenn­art Lorenz (Regu­la­tory), Part­ner, Hamburg
Andreas Korten­dick (Funds), Part­ner, Cologne
Robert Schramm (Funds), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Berlin
Martin Braun (Tax), Senior Asso­ciate, Cologne
Nico­las Fischer (Funds), Asso­ciate, Berlin
Johan­nes Gehring (Funds), Asso­ciate, Berlin
Dr. Nick Tambu­rello (Funds), Asso­ciate, Hamburg

About YPOG

YPOG stands for You + Part­ners of Game­ch­an­gers and forward-looking tax and legal advice. The firm advi­ses compa­nies focu­sed on future tech­no­lo­gies with the aim of using change as an oppor­tu­nity and jointly crea­ting opti­mal solu­ti­ons. The YPOG team offers compre­hen­sive exper­tise in the areas of Funds, Tax, Tran­sac­tions, Corpo­rate, Banking, Regu­la­tory + Finance, IP/IT/Data Protec­tion, Liti­ga­tion as well as Corpo­rate Crime + Compli­ance + Inves­ti­ga­ti­ons. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses in Germany for venture capi­tal, private equity, fund struc­tu­ring and appli­ca­ti­ons of distri­bu­ted ledger tech­no­logy (DLT) in finan­cial services. —www.ypog.com

Frank­furt / Vienna / Fischl­ham (AT) / Eind­ho­ven (NL) — MP Corpo­rate Finance, a leading inter­na­tio­nal M&A advi­sory firm specia­li­zing in the Euro­pean indus­trial sector, has exclu­si­vely advi­sed the share­hol­ders of ACH Solu­tion GmbH (“ACH”) on the sale to IGS Gebo­Ja­gema (“IGS”), a port­fo­lio company of BC Part­ners. With the acqui­si­tion, IGS streng­thens its exper­tise in sili­cone injec­tion molding and expands its service port­fo­lio for deman­ding appli­ca­ti­ons in medi­cal tech­no­logy. The tran­sac­tion is expec­ted to close in the first quar­ter of 2026, subject to regu­la­tory appr­ovals. For MP Corpo­rate Finance, this tran­sac­tion marks the 42nd successfully advi­sed deal in the engi­nee­red mate­ri­als sector. 

Leading tool­ma­ker for sili­cone injec­tion molding in the medi­cal sector

ACH Solu­tion GmbH, head­quar­te­red in Fischl­ham, Upper Austria, with an addi­tio­nal site in Sara­sota, Florida, employs around 90 people and is one of the leading tool­ma­kers in the field of sili­cone injec­tion molding. The company deve­lops and manu­fac­tures high-precis­ion molds for LSR and HTV proces­ses and also offers supple­men­tary services along the entire sili­cone mold manu­fac­tu­ring value chain. ACH’s products are used in parti­cu­lar by inter­na­tio­nal medi­cal tech­no­logy compa­nies that place the highest demands on quality, repro­du­ci­bi­lity and process reliability. 

Stra­te­gic expan­sion of the medi­cal tech­no­logy port­fo­lio at IGS GeboJagema

Since its foun­da­tion in 1945, IGS Gebo­Ja­gema has deve­lo­ped into a leading inter­na­tio­nal manu­fac­tu­rer of injec­tion molds for ther­mo­pla­s­tic appli­ca­ti­ons in medi­cal tech­no­logy. Head­quar­te­red in Eind­ho­ven, the Nether­lands, IGS serves renow­ned custo­mers world­wide, parti­cu­larly in the health­care sector. Since August 2025, IGS has also streng­the­ned the port­fo­lio of BC Part­ners, an inter­na­tio­nally active invest­ment firm with a focus on private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America. The acqui­si­tion of ACH is part of the joint buy-and-build stra­tegy of IGS and BC Part­ners in highly specia­li­zed indus­trial niche markets and marks a further step in buil­ding a leading global tooling group for medi­cal appli­ca­ti­ons. The part­ner­ship of two market leaders in injec­tion mold making will enable complex chal­lenges to be addres­sed and highly tech­ni­cal custo­mer requi­re­ments to be relia­bly met. 

Chris­tian Hefner, share­hol­der of ACH Solu­tion GmbH, comm­ents: “Our philo­so­phy at ACH has always been to push boun­da­ries. And in MP, we have found an expe­ri­en­ced part­ner who has guided us through this unique process. MP’s deep market under­stan­ding and stra­te­gic exper­tise in the tooling sector combi­ned with profes­sio­na­lism, commit­ment and tran­sac­tion expe­ri­ence were excep­tio­nal throug­hout the process.”

Land­mark tran­sac­tion in a stron­gly conso­li­da­ting market

The sales process was charac­te­ri­zed by an inter­na­tio­nal and highly compe­ti­tive bidding field. MP Corpo­rate Finan­ce’s team of experts deve­lo­ped a convin­cing equity story based on their in-depth indus­try know­ledge of injec­tion mold making and the sili­cone indus­try and targe­ted stra­te­gic and finan­cial inves­tors world­wide. “This tran­sac­tion is a mile­stone in global tool­ma­king for medi­cal tech­no­logy. The merger of two tech­no­logy leaders for sili­cone and ther­mo­pla­s­tic molds crea­tes a provi­der that can cover the most deman­ding appli­ca­ti­ons in the medi­cal sector holi­sti­cally,” explains Markus Wild­mo­ser (photo © MP), Mana­ging Direc­tor at MP Corpo­rate Finance.“The strong demand in the MedTech sector and the incre­asing conso­li­da­tion pres­sure in the plas­tics market are curr­ently driving stra­te­gic mergers.” 

MP Corpo­rate Finance confirms track record in the focus sector “Engi­nee­red Mate­ri­als”

For MP Corpo­rate Finance, the merger marks the 42nd successfully advi­sed tran­sac­tion in the engi­nee­red mate­ri­als sector. Recent tran­sac­tions in this sector include, for exam­ple, the sale of Lapo Compound to Poly­ram Plas­tic Indus­tries in 2025. 

About MP Corpo­rate Finance

MP Corpo­rate Finance is the leading inter­na­tio­nal M&A consul­tancy specia­li­zing in the indus­trial sector. As an expe­ri­en­ced part­ner, MP supports medium-sized compa­nies and manage­ment teams, private equity decis­ion-makers as well as entre­pre­neu­rial confi­dants in complex tran­sac­tions on both the sell and buy side and provi­des support in the context of capi­tal procu­re­ment, buy-and-build stra­te­gies, carve-outs or throug­hout the entire private equity life­cy­cle. MP was foun­ded in Vienna in the 1990s by Roman Göd and Gregor Nischer as the first Euro­pean M&A firm with a sector-focu­sed advi­sory approach. Today, the company employs more than 85 expe­ri­en­ced hands-on experts at five loca­ti­ons world­wide — in Vienna, Frank­furt, London, Istan­bul and Chicago — making it the largest indus­trial M&A team in Europe. With its unique sector focus, MP has successfully advi­sed on more than 700 indus­trial tran­sac­tions invol­ving invest­ment compa­nies, SMEs and corpo­ra­ti­ons. — www.mp-corporatefinance.com

About ACH Solution
https://www.ach-solution.at/en

About IGS GeboJagema

Home­page

About BC Partners

Home­page

Frank­furt am Main / Munich — The Frank­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner (VREP) is provi­ding easy2cool GmbH with growth capi­tal as part of mezza­nine finan­cing. The funds will be used to streng­then the company’s capi­tal base and support its dyna­mic growth in a rapidly expan­ding market for sustainable, tempe­ra­ture-control­led pack­a­ging and logi­stics solutions. 

easy2cool GmbH, foun­ded in 2014, is based in Munich and is one of the leading provi­ders of ecolo­gi­cal insu­la­ted pack­a­ging and inte­gra­ted fulfill­ment services for the fresh and frozen food sector. The company offers its custo­mers holi­stic solu­ti­ons along the tempe­ra­ture-control­led supply chain — from sustainable pack­a­ging and cooling media to storage, order picking, pack­a­ging and ship­ping logistics. 

Inno­va­tive, paper-based insu­la­tion solu­ti­ons form the core of the product range. At the heart of the product range is the paten­ted paper­floc tech­no­logy, in which loose cellu­lose fibers are used as a highly effi­ci­ent, fully recy­clable insu­la­tion mate­rial. This tech­no­logy repres­ents a sustainable alter­na­tive to conven­tio­nal poly­sty­rene pack­a­ging and is used in both mats and bag solu­ti­ons. The range is comple­men­ted by indi­vi­du­ally desi­gned fulfill­ment services cove­ring all aspects of storage, order picking, pack­a­ging and ship­ping logistics. 

easy2cool is bene­fiting from a sharp rise in demand for sustainable, tempe­ra­ture-control­led ship­ping solu­ti­ons, which is being driven in parti­cu­lar by the growth in online retail­ing of fresh food, pet food, phar­maceu­ti­cal and health­care products. At the same time, regu­la­tory requi­re­ments and consu­mers’ heigh­tened envi­ron­men­tal aware­ness are incre­asing the pres­sure on compa­nies to switch to resource-saving pack­a­ging solu­ti­ons. Against this back­drop, easy2cool recor­ded extra­or­di­nary sales growth of around 60% last year. 

Chris­tian Futter­lieb, Mana­ging Direc­tor of VREP, comm­ents on the tran­sac­tion: “easy2cool has posi­tio­ned itself excel­lently in the market. We were very impres­sed by the inte­gra­ted approach of inno­va­tive pack­a­ging tech­no­logy and fulfill­ment services. We like to finance compa­nies that manage to find viable answers to prevai­ling market trends with their busi­ness model and at the same time focus on envi­ron­men­tally friendly solu­ti­ons. We find both at easy2cool.”

Sebas­tian Leicht, Mana­ging Direc­tor of easy2cool, adds: “The part­ner­ship with VR Equi­typ­art­ner gives us addi­tio­nal finan­cial leeway to further scale our strong growth and expand our first-mover posi­tion. Our paten­ted paper­floc tech­no­logy and inte­gra­ted fulfill­ment offe­ring enable our custo­mers to obtain sustainable tempe­ra­ture-control­led ship­ping solu­ti­ons effi­ci­ently and relia­bly from a single source.”

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the details of the financing.

The tran­sac­tion team of VR Equitypartner
Michael Vogt, Klaus-Jörg Schnei­der, Luis Sche­rer, Lukas Rink, Jens Schöf­fel, Simone Weck, Dr. Clau­dia Willershausen

Brater VR equity part­ner: Grant Thornton 

FDD: Team Martin Fester­ling, TDD: Team Dr. Stefan Hahn, LDD: Team Dr. Matthias Reif, CDD: Team Dr. Stephane Müller

Frank­furt a. M. — Brock­haus Tech­no­lo­gies AG has sold its approx. 52% stake in BLS Betei­li­gungs GmbH (“Bikelea­sing”). The buyer is DECATHLON PULSE SAS, a wholly-owned subsi­diary of the France-based global sports brand DECATHLON. The purchase agree­ment provi­des for a company valua­tion of Bikelea­sing in the amount of EUR 525 million. 

The purchase price for the shares in BLS Betei­li­gungs GmbH will be calcu­la­ted on the closing date (expec­ted in the course of H1 2026), taking into account the cash and cash equi­va­lents, finan­cial liabi­li­ties and net working capi­tal of the Bikelea­sing subgroup available on this date (closing accounts concept). Based on the conso­li­da­ted figu­res of the Bikelea­sing Group as at Septem­ber 30, 2025, an exam­ple calcu­la­tion results in a pro rata purchase price for the shares in BLS Betei­li­gungs GmbH attri­bu­ta­ble to Brock­haus Tech­no­lo­gies of appro­xi­m­ately EUR 240 million, although this may still vary based on future figu­res as at the closing date. 

The closing of the tran­sac­tion is still subject to the closing condi­ti­ons, in parti­cu­lar the merger control clearan­ces as well as the successful comple­tion of the requi­red owner control procee­dings by DECATHLON and the appr­oval of the Annual Gene­ral Meeting of Brock­haus Technologies.

Brock­haus Tech­no­lo­gies AG, based in Frank­furt am Main, is a tech­no­logy group that acqui­res high-margin, high-growth tech­no­logy and inno­va­tion cham­pi­ons with B2B busi­ness models in the German SME sector.

Advi­sor Brock­haus Tech­no­lo­gies AG: POELLATH

Phil­ipp von Braun­schweig, LL.M. (Ford­ham) (Part­ner, Lead, M&A/Private Equity, Munich)
Tobias Jäger (Part­ner, Co-Lead, M&A/Private Equity, Munich)
Dr. Nico Fischer (Part­ner, Tax Law, Munich)
Daniel Wied­mann, LL.M. (NYU) (Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Anti­trust Law, Frank­furt aM)
Dr. Matthias Meier (Coun­sel, M&A/Private Equity, Munich)
Fran­zisca Anna Stucken­berg (Coun­sel, Finan­cial Regu­la­tory Law, Frank­furt aM)
Michael Andreas Haase (Coun­sel, Stock Corpo­ra­tion and Capi­tal Markets Law, Frank­furt aM)
Dr. Saskia Bardens (Senior Asso­ciate, Tax Law, Munich)
Michael Schwarz (Senior Asso­ciate, Tax Law, Munich)
Lukas Wörlein (Asso­ciate, M&A/Private Equity, Munich)
Daniel Hoppen (Senior Asso­ciate, Anti­trust Law, Frank­furt aM)
Emanuel Trotta (Asso­ciate, Stock Corpo­ra­tion and Capi­tal Markets Law, Munich)
Chris­tina König (Asso­ciate, Stock Corpo­ra­tion and Capi­tal Markets Law, Frank­furt aM) 

www.pplaw.com

Munich / Frank­furt a. M. — Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP has advi­sed Muta­res SE & Co. KGaA on the acqui­si­tion of the engi­nee­ring ther­mo­pla­s­tics busi­ness in the Ameri­cas and Europe (the “ETP Busi­ness”) from SABIC. The ETP Busi­ness opera­tes a broad-based inter­na­tio­nal plat­form with appro­xi­m­ately 2,900 full-time employees and eight produc­tion sites in the Ameri­cas and Europe. The product port­fo­lio includes poly­car­bo­na­tes (PC), poly­bu­ty­lene tere­phtha­late (PBT) and acrylo­ni­trile buta­diene styrene (ABS) as well as resin and compound product lines, supported by globally reco­gni­zed brands such as LEXAN™, CYCOLOY™, VALOX™ and CYCLOLAC™. The busi­ness gene­ra­tes sales of around USD 2.5 billion. 

The ETP busi­ness is the worl­d’s second largest produ­cer of PC, the leading produ­cer of ABS in the United States and the only produ­cer of PBT in the United States — unders­coring its strong compe­ti­tive posi­tion in key engi­nee­ring ther­mo­pla­s­tics categories.

About Muta­res SE & Co. KGaA

Muta­res SE & Co. KGaA, Munich, a listed private equity invest­ment company with offices in Munich (head­quar­ters), Amster­dam, Bad Wies­see, Chicago, Frank­furt, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Milan, Mumbai, Paris, Shang­hai, Stock­holm, Vienna and Warsaw, acqui­res compa­nies in special situa­tions that show considera­ble poten­tial for opera­tio­nal impro­ve­ment and sells them again after a repo­si­tio­ning and stabi­liza­tion process.

Will­kie advi­sed Muta­res on all aspects of the tran­sac­tion. Consultant:

The Will­kie team was led by part­ner Dr. Kamyar Abrar (Frank­furt) in colla­bo­ra­tion with part­ners Georg Linde (Frank­furt), Dr. Florian Dendl (Munich), Esther Chang (Chicago), Ryan Giggs (Hous­ton, all Corpo­rate) and Simon Weiss (Frank­furt, Capi­tal Markets) and included part­ners Gene­vieve Dorment (IP), Isabel Duman (Execu­tive Compen­sa­tion & Employee Bene­fits, both New York), Yaniv Maman (Tax, Hous­ton) and Hamesh Khat­kar (Corpo­rate, London), coun­sel William Thomas (Envi­ron­ment, Health & Safety, Washing­ton), Sebas­tian Bren­ner (Corpo­rate, Frank­furt), Lauren Sawyer (Execu­tive Compen­sa­tion & Employee Bene­fits) and Elana King (Real Estate, both New York), and asso­cia­tes Nils Bock (Frank­furt) Qing­ping (Chel­sea) Zheng (Chicago), Dr. Florian Kalb­fleisch (Munich), Leota Walter (Frank­furt), Bran­nock Furey (New York, all Corpo­rate), Taaj Reaves (IP, Chicago), Michael Wies­ner (Corpo­rate, Munich), Nicole Franki (Execu­tive Compen­sa­tion & Employee Bene­fits, New York), Laurin Havlik (Compli­ance, Munich), Kate­rina Gana­sou­lis (Hous­ton), Dr. Zeno Wirtz (Munich, both Corpo­rate), Kari Prochaska (London), Alex­an­dra Barc­zak (Washing­ton, both Commu­ni­ca­ti­ons, Media & Privacy), Victo­ria Quilty (Real Estate, New York), Dr. Phil­ipp Stein­hau­sen (Finance, Frank­furt), Clau­dia Garrote Fernan­dez (Hous­ton), Anna Jack­son-Smith (London, both Corpo­rate), Andrew Nesmith (Real Estate), Yoon Ho Jung (IP), Cara Hunt (Liti­ga­tion), Gian­luca Darena (Tax), Leah R. Gold (Real Estate), Nadia Raynes (Liti­ga­tion, all New York) and Nicola White (Corpo­rate, London).

About WILLKIE

Will­kie Farr & Gallag­her LLP provi­des leading legal solu­ti­ons to complex, busi­ness-criti­cal issues that span markets and indus­tries. Our appro­xi­m­ately 1,300 lawy­ers in 16 offices world­wide provide inno­va­tive, prag­ma­tic and sophisti­ca­ted legal services in around 45 areas of law. — www.willkie.com

Düssel­dorf — The Swiss inves­tor group CONSTELLATION CAPITAL has acqui­red Abresch Indus­trie­ver­pa­ckung GmbH. This means that Abresch Indus­trie­ver­pa­ckung GmbH will in future be part of the ARCA Group, which belongs to CONSTELLATION CAPITAL. With this step, ARCA Holding GmbH is further expan­ding the ARCA network for indus­trial pack­a­ging solu­ti­ons and streng­thening its own presence in south-west Germany. As a result of the merger, Abresch Verpa­ckung will bene­fit from an expan­ded deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial, the ARCA Group’s supra-regio­nal network and the asso­cia­ted indus­try-diver­si­fied custo­mer portfolio. 

Abresch Indus­trie­ver­pa­ckung GmbH, based in Viern­heim, employs over 50 people and is one of the estab­lished provi­ders of indus­trial pack­a­ging solu­ti­ons in south-west Germany. The company has parti­cu­lar strengths in process-rela­ted coope­ra­tion with indus­trial custo­mers. The focus is parti­cu­larly on factory pack­a­ging, intra­lo­gi­stics, series pack­a­ging and spare parts manage­ment for deman­ding indus­trial applications. 

ARCA Holding GmbH, a group of CONSTELLATION CAPITAL, is to be expan­ded to become the market leader in the field of wooden pack­a­ging and pack­a­ging services in German-spea­king count­ries. ARCA’s focus is on imple­men­ting a conso­li­da­tion stra­tegy to create a cohe­sive network of mutually bene­fi­cial compa­nies that offer custo­mi­zed pack­a­ging solu­ti­ons and services. 

CONSTELLATION CAPITAL AG is a Swiss invest­ment group foun­ded in 1992 and based in Frei­en­bach on Lake Zurich. CONSTELLATION pursues a buy & build stra­tegy that focu­ses on majo­rity invest­ments in medium-sized compa­nies in the busi­ness services, educa­tion & life­style and health­care sectors in the DACH region. 

An ARQIS team led by Dr. Lars Laeger provi­ded CONSTELLATION CAPITAL with compre­hen­sive legal advice on this tran­sac­tion. The team advi­ses CONSTELLATION CAPITAL on all plat­form acqui­si­ti­ons for the ARCA Group from a legal and tax perspec­tive as well as on acqui­si­tion finan­cing. ARQIS also provi­ded legal advice on the acqui­si­tion of the platform. 

Advi­sor CONSTELLATION CAPITAL: ARQIS (Düssel­dorf)

Dr. Lars Laeger (Part­ner, Tran­sac­tions, Lead), Part­ners: Johan­nes Landry (Finan­cing), Dr. Ulrich Lien­hard (Real Estate), Coun­sel: Chris­tian Judis (Compli­ance, Munich), Jens Knip­ping (Tax), Fran­ziska Leub­ner (Munich), Martin Wein­gärt­ner (both HR Law), Nora Strat­mann (Commer­cial, Munich), Mana­ging Asso­cia­tes: David Hudde (Tran­sac­tions), Tim Brese­mann (Real Estate), Johanna Klin­gen (Data Law), Rolf Tichy (IP, Munich), Asso­cia­tes: Dr. Lina Alami (Munich), Dr. Tim Weill (both HR Law), Rebecca Gester (Commer­cial, Munich), Paulina Hütt­ner, Dr. Julia Wild­gans (both IP, Munich), Lia Papis­me­dova (Real Estate)

About ARQIS

ARQIS is an inde­pen­dent commer­cial law firm that opera­tes inter­na­tio­nally. Around 80 lawy­ers and legal specia­lists advise dome­stic and foreign compa­nies at the highest level on German, Euro­pean and Japa­nese commer­cial law. With its focus groups Tran­sac­tions, HR Law, Japan, Data Law, Risk and Regu­la­tory, the firm is geared towards provi­ding its clients with compre­hen­sive advice. The law firm was foun­ded in 2006 and has offices in Düssel­dorf, Munich and Tokyo as well as a talent hub in Berlin. — www.arqis.com.

Munich — Picus Capi­tal, a global venture capi­tal firm, has successfully closed a EUR 150 million prefer­red equity finan­cing with Carlyle AlpIn­vest, a leading global private markets mana­ger. The tran­sac­tion provi­des Picus Capi­tal with addi­tio­nal capi­tal for new invest­ments and supports the contin­ued growth of its exis­ting port­fo­lio of nearly 200 invest­ments. The new part­ner­ship with Carlyle AlpIn­vest repres­ents a trans­for­ma­tive mile­stone for Picus Capi­tal and streng­thens the company’s ability to further scale and insti­tu­tio­na­lize its diffe­ren­tia­ted invest­ment approach. 

The tran­sac­tion is one of the first prefer­red equity struc­tures on the German market. Dome­stic and foreign market parti­ci­pants regard it as an inno­va­tive and trend-setting development. 

POELLATH advi­sed Picus Capi­tal on all legal and tax aspects of the tran­sac­tion in Germany. Simpson Thacher & Bart­lett coor­di­na­ted and advi­sed Picus Capi­tal on English law. Kirk­land & Ellis advi­sed Carlyle AlpIn­vest. PJT Park Hill acted as exclu­sive finan­cial advi­sor on the transaction.

About Picus Capital 

Picus Capi­tal is a priva­tely funded invest­ment firm dedi­ca­ted to support­ing leading global tech­no­logy compa­nies in the earliest stages of deve­lo­p­ment and is an initial inves­tor in seve­ral unicorns such as Perso­nio and Enpal. Head­quar­te­red in Munich, the company has offices in New York, Berlin, London and Banga­lore. Picus Capi­tal also supports entre­pre­neurs from the pre-seed phase through to later growth phases as part of its Picus Venture Fund stra­tegy. As an entre­pre­neu­rial spar­ring part­ner, Picus pursues a long-term invest­ment approach and supports foun­ders from the concep­tion phase to the IPO and beyond. 

Carlyle AlpIn­vest is a leading global private equity inves­tor with USD 102 billion in total assets under manage­ment and more than 700 inves­tors (as of Septem­ber 30, 2025). The company co-invests with over 370 private equity mana­gers and holds capi­tal commit­ments tota­ling more than USD 111 billion in prima­ries, secon­da­ries, port­fo­lio finan­cings and co-investments. 

POELLATH advi­sed Picus Capi­tal on all legal and tax aspects of this tran­sac­tion with the follo­wing cross-loca­tion team:

Dr. Michael Best (Part­ner, Co-Lead / Tax)
Tarek Mardini, LL.M. (UConn) (Part­ner, Co-Lead / Regu­la­tory & Fund Finance)
Dr. Georg Grei­temann (Part­ner, M&A/Private Equity)
Dr. Tobias Deschen­halm (Coun­sel, Tax)
Dr. Enzo Biagi (Asso­ciate, Regu­la­tory & Fund Finance) 

www.pplaw.com

 

Munich — Main Capi­tal Part­ners has acqui­red Carano, a specia­list in fleet manage­ment and leasing soft­ware, through Main port­fo­lio company CarWise, a leading provi­der of modu­lar ERP solu­ti­ons for the auto­mo­tive leasing and rental indus­try. Main Capi­tal Part­ners was advi­sed on this tran­sac­tion by McDer­mott Will & Schulte. 

The tran­sac­tion marks an important step in CarWi­se’s inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion stra­tegy and streng­thens the company’s presence in the German market.

Carano, foun­ded in 1992 and head­quar­te­red in Berlin, has been driving digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion in the fleet indus­try for over 30 years. The company serves over 170 custo­mers with more than 200,000 vehic­les, inclu­ding well-known compa­nies such as ARI (fleet manage­ment), Santan­der (leasing), BCD (busi­ness travel) and BMW. 

Foun­ded in 1989 and head­quar­te­red in Almere, the Nether­lands, with a strong presence in the Bene­lux region and busi­ness acti­vi­ties throug­hout Europe, CarWise offers an inte­gra­ted ERP plat­form for the entire leasing and rental value chain. CarWise has been backed by Main Capi­tal Part­ners since 2025. 

Main Capi­tal Part­ners is a leading soft­ware inves­tor in the DACH region, France, the Bene­lux and Nordic count­ries and the USA with assets under manage­ment of around EUR 6.8 billion.

McDer­mott regu­larly advi­ses Main Capi­tal on tran­sac­tions, inclu­ding financing.

Advi­sor Main Capi­tal Part­ners: McDer­mott Will & Schulte, Munich

Holger H. Ebers­ber­ger, LL.M., Dr. Manuel Weiß (Asso­ciate, both lead, Private Equity), Dr. Chris­tian Dries­sen-Rolf (Employ­ment Law, Frank­furt), Dr. Claus Färber (Coun­sel, Data Protec­tion Law), Dr. Alexa Ningel­gen (Public Law, Düssel­dorf); Asso­cia­tes: Julia Külzer (Private Equity), Janek Joos­ten (Düssel­dorf; Employ­ment Law), Dr. Merlyn von Hugo, LL.M. OEC. (tax law, Frankfurt).

Munich — Main Capi­tal Part­ners acqui­res a majo­rity stake in EIKONA AG, a German provi­der of modu­lar logi­stics soft­ware. Main Capi­tal acqui­res the shares from the pan-Euro­pean logi­stics group Schäf­lein and EIKONA foun­der Manuel Drescher. McDer­mott Will & Schulte advi­sed Main Capi­tal Part­ners on the acqui­si­tion and finan­cing of the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in EIKONA AG. 

The tran­sac­tion is part of a stra­te­gic realignment of EIKONA. The foun­ders and manage­ment will remain perma­nently invol­ved to ensure the conti­nuity of the company and stabi­lity for custo­mers and partners. 

EIKONA was foun­ded in Volkach in 2001 and today employs around 100 people. The company deve­lops modu­lar soft­ware solu­ti­ons for the logi­stics sector and supports more than 350 custo­mers throug­hout Europe. 

Main Capi­tal Part­ners is a leading soft­ware inves­tor in the DACH region, the Bene­lux and Nordic count­ries and the USA with assets under manage­ment of around EUR 6.5 billion.

Advi­sors to Main Capi­tal Part­ners: McDer­mott Will & Schulte Munich

Hanno M. Witt, LL.M. (Lead, Private Equity), Ludwig Zesch (Lead, Finance), Dr. Phil­ipp Gren­ze­bach (Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf/Frankfurt), Dr. Matthias Weis­sin­ger (Finance), Dr. Laura Stamm­witz (Coun­sel, Anti­trust, Frank­furt), Stef­fen Woitz, LL.M. (IP/IT), Dr. Claus Färber (Coun­sel, IT, Data Protec­tion), Dr. Thomas Gennert (Employ­ment, Düssel­dorf), Stefa­nie Solt­we­del (Commer­cial, Düssel­dorf); Asso­cia­tes: Nicole Kaps, Dr. Armin Teymouri, Julia Külzer, Dr. Manuel Weiß, Tobias Thie­mann (all Private Equity), Malte Arndt (Düssel­dorf), Anna­belle Juli­ette Rau (Colo­gne; both Corporate/M&A), Lorenz Schwo­jer (Finance), Janek Joos­ten (Employ­ment, Düssel­dorf), Andreas H. Janßen (Commer­cial, Colo­gne). — www.mwe.com/de/

Frank­furt am Main — The inter­na­tio­nal law firm Bird & Bird has advi­sed Gofore Oyj, a listed leading Finnish digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion consul­tancy, on the acqui­si­tion of esen­tri AG, a renow­ned German digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion and IT consul­tancy, and its inter­na­tio­nal subsidiaries.

With almost 1,800 employees in 23 cities in Finland, Germany, Austria, the Czech Repu­blic, Spain and Esto­nia, Gofore Oyj is known for its exper­tise in digi­ta­liza­tion, IT consul­ting and soft­ware deve­lo­p­ment. The consul­tancy offers a wide range of services, inclu­ding digi­tal stra­tegy, agile soft­ware deve­lo­p­ment, cloud solu­ti­ons and user expe­ri­ence design. The company supports public and private sector clients across Europe, helping orga­niza­ti­ons embrace tech­no­lo­gi­cal change and drive inno­va­tion. With a strong commit­ment to sustainable digi­tal deve­lo­p­ment and a colla­bo­ra­tive working culture, Gofore has built a repu­ta­tion as a provi­der of high-quality solu­ti­ons tail­o­red to the needs of clients in various indus­tries, inclu­ding govern­ment, health­care and transportation. 

esen­tri AG is head­quar­te­red in Germany and has bran­ches in Germany, Switz­er­land and Liech­ten­stein and curr­ently employs 110 people. The company specia­li­zes in busi­ness-orien­ted digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion with inno­va­tive solu­ti­ons. Its main custo­mers include finan­cial and insu­rance service provi­ders, the manu­fac­tu­ring indus­try and public administration. 

The acqui­si­tion is part of Gofo­re’s stra­tegy to grow in selec­ted custo­mer sectors through acqui­si­ti­ons and an important step on the company’s growth path in the DACH region.

Advi­sor Gofore Oye: Bird & Bird 

Part­ner Dr. Kai Kerger, Coun­sel Johanna Schind­ler and Asso­cia­tes Dr. Matthias Adenauer, LL.M. and Lisa Häring (all Corporate/M&A, Frank­furt), Coun­sel Michael Brüg­ge­mann and Asso­ciate Thomas Schmidt (both Tax, Frank­furt), Part­ner Dr. Barbara Geck and Asso­cia­tes Henry Nico­lai and Jessica Stein­hü­bel (all Employ­ment, Frank­furt), Part­ner Mascha Grund­mann and Coun­sel Julia Präger and Asso­ciate Julia Bopp (all IP, Frank­furt), Part­ners Dr. Stephan Wald­heim and Dr. Florian Hinde­rer (both antitrust/competition, Düssel­dorf), coun­sel Clau­dia Bisch­off-Briel and asso­ciate Ludwig Haster­mann (both IT, Frank­furt), part­ner Mikko Ahonen, coun­sel Vuokko Raja­mäki and asso­ciate Rondy Sten­man (all corporate/M&A, Helsinki). 

www.twobirds.com

Berlin — YPOG has provi­ded compre­hen­sive legal advice to Trade Repu­blic Bank GmbH in a secon­dary round of around EUR 1.2 billion, valuing the company at EUR 12.5 billion. The tran­sac­tion was led by Foun­ders Fund; new inves­tors include Welling­ton Manage­ment, GIC, Fide­lity Manage­ment & Rese­arch Company, Khosla Ventures, Lingotto Inno­va­tion and Aglaé, the tech­no­logy-orien­ted invest­ment firm of the Arnault family. 

The tran­sac­tion supports Trade Repu­blic’s long-term stra­tegy to build Euro­pe’s leading digi­tal savings plat­form. As part of the tran­sac­tion, exis­ting inves­tors such as Foun­ders Fund, Sequoia, Accel, TCV and Thrive Capi­tal are incre­asing their stakes, while early-stage inves­tors are selling shares to exis­ting share­hol­ders and new investors. 

“Tran­sac­tions of this size can only be imple­men­ted with advi­sors who are strong in their field and at the same time hands-on and solu­tion-orien­ted. YPOG fully met these expec­ta­ti­ons and provi­ded us with relia­ble and commit­ted support even under great time pres­sure,” says David Becker, Head of Gene­ral Legal at Trade Republic.

“We are deligh­ted to have advi­sed Trade Repu­blic on this signi­fi­cant tran­sac­tion, which further streng­thens the company’s role in the Euro­pean fintech land­scape,” says Frede­rik Gärt­ner, Part­ner at YPOG. “The round under­lines the confi­dence of top inter­na­tio­nal inves­tors in Trade Repu­blic’s busi­ness model — espe­ci­ally in light of the company’s mission to close Euro­pe’s pension gap and help milli­ons of people build long-term wealth.” 

About Trade Republic

Trade Repu­blic is Euro­pe’s largest savings plat­form that enables people to save and invest in shares, ETFs, bonds, deri­va­ti­ves and cryp­to­cur­ren­cies. The company was foun­ded in 2015 by Chris­tian Hecker, Thomas Pischke and Marco Cancel­lieri — with the mission to enable ever­yone to build wealth by provi­ding simple, secure and free access to the finan­cial system. Today, Trade Repu­blic is available to 340 million people in seven­teen Euro­pean count­ries and is backed by some of the worl­d’s most renow­ned venture capi­ta­lists. In Decem­ber 2023, Trade Repu­blic recei­ved a full German banking license from the ECB and is super­vi­sed by the German Fede­ral Finan­cial Super­vi­sory Autho­rity (BaFin) as well as the German Bundesbank. 

Advi­sor to Trade Repu­blic Bank GmbH: YPOG

Dr. Frede­rik Gärt­ner(Lead, Tran­sac­tions) Part­ner, Berlin
Sjard Seeger (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Berlin
Dr. Matthias Schatz (Corpo­rate), Part­ner, Cologne
Dr. Chris­toph Lütten­berg (Corpo­rate), Senior Asso­ciate, Cologne
Jörg Schr­ade (Tax), Part­ner, Munich

www.ypog.com

Munich — Herbert Smith Freeh­ills Kramer has advi­sed Palla­dio Part­ners, an invest­ment boutique specia­li­zing in private markets, on its invest­ment in hylane GmbH, a leading Euro­pean lessor of zero-emis­sion trucks.

As soon as the neces­sary regu­la­tory appr­ovals have been obtai­ned, Palla­dio will acquire a stake in hylane as part of a signi­fi­cant capi­tal increase and also take over the majo­rity of voting rights for important areas. The current owner of hylane is the insu­rance group DEVK, which has held 100 percent of the shares since hylane was foun­ded in 2021 and remains inves­ted in hylane as a joint venture partner. 

Palla­dio Part­ners wants to support the growth of hylane. The fleet of zero-emis­sion trucks is to be expan­ded over the next few years with total invest­ments in the three-digit million range.

Hylane, foun­ded in 2021 and based in Colo­gne, provi­des battery and hydro­gen-powered vehic­les from various manu­fac­tu­r­ers in a usage-based rental model. Its custo­mers include leading fleet opera­tors from the logi­stics, retail and indus­trial sectors, inclu­ding DHL, DB Schen­ker, DSV, Hermes and REWE. 

Palla­dio Part­ners is an owner-mana­ged invest­ment boutique with a focus on infra­struc­ture invest­ments, private equity and private debt. Foun­ded in 2012, Palla­dio today has around 100 employees and mana­ges funds tota­ling around EUR 10 billion. 

Herbert Smith Freeh­ills Kramer advi­sed Palla­dio Part­ners with the follo­wing team: 

Corporate/M&A: Dr. Chris­toph Nawroth (Part­ner, lead), Dr. Sebas­tian Schü­rer (Coun­sel); Asso­cia­tes: Phil­lip Kablitz, Stefa­nie Strahl, Dr. Bastian Held (all Düsseldorf)
Anti­trust law: Dr. Marcel Nuys (Part­ner); Asso­cia­tes: Mirko Gleits­mann, Dr. Lennard Posser (all Düssel­dorf) Employ­ment law: Moritz Kunz (Part­ner), Dr. Anja Ling­scheid (Coun­sel); Asso­ciate: Julia Ickstadt (all Frankfurt)
Tax law: Dr. Stef­fen Hörner (Part­ner); Asso­cia­tes: Tatiana Güns­ter, Dirk Metz­ler (all Frankfurt)
Regu­la­tory: Dr. Marius Boewe; Asso­cia­tes: David Rasche, Dr. Dejan Einfeldt (all Düsseldorf)
IP: Dr. Ina vom Feld (Part­ner); Asso­ciate: Maxi­mi­lian Martini (both Düsseldorf)

Munich — Fort­ino Capi­tal, one of the leading private equity firms focu­sing on invest­ments in B2B SaaS compa­nies in the Bene­lux and DACH region, has closed its third private equity fund with capi­tal commit­ments of EUR 700 million. “Fort­ino PE III” was signi­fi­cantly over­sub­scri­bed and closed at an expan­ded hard cap well above the origi­nal target of EUR 600 million. A signi­fi­cant portion of the new capi­tal will be used to realize new invest­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in German-spea­king countries. 

With its third PE fund, Fort­ino intends to main­tain its proven invest­ment stra­tegy and support estab­lished B2B soft­ware compa­nies that offer solu­ti­ons for busi­ness-criti­cal proces­ses. The invest­ment team with its manage­ment expe­ri­ence and the opera­ting team with its proven soft­ware exper­tise comple­ment each other to increase the sustainable growth of its port­fo­lio compa­nies. A model with a track record that has convin­ced nume­rous inves­tors within just a few months: The high demand came from exis­ting Fort­ino inves­tors as well as from a broad range of new insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors from Europe and the USA — inclu­ding banks, consul­ting firms, foun­da­ti­ons, family offices, pension funds and state funds. 

Orga­nic growth oppor­tu­ni­ties for SaaS provi­ders in the DACH region

With a highly diver­si­fied inves­tor base and an 85% increase in volume compared to its prede­ces­sor fund, Fort­ino PE III marks a new level in the growth path that has been conti­nuously pursued since its foun­da­tion in 2012. The new fund’s resour­ces will enable a signi­fi­cant increase in deal volume. 

Phil­ipp Remy, Part­ner (photo © Fort­ino): “Arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence is funda­men­tally chan­ging the B2B SaaS land­scape and driving a market tran­si­tion: away from tradi­tio­nal SaaS products towards signi­fi­cantly more powerful, agent-based AI solu­ti­ons that increase opera­tio­nal effi­ci­ency. We support foun­ders and entre­pre­neurs with capi­tal and deep opera­tio­nal exper­tise to capi­ta­lize on these deve­lo­p­ments and take their busi­nesses to the next stage of growth.” Fort­i­no’s commit­ment to the DACH region to date is reflec­ted in tangi­ble results — from the successful exit of Symbio, the first German invest­ment in PE II, to the invest­ment in SIMCON (PE II) and compa­nies in which PE III has alre­ady inves­ted: MEHRWERK (process intel­li­gence soft­ware), as well as Modell Aachen and Orga­vi­sion (inter­ac­tive manage­ment systems). 

Fort­ino is also further expan­ding its invol­vement in the field of (pre)seed to Series A invest­ments in B2B SaaS and AI: The latest fund “Fort­ino Venture III” had its successful first close in April 2025. Part­ner Patrick Hermann: “With Fort­ino VC III, we are deligh­ted to now be imple­men­ting our stra­tegy from Bene­lux more actively in DACH with a local team. Our expe­ri­ence and in-depth B2B soft­ware and AI exper­tise enable us to play an active role in the growth and inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion of our port­fo­lio compa­nies. With VC III, we are buil­ding on the success of our previous funds while conti­nuing to invest in the future of B2B soft­ware and AI. With a full pipe­line and alre­ady first port­fo­lio compa­nies in Germany, we will be able to announce seve­ral new invest­ments in 2026.” 

Fort­ino curr­ently mana­ges a total of six funds in the areas of private equity and venture capi­tal and has raised over 1.5 billion euros to date. The company has inves­ted in 76 compa­nies and reali­zed 28 successful exits. 

About Fort­ino

Fort­ino Capi­tal, foun­ded in 2013 and based in Antwerp, Belgium, with addi­tio­nal offices in Amster­dam and Munich, is a leading Euro­pean invest­ment company focu­sing on high-growth B2B SaaS compa­nies. Fort­ino invests in soft­ware compa­nies that offer solu­ti­ons for busi­ness-criti­cal proces­ses and supports their foun­ders and CEOs in acce­le­ra­ting the growth of their compa­nies. The 35-strong Fort­ino team works from Antwerp, Amster­dam and Munich. Fort­ino has raised more than 1.5 billion euros in capi­tal to date. The private equity port­fo­lio includes compa­nies such as Worklinq (DK), Simcon (DE), Mehr­werk (DE), Modell Aachen (DE), Addac­tis (BE), VanRoey (BE), Bizz­mine (BE), Efficy CRM (BE), Seenons (NL), InTouch (NL), SpeakUp (NL), Maxx­ton (NL) and Boni­ta­soft (FR). — fortino.capital