The fund is structured as an evergreen, with average target investment — de-investment cycles of 5 years. The fund is constantly being increased in volume by the club’s members (total net-worth approx. EUR 20b) — which commit on a deal by deal basis.
The fund has invested (until today) in 6 start-ups — following a clear strategy to develop them moving forward. Our investment philosophy is very simple:
– We back strong, entrepreneurial founder (management) teams at early and later stages.
– We have an innovative and flexible approach to size, structure and level of ownership.
– We actively focus on asset-light companies in target sectors with strong growth potential.
– We favour dynamic situations — often driven by competitive advantage, technology (deep tech), transition of business model or special opportunities (e.g. secondary share sales)
Our concept resulted in significant valuation increases and international follow-on investments. The management team holds a successful track record of more than 60 transactions completed, since working together. We offer a highly entrepreneurial team with operational, strategic and M&A expertise, which is used to work hands-on if needed.
Last but not least, ESAC seeks to overcome geographical, industrial, and technological barriers to exchange ideas, knowledge, and opportunities across Europe and seeks to scale European “unicorns” (as a vision).
The club’s fund invests in high-growth tech European start-ups from EUR 1 to 10 million/round. The fund invests in 90% of European start-ups and 10% of non-EU start-ups.