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​Zurich, Switzerland, 21.08.2024 – Direttissima Growth Partners (“Direttissima”), the European growth equity firm focussed on scaleups at the intersection of digitalization and sustainability, is pleased to announce the successful initial closing of its debut growth fund with a target volume of €120M. With offices in Zurich and Munich, Direttissima has initiated the debut fund in partnership with Liechtenstein-based asset management firm, Principal. The fund is also backed by several entrepreneurs and family offices that stand behind some of Europe’s most successful industrial, pharma and consumer brands. Meanwhile, the combined experience of the firm’s three founding partners is tailored to scaling businesses in the last mile of their growth journey. Two investments have already been executed in technology companies founded in the UK and Germany, with eight further investments planned.

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The debut fund will be deployed by 2026 and will comprise a maximum of 10 investments executed over three years to allow the partners to focus the firm’s resources on a concentrated portfolio of companies spanning industrial digitalisation and automation, energy tech, and transportation. Direttissima has been set up by three Partners including Alois Flatz who was one of the original founders of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), the world’s leading index family for sustainable investment. Flatz, who brings 25 years experience in growth funding and private equity investment to the firm through his tenure at Al Gore’s Generation IM and as Partner at the European cleantech investment firm Zouk Capital, is joined by two additional partners at Direttissima. Christopher Hoffmann - a seasoned growth equity investor and former CFO of European technology business va-Q-tec which he led to a highly successful IPO in 2016  - and a newly appointed third partner, Philipp Bolliger, who holds a PhD in Computer Science from world-renowned ETH Zurich. Bolliger was also founder and CEO of two IoT companies, Koubachi and Thingstream, both of which he successfully exited within the last decade. His appointment has led the firm to rebrand from FlatzHoffmann to Direttissima to express the firm’s mandate to build the next generation of technology leaders in Europe.

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Direttissima will provide essential growth capital to scaleups looking to expand beyond their national borders and has a primary focus on the DACH region, the original powerhouse of European engineering, digitalisation, and energy transition. The DACH region leads Europe in R&D, tech talent and by volume of filed patents. This has created the perfect conditions for founders from Germany, Switzerland and Austria to build game-changing businesses with global ambitions. Furthermore, the combined GDP of DACH countries exceeds that of the entire US West Coast. However, the growth funding gap for successful later-stage technology companies from domestic funds has been a consistent challenge for many years across all of Europe, with very selective financing coming from some US and Asian investors. Meanwhile, growth funding in the DACH region steeply declined from €7.9bn in the first half of 2022 to just €2.7bn in the first half of 2023, representing a 66% decrease. This presents an enormous opportunity for domestic funds to back the best home-grown technology leaders of tomorrow as they set sights to scale to new heights and expand internationally.

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“We’ve set up Direttissima to address the obvious late-stage funding gap, particularly in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and we are committed to back only companies that also have business models that contribute a positive environmental or societal impact," says Alois Flatz, Partner at Direttissima, based in Austria. “Having invested with our anchor investors in multiple successful deals in the previous eight years, we decided to build an ecosystem that unites the growth teams we back with experienced entrepreneurial investors. We invite additional like-minded entrepreneurial investors to join us in our mission.”

 

Aside from achieving a historical milestone conceiving the DJSI in the 1990s, Flatz has led numerous successful impact investments from SiC Processing acquired by Nordic Capital in 2010, to Fision acquired by Zalando in 2020. He brings a wealth of expertise to the C-suite of his portfolio businesses as well as a track-record of successful investments that reassure LPs. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the leading CEE retail bank Erste Group Bank AG.

 

 

“We’re in an era of rapid technological transition at the intersection of digitalisation and sustainability,” says Philipp Bolliger, Partner at Direttissima based in Zurich. “As a former CEO of two startups, I have seen first-hand that the venture capital market in Europe is saturated and M&A is seeing a surge, but enthusiasm for mega rounds and treading risky IPO territory is on the decline.”

 

Bolliger sees Switzerland as a hotbed for investment in promising growth companies. When it comes to per capita funding, Switzerland also stands out as the clear leader in the DACH region, with $247 invested per capita which is nearly on par with the UK’s $305 per capita funding.

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“We founded Direttissima to fill the gap between early-stage tech funding and later-stage buy-outs in Europe,” says Christopher Hoffmann, Partner at Direttissima based in Munich. “The real trailblazers in the current ecosystem are not the early-stage ventures, but actually later stage growth companies built by repeat entrepreneurs that are paving more efficient pathways to replace outdated processes with high-tech solutions. These are the businesses that have the potential to mature fast and expand internationally if they receive cash injections at the right moment from the right partners on the steepest part of their scaleup journey.”

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Hoffmann brings two decades of experience from McKinsey as well as the leading European ratings agency Scope. The debut fund has already executed two successful investments. The first with UK-founded Zeelo, a smart bus platform which provides enterprise businesses an automated and sustainable staff and student transport service, addressing transport deficiencies in the UK and the US. Zeelo has serviced over 10 million bus rides since it was founded in 2017 and last year acquired competitor firm Kura in the UK while simultaneously scaling business in the US. The second portfolio company is industrial tech player Hololight, which has created an industry leading AR/VR streaming software for industrial applications. Hololight’s technology is used by large aerospace and automotive enterprises to enable asset-light 3D simulations for product development, design, production planning, training and remote maintenance. The Munich-based company is expanding from Germany into the US leveraging high-profile partnerships with industry leaders in spatial computing chips, communications, and XR headsets.

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Direttissima, which means the most direct and effective path to the summit, aims to partner with the most aspirational management teams of B2B companies that have achieved commercial maturity and are driving sustainable innovation across the industrial value chain. By focussing on technology companies benefiting from structural growth trends, a proven business model, established customer base, revenues exceeding €5M, sound unit economics and a clear path to profitability, Direttissima intends to set a new trend for domestic growth financing that will solidify Europe's position as the leader in sustainable B2B technology innovation.

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For Press Inquiries, please contact:

jenny@direttissima.partners

 

For Investor Relations, please contact:

investors@direttissima.partners

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About Direttissima Growth Partners:

Direttissima is a European technology investment firm for growth financing with a mission to build a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem focussed primarily on the DACH region that is backed by entrepreneurs and family offices behind the region’s most prominent global brands. The fund targets companies that have already navigated technological risks, have proven their product-market fit with a minimum revenue threshold of €5 million, and that make a positive social or environmental impact. Focusing on sound unit economics and asset-light businesses, Direttissima provides significant growth capital, offering initial investments of €5-10 million and significant capacity for follow-on investments. This approach ensures support for promising companies during their critical scaling phases, helping them achieve sustainable growth and global leadership.

 

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