Investment approach

We only know one industry. That is the point.

Generalists buy metrics. We buy companies whose delivery model, utilisation logic and talent market we know from doing the work ourselves. This page sets out what follows from that, for how we select, how we create value, and who does it.

Sector focus

Six subsectors, one market

All six grow considerably faster than IT spending overall, and in all six, fragmented providers are turning into European platforms right now.

Cloud

Migration, platform engineering and DevSecOps, with a recurring managed services share.

Our platform tecRacer sits here

Cyber Security

Managed detection, SOC operations and compliance services in regulated environments.

Regulation as the demand driver

AI Engineering

From the data platform to the working application, the area where delivery is reinventing itself right now.

The core of our AI-native thesis

Managed Services

Operating models with predictable revenue that structurally stabilise valuations.

The strongest valuation lever

ERP

Advisory and operations around core systems, carried by long customer relationships.

High switching costs

Custom Software

Bespoke development with industry depth, often closely tied into customers’ processes.

Nearshore potential
€95 bn
IT services market volume in the DACH region
2 – 4×
faster than IT spending overall is how our six subsectors grow
2,2×
MOIC for sector-focused funds, against 1.9× for generalists (Cambridge Associates)
Value creation

Three levers that reinforce each other

EBITDA growth, debt paydown and multiple expansion work together over a holding period of three to six years. Click through the bridge to see what sits behind each step.

Value bridge, schematic

A purely schematic illustration of the levers and their order. No indication of magnitude, no forecast and no statement about expected returns.
Buy and Build

Build a company, not a holding structure

Most roll-ups fail on integration, not on buying. Put ten companies under one roof and leave them there, and you have bought ten companies without building one, and you will be valued accordingly at exit.

So we bring add-ons together into one organisation: one brand, shared delivery processes, shared systems, one leadership team. That is less comfortable and takes longer. It is also the only way to get real synergies out of acquisitions.

Whitepaper “Buy and Build in IT Services”
A typical roll-up
Our approach
Brands sit side by side
One platform brand, decided deliberately
Each unit delivers on its own model
Shared delivery standards
Systems grow in parallel
Consolidated finance and operating systems
Cross-selling stays a stated intention
A shared pipeline from quarter one
Integration handled on the side by the management board
A dedicated Operating Professional on site
The evidence

Cloudflight. A thousand people. Five countries. One exit.

From €25m to €100m revenue, then sold to Partners Group. That value creation framework is what we bring into our holdings today.

AI-native

We built cloud native. That is why we can now shape AI-native.

For IT services providers, AI is not a question of efficiency but a threat to the business model: sell time, and you will sell less of it. So we move our holdings early, with targets for utilisation and contribution margin.

Delivery

AI-assisted development, documentation and testing raise output per head without lowering quality. The effect lands in the margin, not just in the deck.

Pricing

When effort falls, the pricing model has to move away from the hour. We shift revenue towards outcomes and retainers, and that is the real transformation.

Portfolio

New services appear where customers want to use AI in production and lack the capability to build it. It is the same shift as cloud once was, only faster.

Team

People who have delivered themselves

Four people who have delivered, scaled and sold IT services themselves.

Managing Partner
Jörn Petereit
Jörn Petereit
Managing Partner

25 years in IT services, from sales through to the management board. Previously COO at Cloudflight, Global VP IoT at Deutsche Bahn and Head of Cloud Services at q.beyond. Owns operational value creation and growth. Initiator of the Sovereign Cloud Compass.

Eike C. Frerichs
Eike C. Frerichs
Managing Partner

More than 30 completed transactions as an investor, CFO and senior advisor. Previously CFO at Cloudflight, private equity investor at Alpina Partners and investment banker at UniCredit. Senior advisor to FSN, Bridgepoint and Triton.

Execution
Julian Bohne
Julian Bohne
Investment Professional

Financial due diligence and modelling. Previously a manager at EY-Parthenon on buy-side mandates for KKR, Bid Equity, KKA Partners and Aquila. Accompanies transactions from analysis through to life after closing.

Johannes Zeigert
Johannes Zeigert
Operating Professional

Operational value creation across the portfolio. Previously Managing Consultant CIO Advisory at Horváth and Senior Manager Strategy & Operations at IBM Consulting. Focus on post-merger integration and S/4HANA.

Senior Advisors
Michael Müller
Michael Müller
Cloud & AI-Native Transformation
Mareike Gerdes
Mareike Gerdes
People Operations & High Performance Organizations
Markus Brendel
Markus Brendel
Go-to-Market & Brand
Evidence

Our theses are there to be read

Four whitepapers, four frameworks, one continuous argument. Anyone who wants to know how we think does not have to meet us first.

Whitepaper The Multiple Is a Scorecard, cover
EN · Exit & valuation

The Multiple Is a Scorecard
Whitepaper Buy and Build in IT Services, cover
EN · Buy and Build

Buy and Build in IT Services
Whitepaper The AI-Native IT Services Company, cover
EN · Transformation

The AI-Native IT Services Company
Whitepaper NextGen IT Services, cover
DE · Growth

NextGen IT Services

Does that sound like a partner you want to work with?

Then let’s talk. Confidential, without obligation, and regardless of whether a transaction is on your mind right now.

Book an introductory call See the investment criteria