Inveready exceeds 500 million raised with its second private equity fund and closes its first investment with the purchase of Avatel

Inveready successfully closes the fundraising of Inveready Innvierte Private Equity II, its second private equity fund, and formalises its first two investments with the acquisition of a stake in Avatel Telecom and the investment in Tekman Education.

Inveready Innvierte Private Equity II is a successor to the first private equity fund launched by Inveready in 2019, called GAEA Inversión, which has demonstrated the success of the fund manager's flexible investment strategy, with the objective of investing in small and medium-sized companies with high growth potential through a combination of majority, minority and flexible capital structures. The manager's first fund with this strategy has been positioned in the top quartile in performance as one of the best performing funds in the sector, which has prompted the launch of this new successor fund.

The investment capacity of the new funds is in excess of EUR 500 million, all of which is already fully committed between existing investors and the strategic participation of CDTI, the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The CDTI will invest through its SICC Innvierte, which aims to promote business innovation by supporting venture capital investment in technology-based or innovative companies.

The fund focuses on companies with a turnover of between EUR 15 million and EUR 300 million with an operating profit of between EUR 5 - 60 million, strong organic growth, and a clear competitive advantage in their sector. Inveready Innvierte Private Equity II will have a flexible approach allowing equity investments or hybrid structures, adapting to the needs of each company and type of transaction, carrying out both minority and majority operations that include the provision of resources to finance organic and inorganic growth, as well as the purchase and sale of shares.

Josep Maria Echarri, CEO of Inveready, explains that ‘In 2019 we chose to propose an innovative approach to the private equity segment, taking advantage of our experience of more than 15 years in minority funds and hybrid instruments, creating an ad-hoc solution for each operation, and having as a common denominator with the rest of the investments made by Inveready the support to entrepreneurs and companies with ambition of leadership in their respective sectors. The backing of existing investors in this new fund, and the incorporation of reference partners who share this vision, such as the CDTI, will allow us to cover a wider range of companies in the Iberian Peninsula.

The success of the first fund is a reflection of the effectiveness of this strategy, achieving returns significantly above the market average. It has invested in 15 companies across a range of sectors, with a focus on companies with high growth potential and solid business models combining majority, minority and structured capital.

The new fund will be managed and led by Josep Maria Echarri, Carlos Conti, Beltrán Mora-Figueroa, Ramón Resa and the new addition Mariano Rodríguez Monterde. Prior to joining Inveready, Mariano worked for several years as a partner at Formentor Capital, a Spanish private equity fund focused on the low to mid market segment and, before that, he worked for 9 years in the Investment Banking division of Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in New York, London and Madrid, advising industrial companies in M&A, equity and debt transactions both in the US and Europe. Mariano holds a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

About Inveready

Inveready is a leading firm specialising in asset management. Founded in 2008, Inveready has evolved to become one of the most active investment firms in the small and medium sized companies segment in Spain, currently managing more than 2,000 million euros.

With more than 60 employees, Inveready is headquartered in San Sebastian, and has offices in Madrid and Barcelona. It has been recognised as ‘Best Venture Capital Firm’ in 2017 by SpainCap and ‘Best European Venture Debt Fund’ in 2023 by Preqin, among others.