Direct secondaries firm Cipio Partners has hired the co-founder of a German e-commerce platform to focus on portfolio management and investments.
Alexander Brand, who was chief executive of baby goods and apparel site windeln.de, joined Cipio’s investment team in April, according to a statement from the firm. He takes the title of venture partner.
Under Brand’s leadership windeln.de’s annual revenues rose to more than €200 million, the statement noted. The firm floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2015.
“We have known [Brand] for many years and have been impressed by the strategic vision and execution skills he has brought to his companies,” managing partners Diana Meyel and Roland Dennert noted in the statement. “When he decided to step down from windeln.de, it was only logical that we reached out to him.”
Cipio Partners Fund VII closed in July on €174 million after 18 months in the market, Secondaries Investor reported. It had been targeting €160 million.
Like its predecessors, it invests in both direct secondaries and growth strategies, picking up stakes from existing investors in expansion-stage technology companies and supporting their growth with additional primary capital.
The fund had made three transactions as of October, Dennert told Secondaries Investor last year, equivalent to 20 percent of its capital. The firm has upped its investment size this time around, in line with the market trends.
“Angel rounds used to be €500,000 to €1 million, now they’re more like €2.5 million, so I think in a very natural way our investment tickets will grow,” he said. “In our first fund the typical investment was €3 million to €5 million, now it’s more like €5 million to €10 million.”
Cipio was founded in 2003 and has offices in Munich and Luxembourg.
If you do not receive this within five minutes, please try to sign in again. If the problem persists, please email: