About Sophora

Entrepreneurial. Responsible. Down-to-earth.

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Sophora Unternehmerkapital is an independent equity investment firm with a focus on medium-sized companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

We are an interdisciplinary team of entrepreneurs with many years of experience in the investment industry as well as operational experience as founders and CEOs of companies.

As a value-creating partner to entrepreneurs and management teams of medium-sized companies, Sophora provides strategic and operational know-how as well as a comprehensive network of experts and flexible capital in order to jointly discover and unlock potential. Sophora is a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (“PRI”) and the Women’s Empowerment Principles (“WEPs”).

Investment Strategy

Thematic investing offers opportunities that arise across sectors as a result of long-term megatrends, and Sophora Unternehmerkapital systematically supports its companies in discovering and unlocking this potential.

ENERGY TRANSITION & RESOURCE AVAILABILITY

A growing world population, ongoing urbanization and increasing prosperity are driving demand for energy, food and water. However, the amount of natural resources that can be used to meet this demand is finite on earth. We invest in companies that are able to use this challenge as an opportunity and, above all, as a growth driver. Renewable Energies, Circular Economy or Future Mobility represent some of our investment focus areas.

B-E-S-T TECHNOLOGIES

B-E-S-T stands for Breakthrough, Enabling, Scalable and Transformative. Technological advancement will be the critical factor to ensure that despite our planet’s limited resources, our way of living and quality of life can be supported and further improved. We invest in companies that set new technological standards with their products, production processes or services and convince through quality. Areas of focus include Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Materials, Agritech and Robotics.

BUY-AND-BUILD

Buy-and-build is part of our DNA . We leverage our industry-leading expertise in this area when it comes to identifying attractive buy-and-build platforms, supporting management teams in the successful execution of an add-on acquisition as well as its integration with know-how and capital, and discovering and jointly unlocking acquired growth potential and synergies. We consider the following key factors to be decisive for the success of a buy-and-build strategy: an excellent management team, a well-positioned platform company, and the availability of target companies that can benefit exceptionally from the platform’s infrastructure.

Investment Criteria

We invest in medium-sized companies with headquarters in Germany, Austria or Switzerland and have the potential to develop their business further.

Established and successful mid-sized companies (no start-ups or restructuring situations)

Growth potential for the long term (organic and via buy-and-build)

Strong management

Sales between €5-50m and a positive operating cash flow

Majority or significant minority investments

Headquarters in the DACH region

Our Solutions

We bring solutions to a variety of situations where we can contribute to the sustainable development of companies as a value-creating partner. We participate in the following situations:

Owner successions

Successfully managing succession

Buy-and-build concepts

Accelerated growth via acquisitions

Strengthening of the business development

Unlock the full potential

Carve-Outs

Develop group divisions independently

Management Buy-Outs/Ins

From manager to entrepreneur

Empowerment of female entrepreneurs

Preferred partner for female entrepreneurs

Do you want to unlock the full potential?

You want to further develop your company and are looking for the right partner?
Contact us and tell us about your plans.

Our joint success model – your solution

We see ourselves as a partner for strategic business development. Working in close collaboration with the entrepreneurs, we jointly discover and unlock the full potential of the company.

To achieve this, we bring our growth-oriented “best-in-class approach” to value enhancement: Based on the individual profile of the company and taking into account the company-specific characteristics, we develop the Sophora Value Creation Plan (“SVCP”) together with the management.

Partner for strategic
business development

Team & Organisational Development

Buy-and-build

Integrated ESG Strategy

Digitisation & Process Excellence

Innovation Power

Internationalisation & Sales Effectiveness

+ Value-add through access to network, flexible capital, and best practice methods

We contribute as a constructive, strategic sparring partner to management teams, share best practices, provide access to our extensive network, and flexibly provide capital as needed.

In developing, implementing, and adapting the Sophora Value Creation Plan, we always strive to leverage the diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise of all individuals. Value creation – which we refer to as “our shared most important routine work” – thus becomes a continuous team effort that we accomplish together.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SOPHORA VALUE CREATION APPROACH

Investor Network

Sophora Unternehmer-Fonds I

As an independent equity investment firm, we pursue an established and value-creating investment approach in the small-cap market and have launched our own fund for this purpose, Sophora Unternehmer-Fonds I.

Our investor network consists of a broad range of entrepreneurs, family offices and high profile individuals from the corporate finance community. This diversity ensures our independence and at the same time allows us to draw on an extensive network of investors with valuable experience. In addition, we have long-standing personal relationships with renowned institutional investors. We are particularly proud that about one fifth of our investors are female. This number is above the industry average and illustrates our commitment to strengthening female entrepreneurship in our industry as well as in our portfolio companies.

In some situations, such as larger transactions or extensive buy-and-build concepts, we also offer our investors the option of direct investment in the form of co-investments. This gives you the opportunity to participate directly in the acquired company with your own capital.

If you are interested in becoming part of the Sophora investor network, please contact us for further information.