Sophora welcomes Guntram Kieferle as a new Partner and Richard Lang as CFO

Sophora Unternehmerkapital (“Sophora”), an independent and owner-managed investment company with a focus on medium-sized companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, is pleased to announce that Guntram Kieferle has joined the firm as a Partner and Richard Lang has joined as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Guntram Kieferle brings a wealth of experience from the private equity industry, having previously worked with Silverfleet Capital and EMZ Partners, where he managed several investments within the DACH region. Guntram holds an MSc in Finance from Munich University of Applied Sciences.

Richard Lang joins from the venture capital firm, HV Capital. Prior to that he looked after the reporting of the investment portfolio of Thüga AG, a major German utility group. Richard’s diverse background also includes service in the German Airforce, where he earned a diploma in Economics.

“I’m extremely excited to join the Sophora as a Partner. Having worked with Benjamin and Jennifer extensively in the past, we forged a strong and trustworthy basis for a partnership. We are fully aligned on a common set of values and share the vision of growing Sophora into a leading lower mid-market investor in the DACH region by taking a holistic and disciplined approach to value creation.”, comments Guntram Kieferle.

Commenting on the appointments, Managing Partners Benjamin Hubner and Jennifer Regehr said, “We are delighted to welcome Guntram and Richard to our team. The expansion of our team further strengthens the Sophora platform and reinforces our commitment to being a reliable partner to management teams, entrepreneurs and our investors.”

Sophora is currently deploying its inaugural fund (“Sophora Capital Unternehmer-Fonds I”) with a target size of €50 million. The fund has attracted significant commitments from a diverse and distinguished investor base, boasting over 50 limited partners, including accomplished managers, entrepreneurs, and family offices. Since inception of the fund in February 2023, Sophora has executed two platform investments into Hamburg-based auxalia as well as Graz-headquarterd smaXtec animal care.

Guntram Kieferle as a new Partner and Richard Lang as CFO

About Sophora
Sophora Unternehmerkapital (“Sophora”), based in Munich, is an independent and owner-managed investment company with a focus on medium-sized companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Sophora consists of an interdisciplinary team of entrepreneurs with many years of experience in the investment business and as founders and Managing Directors of companies. As a value-creating partner of 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 develop potentials. Sophora is a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment (“PRI”) and the Women’s Empowerment Principles (“WEPs”).
www.sophora.de/en