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Infinitas Capital is the single-family officeof the Lauber family. Infinitas invests in groundbreaking technology companies and strive to secure and build new living spaces through real estate strategies. The next-gen driven family office has a global approach when backing aspiring founders and helping them to succeed in shifting paradigms. Infinitas’ aim is to be a partner during the entire lifecycle of their portfolio companies, which is why the family office invests across all stages, from pre-seed to IPO. The team has experience across various sectors such as Real Estate, eCommerce, Fintech, Management Consulting, Venture Capital, Life Sciences Consulting, Investment Banking, Audit, and Food and Beverages. In addition, Infinitas selectively launches companies themselves when they see unmet needs and have an unfair advantage in addressing them.

Robin Lauber is the founder and principal of Single Family Office Infinitas Capital as well as a founding partner of Prediction Capital. Kilian Graulich is a founding partner of Prediction Capital and advises Single Family Office on Private Equity Investments.

In recent years, the world of finance and investment has observed a fascinating metamorphosis. Historically entrenched in conserving and growing generational wealth, single-family offices (SFOs) are progressively redefining their operational ethos. Today, an increasing number of these private wealth management advisory firms are extending their tentacles into the dynamic realm of venture capital. No longer content with merely safeguarding family fortunes, they are actively seeking to back the next wave of disruptive startups and innovators. This shift not only demonstrates the adaptability and forward-thinking nature of modern SFOs, but also their increasing appetite for high-reward, high-impact opportunities.

This article introduces the new early-stage VC fund Prediction Capital which was incubated by Swiss Single Family Office Infinitas Capital and discusses the advantages that SFOs bring to the venture capital arena, and what this trend means for entrepreneurs and the broader investment landscape.

Prediction Capital was initially set-up as a strategic co-investment vehicle between the Lauber and Chuffart families as well as other befriended private investors, entrepreneurs and other family offices. Fast forward, Prediction Capital’s first VC fund has developed well and invested very selectively into five well-performing startups from Germany and Switzerland.

Whilst taking a closer look at the portfolio, albeit diverse in underlying business models and target industries, the team around Prediction was able to concentrate on startups that are following a very clear path towards profitability and product-market fit. Moreover, the captables are either comprised of renowned VC lead investors (e.g., La Famiglia, Peak) and/ or strategically b and experienced business angels (e.g., the Flixbus Founding Team, former football player André Schürrle and Serial Entrepreneur). Lastly, the team’s b focus on only investing into startups with a clear path to exit (based on assessing different exit channels and candidates) has already revealed first fruits. Two out of the five portfolio companies have already received takeover offers which have however been declined due to the startups’ large upside potential.

A SFO as entrepreneurial business angel

The team’s success strategy is not to position themselves as a traditional VC, but rather as entrepreneurial business angels that can particularly support with their strategic and operative expertise from prior business experience and investments. Consequently, rather than only monitoring their investments, the team has regular check-ins with their founders in which they usually receive “homework” to support their portfolio companies’ progress. The support can differ from introductions to potential customers, preparations of workshops/ material to improve existing processes or strategic developments as well as connecting with talent, investors and business executives from their network.

Upon consulting with the team about their portfolio’s development, it became evident that they keep tight with their founders. As Kilian Graulich, one of the founding partner of Prediction Capital put it: “When it comes to our portfolio development, we are still acting very much like entrepreneurial business angels as opposed to more passive, result-driven

VC investors and are hence, staying as close to the startup’s progress as possible.”

A fintech startup that surpasses expectations

One of the portfolio’s startups, namely Bling!, has been performing exceptionally well. “It is quite rare that FinTech startups deliver on their ambitious business plans”, states Kilian. “But Nils and his team at Bling! have really surpassed our expectations and are on an amazing track to develop into a real success story.”

Bling! was founded in 2020 by Nils Feigenwinter who was once described as a “FinTech Wunderkind” by Germany Media and is supporting young families and children with better managing their financial spending, thereby really offering a digital alternative to the traditional local retail banks. The company has raised a EUR 3.5 million seed round beginning of 2022 led by La Famiglia and Peak.

Succeeding in the DACH region as a VC investor

So what is next for Prediction Capital? “We are still actively, but very selectively investing into new startups and were most recently able to convince a renowned German Serial Entrepreneur to invest in his newest startup as the only “institutional” investor. Apart from that, we work a lot with our existing portfolio companies and prepare them well for the next round of financing. Lastly, we are working on our second fundraise closing and are actively managing our LP community by organizing events and promoting the exchange between them and the startups within our network.”

Albeit the European VC market’s heavy downturnin particular the growth stages (Series A+) as well
as almost no IPO activity, the team of Prediction Capital still has a b belief in the attractiveness of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the DACH-region. “We have purposefully selected Pre-Seed and Seed stage as our main focus as here we can i) still filter the best founding teams and ideas, ii) support them with our network and expertise as well as iii) strike great deals at reasonable valuations in a market environment which certainly benefits agile VCs like ourselves that are still eager to deploy capital”, says Robin Lauber, Principal of infinitas Capital.

When observing cases like Prediction Capital it becomes evident that family offices (especially those (co-) led by the next generation of family members, are increasing their direct investment activities within Venture Capital and are even able to receive the trust from other families and private HNWIs to invest alongside them. Additionally, the trend of deploying “micro-funds” via co-investment vehicles hasbecome increasingly prominent due to higher return expectations and diversification benefits.