Fund Launching Event – Vertevis Impact Investment Fund I

Mar 2, 2023

On 19th January 2023 Vertevis Capital Partners celebrated the official launch of the first fund at their opening event.

At the Marienturm in Frankfurt, Richard Golz led through an entertaining program. We discussed with Martin Krill (CEO Hager Consulting/Co-Founder Vertevis) and Peter Muth (Founder/MD of Green Oceans) their views on people’s post-pandemic challenges in a hybrid world and next-generation, sustainable water technologies.

Given the prioritization of net zero targets and social aspects globally, the timing is ideal for establishing an “Impact Investment Fund”. The team of Vertevis Capital Partners is dedicated to identifying companies that are making a positive impact on the environment and or society, while also delivering strong financial returns.

Vertevis has also launched an initiative that aims to provide immediate humanitarian support to those affected by the ongoing Ukraine crisis through a series of efficiently managed Education, Healthcare and Housing projects. With this fund, Vertevis wants to show how the power of capitalism can also be used for humanitarian purposes and lead to long-term success.

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Timo Hermans

Vice President

Timo has a ranging professional academic experience in corporate venturing, venture capital and M&A with a growing dedication for technology leverage to drive ESG impact. Most recently he engaged in corporate venturing projects concerning topics in industrial automation, big data, and cybersecurity working with publicly listed companies and high-potential tech start-ups. Prior to that he gained strong expertise in deal advisory and commercial company valuation at KPMG. He has also taken roles in financial operations, and strategic development at venture-backed high-tech start-ups in electric mobility, healthcare and AI-SaaS sector. He gained his academic degrees at leading international universities and holds a Master of Science degree, with distinction, from TUM School of Management with a major in Finance and Mechanical Engineering.

Sonja Hager

Hager Executive Consulting | Co-Founder

Sonja Hager owes her flair for intelligent and successful investment decisions to over 20 years of experience at Deutsche Bank with special expertise in Start-ups, sales management and compliance. As Managing Director of KONIGI Ventures GmbH, she manages an interesting portfolio of promising start-up investments.

"We are in an exciting time window of social upheaval, which is about reorientation and new starts and in which completely new impulses are given space. There have never been so many opportunities for ingenious ideas, new products, and new solutions."

Sonja studied business administration at the Philipps University in Marburg (pre-diploma) and at the Georg August University in Göttingen (diploma).

Sonja is a member of German Society for Bipolar Disorders (DGBS) and is committed to the development of alternative living and care concepts in old age.

Martin Krill

Hager Executive Consulting | Co-Founder

He is a seasoned business leader with over 20 years of experience in Executive Search. As the Managing Partner at HAGER Executive Consulting, he is responsible for the Technology Solutions business unit. As a trusted advisor to leading software and technology companies with experience in cloud, software, platforms, IT services, and big data management he fills top-executive positions in IT and other select industries. Under the HAGER umbrella, Martin has also championed support for several diversity & inclusion and digital skills initiatives.

Martin also recently founded a recruiting platform with a focus on developing and placing young IT talent in the German market. Lastly, he is a Supervisory Board member of an IT consulting company.

Stephan Fritsch

Captiva | Advisory Board

Stephan is one of the Founders and Managing Partner of Captiva Investment Management, a leading real estate investment firm based in Hamburg, Germany. Since 2005 he has been involved in transactions with a market value in excess of € 6 bn. which included the setup and IPO of Germany’s first REIT and now MDAX listed alstria office REIT AG. Between 2014 and 2017, when Captiva was part of the global services and advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal, Stephan also lead the group’s European real estate asset management division advising corporate clients in questions of restructuring and performance improvement. Prior to joining Captiva Stephan held various positions in the debt-financing and asset management divisions at Aareal Bank AG. Stephan is an alumnus of European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich Winkel.

Maria Baumgartner

Speedinvest Heroes | Advisory Board

Maria’s diverse and successful professional history has one common denominator: a desire to truly get to know people. This curiosity has driven Maria from her early days as a startup founder and young political activist up until today as general manager of Speedinvest Heroes.

“The moment when you connect with another person and challenge him/her towards a new set of possibilities is what I love the most!”, says Maria.

This social skill set, practiced over many years in various leadership positions and professional training (such as a Master degree in Mediation) is a crucial asset for Speedinvest Heroes. Building out our network of talents and then quickly matching the potential of a given candidate with the right opportunity in our portfolio, is where Maria excels like no one else.

Maria’s personal working history starts 1992 in the early internet area. As the GM of one of the first big dot.com success stories coming out of Austria (Datenwerk/Blue-C), she saw her company grow to an agency group with more than 200 employees across Europe, including an IPO at the “Neue Markt”. Having sold her stake early enough before the bust, Maria continued her entrepreneurial path that included managing a research think tank on Artificial Intelligence (long before the hype), spending time in Silicon Valley and, eventually, helping to found Speedinvest as the first business angel fund in Austria.

For Maria, having gone through many diverse roles and businesses, this approach comes natural, as does her positive attitude towards people in general.

Seva Zakharov

Investment Director

Seva Zakharov holds a venture capital background from the US fund Peak State Ventures where he worked from the first day of the firm and helped develop the thesis, investment process, build the team. Seva invested in more than 50 early and late-stage companies shaping the Future of Work, Education, Healthcare, and PropTech. He has deep expertise both in enterprise and consumer business models.

Prior to that, Seva obtained an operator experience from Apttus, leading CLM software company, where he worked on the projects in strategy, operations, corporate development, and finance. Seva started his career as an equity research analyst at Citigroup.

Seva studied Business & Informatics in the Higher School of Economics and he holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Sheeza Sukhera

HR-/Social Media Manager

Sheeza Sukhera owes more than 10 years professional experience in certification of management system & marketing. She worked mainly in key account management functions with a numerous renowned large scale customers in well known corporate companies like SGS, DQS. Sheeza also gained experience in human resources sector. Being an economic psychology student, she loves to deal with the subjective behaviour of people in business environment as well as the social interrelationships. Sheeza is responsible for HR & Social Media management at Vertevis.

Lina-Eileen Stichnoth

Senior Consultant

Eileen started her career in e-commerce with a focus on luxury fashion and cosmetics. Here she scaled various platforms including the Estée Lauder Companies MAC, Clinique, Origins and La Mer.

Subsequently, as Managing Partner, she was responsible for building up a consulting company for digitalization / tech innovation and transformation. The focus was on the successful implementation of digital initiatives in German SMEs as well as supporting start-ups with their growth strategy/initiatives.

Since 2020, Eileen is sole shareholder and works strongly with PE's and VC's. Here she advises portfolio companies primarily in the areas of digital strategy and growth. As an operational partner, she is also active in the operational execution and implementation in the respective companies after the strategy development.

Eileen studied business administration and entrepreneurship in Hanover and also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jannis Roser

Senior Advisor

Jannis Roser is a Founder and Manager in the areas of Venture Capital, Private Equity, and eCommerce. In his most recent projects – as Co-Founder of Surplus Invest and Rivus Capital – he has been focused on the realm of Urban Tech, solutions that seek to enable a future-oriented, smarter and more sustainable life in urban spaces. Prior to that, Jannis built a strong track record in the tech sector, especially in the realm of B2B SaaS businesses. In addition, he serves as a Board Member and advisor to serval companies in the Urban Tech and Real Estate Sector.

Jannis studied International Business at the European Management School (EMS) and holds an MBA from the California International Business University / Haas School of Business (Berkeley).

Daniel Onyango

Chief AML-/Compliance Officer

Daniel Onyango‘s experience includes working in contract management for Parker Hannifin, a leading global mechanical engineering company, in the compliance department of a DAX-listed company as well as a legal associate on a major antitrust case for Hengeler Mueller, one of Germany‘s leading law firms.

On his most recent position he worked as compliance key function for a cologne-based insurance company and was responsible for the development and expansion of the compliance department and all regulatory issues.

Daniel Onyango advises board members on regulatory and finance compliance matters. In addition to his compliance practice, he has profund experience in monitoring audits by authorities and other bodies.

His work focuses on the implementation and expansion of the Compliance Management System and requirements for money laundering prevention.

Daniel Onyango studied law at the Universities of Würzburg and Bonn. During his legal clerkship he trained with the German Federal Competition Authority.

Mario Ljubas

Sustainability-/Finance Manager
With more than 7 years of experience as a consultant & advisor Mario Ljubas played strong roles as project manager in banking and insurance sector. Mario took his master of science degree at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences with a focus of big data, Business Intelligence & Risk Management themes. During his project management, Mario worked for leading names like Deutsche Bank. Mario has a strong experience in engineering an implementation of tools needed for regulatory requirements. One of his major projects has been the development of IT based & BaFin compatible processes during the merger of two huge German banks. Mario is taking over the responsibility of ESG management & development at Vertevis.

Pranshu Gupta

Vice President

Pranshu is a seasoned professional with experience in Consulting, Banking and Fintech. During his stint with Ernst & Young, he led digital transformation projects including creation of dashboards, and digitization of processes & systems.  He also executed Sustainable Development Goals mapping and digitization engagements for strategic public sector clients. Before joining Vertevis Capital, at Yes Bank and Paytm, he worked on projects in strategic advisory, corporate development and technology. He was instrumental in forging partnerships and strategic alliances with emerging start-ups to tap synergies in the pay-tech space.
Pranshu holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow.

Peter Bereschka

Investment Director

Peter is a seasoned investment professional with over 14 years of global ESG and impact investment experience in different asset classes. Before joining Vertevis Capital, Peter held positions at development finance institutions and an asset manager focused on impact investments, leading equity, mezzanine capital and private debt transactions in more than 25 countries, including Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. In one of his last positions he was vice president at DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, where he led deal teams in Africa. He has experience in various sectors, including energy, financial institutions and technology. Prior to his investment career, Peter advised as banking consultant banks in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Peter studied Business Administration at the Ingolstadt School of Management (Germany), SGH Warsaw School of Economics (Poland) and University of Missouri (USA).

Sadia Wern-Sukhera

Founder & CEO

Sadia has over 20 years of professional experience in finance, thereof more than 16 years in the investment sector. She has held several high-ranking positions, such as CFO, COO, Partner and MD, within vast fields of the investment world, winning broad experience in PE, Real Estate & Venture Capital Funds. She has a demonstrable record of having successfully managed closed-ended funds, special AIFs & public funds with a total fund volume ranging from €700m to €2.5bn. She has had the experience of developing and implementing robust risk management frameworks including building risk teams from scratch for large organizations. She considers strong risk management as the heart of the company`s value creation process.

Claudia Batschi

Executive Assistant/Office Management

Claudia is a certified foreign language secretary, and she speaks five languages. Before joining Vertevis, Claudia owed more than 20 years of experience in office management and worked as a stewardess too.

Because of her wide range of experience from small to large firms, she has developed independent office management skills.

She supports Vertevis team in maintaining records and putting the office management process in place.

Oliver Haas

Managing Partner

Oliver is a partner and member of the founding team at Vertevis. He has been instrumental in devising the fund's ESG-centric, thematic investment proposition and is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions. As a private equity specialist and technology investor who has been active across Europe, in the US, and in China, he brings vast expertise in developing companies over their lifecycle.

Previously, he was part of the senior management at Hidden Peak Capital, an investment firm focused on special situations and renewable energy. He also played a central role in the takeover of a climate protection business and its realignment into a market and innovation leader with a turnover of over 1 billion euros. He had started his professional life in M&A at Mediobanca, the leading Italian investment bank.

Besides being passionate about sustainability, Oliver is interested in artificial intelligence and successfully completed Oxford University's algorithmic trading program. Furthermore, he has acted as a seed investor for software startups on his own account. He holds a Master's degree in Economic Theory and Econometrics from the Toulouse School of Economics.

Claudia Batschi

Executive Assistant/Office Management

Claudia is a certified foreign language secretary, and she speaks five languages. Before joining Vertevis, Claudia owed more than 20 years of experience in office management and worked as a stewardess too.

Because of her wide range of experience from small to large firms, she has developed independent office management skills.

She supports Vertevis team in maintaining records and putting the office management process in place.

Pranshu Gupta

Investment Associate

Pranshu is a seasoned professional with experience in Consulting, Banking and Fintech. During his stint with Ernst & Young, he led digital transformation projects including creation of dashboards, and digitization of processes & systems.  He also executed Sustainable Development Goals mapping and digitization engagements for strategic public sector clients. Before joining Vertevis Capital, at Yes Bank and Paytm, he worked on projects in strategic advisory, corporate development and technology. He was instrumental in forging partnerships and strategic alliances with emerging start-ups to tap synergies in the pay-tech space.
Pranshu holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow.

Seva Zakharov

Investment Director

Seva Zakharov holds a venture capital background from the US fund Peak State Ventures where he worked from the first day of the firm and helped develop the thesis, investment process, build the team, and raise capital. Seva invested in more than 50 early and late-stage companies shaping the Future of Work, Education, Fintech, and PropTech. He has deep expertise both in enterprise and consumer business models.

Prior to that, Seva obtained an operator experience from Apttus, leading CLM software company, where he worked on the projects in strategy, operations, corporate development, and finance. Seva started his career as an equity research analyst at Citigroup.

Seva studied Business & Informatics in the Higher School of Economics and he holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Peter Bereschka

Investment Director

Peter is a seasoned investment professional with over 14 years of global ESG and impact investment experience in different asset classes. Before joining Vertevis Capital, Peter held positions at development finance institutions and an asset manager focused on impact investments, leading equity, mezzanine capital and private debt transactions in more than 25 countries, including Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. In one of his last positions he was vice president at DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, where he led deal teams in Africa. He has experience in various sectors, including energy, financial institutions and technology. Prior to his investment career, Peter advised as banking consultant banks in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Peter studied Business Administration at the Ingolstadt School of Management (Germany), SGH Warsaw School of Economics (Poland) and University of Missouri (USA).

Lina-Eileen Stichnoth

Senior Consultant

Eileen started her career in e-commerce with a focus on luxury fashion and cosmetics. Here she scaled various platforms including the Estée Lauder Companies MAC, Clinique, Origins and La Mer.

Subsequently, as Managing Partner, she was responsible for building up a consulting company for digitalization / tech innovation and transformation. The focus was on the successful implementation of digital initiatives in German SMEs as well as supporting start-ups with their growth strategy/initiatives.

Since 2020, Eileen is sole shareholder and works strongly with PE's and VC's. Here she advises portfolio companies primarily in the areas of digital strategy and growth. As an operational partner, she is also active in the operational execution and implementation in the respective companies after the strategy development.

Eileen studied business administration and entrepreneurship in Hanover and also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Oliver Haas

Partner

Oliver is a partner and member of the founding team at Vertevis. He has been instrumental in devising the fund's ESG-centric, thematic investment proposition and is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions. As a private equity specialist and technology investor who has been active across Europe, in the US, and in China, he brings vast expertise in developing companies over their lifecycle.

Previously, he was part of the senior management at Hidden Peak Capital, an investment firm focused on special situations and renewable energy. He also played a central role in the takeover of a climate protection business and its realignment into a market and innovation leader with a turnover of over 1 billion euros. He had started his professional life in M&A at Mediobanca, the leading Italian investment bank.

Besides being passionate about sustainability, Oliver is interested in artificial intelligence and successfully completed Oxford University's algorithmic trading program. Furthermore, he has acted as a seed investor for software startups on his own account. He holds a Master's degree in Economic Theory and Econometrics from the Toulouse School of Economics.

Daniel Onyango

Chief AML-/Compliance Officer

Daniel Onyango‘s experience includes working in contract management for Parker Hannifin, a leading global mechanical engineering company, in the compliance department of a DAX-listed company as well as a legal associate on a major antitrust case for Hengeler Mueller, one of Germany‘s leading law firms.

On his most recent position he worked as compliance key function for a cologne-based insurance company and was responsible for the development and expansion of the compliance department and all regulatory issues.

Daniel Onyango advises board members on regulatory and finance compliance matters. In addition to his compliance practice, he has profund experience in monitoring audits by authorities and other bodies.

His work focuses on the implementation and expansion of the Compliance Management System and requirements for money laundering prevention.

Daniel Onyango studied law at the Universities of Würzburg and Bonn. During his legal clerkship he trained with the German Federal Competition Authority.

Martin Krill

Co-Founder

He is a seasoned business leader with over 20 years of experience in Executive Search. As the Managing Partner at HAGER Executive Consulting, he is responsible for the Technology Solutions business unit. As a trusted advisor to leading software and technology companies with experience in cloud, software, platforms, IT services, and big data management he fills top-executive positions in IT and other select industries. Under the HAGER umbrella, Martin has also championed support for several diversity & inclusion and digital skills initiatives.

Martin also recently founded a recruiting platform with a focus on developing and placing young IT talent in the German market. Lastly, he is a Supervisory Board member of an IT consulting company.

Sonja Hager

Co-Founder

Sonja Hager owes her flair for intelligent and successful investment decisions to over 20 years of experience at Deutsche Bank with special expertise in Start-ups, sales management and compliance. As Managing Director of KONIGI Ventures GmbH, she manages an interesting portfolio of promising start-up investments.

"We are in an exciting time window of social upheaval, which is about reorientation and new starts and in which completely new impulses are given space. There have never been so many opportunities for ingenious ideas, new products, and new solutions."

Sonja studied business administration at the Philipps University in Marburg (pre-diploma) and at the Georg August University in Göttingen (diploma).

Sonja is a member of German Society for Bipolar Disorders (DGBS) and is committed to the development of alternative living and care concepts in old age.

Stephan Fritsch

Advisory Board

Stephan is one of the Founders and Managing Partner of Captiva Investment Management, a leading real estate investment firm based in Hamburg, Germany. Since 2005 he has been involved in transactions with a market value in excess of € 6 bn. which included the setup and IPO of Germany’s first REIT and now MDAX listed alstria office REIT AG. Between 2014 and 2017, when Captiva was part of the global services and advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal, Stephan also lead the group’s European real estate asset management division advising corporate clients in questions of restructuring and performance improvement. Prior to joining Captiva Stephan held various positions in the debt-financing and asset management divisions at Aareal Bank AG. Stephan is an alumnus of European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich Winkel.

Maria Baumgartner

Advisory Board

Maria’s diverse and successful professional history has one common denominator: a desire to truly get to know people. This curiosity has driven Maria from her early days as a startup founder and young political activist up until today as general manager of Speedinvest Heroes.

“The moment when you connect with another person and challenge him/her towards a new set of possibilities is what I love the most!”, says Maria.

This social skill set, practiced over many years in various leadership positions and professional training (such as a Master degree in Mediation) is a crucial asset for Speedinvest Heroes. Building out our network of talents and then quickly matching the potential of a given candidate with the right opportunity in our portfolio, is where Maria excels like no one else.

Maria’s personal working history starts 1992 in the early internet area. As the GM of one of the first big dot.com success stories coming out of Austria (Datenwerk/Blue-C), she saw her company grow to an agency group with more than 200 employees across Europe, including an IPO at the “Neue Markt”. Having sold her stake early enough before the bust, Maria continued her entrepreneurial path that included managing a research think tank on Artificial Intelligence (long before the hype), spending time in Silicon Valley and, eventually, helping to found Speedinvest as the first business angel fund in Austria.

For Maria, having gone through many diverse roles and businesses, this approach comes natural, as does her positive attitude towards people in general.

Sheeza Sukhera

HR-/Social Media Manager

Sheeza Sukhera owes more than 10 years professional experience in certification of management system & marketing. She worked mainly in key account management functions with a numerous renowned large scale customers in well known corporate companies like SGS, DQS. Sheeza also gained experience in human resources sector. Being an economic psychology student, she loves to deal with the subjective behaviour of people in business environment as well as the social interrelationships. Sheeza is responsible for HR & Social Media management at Vertevis.

Mario Ljubas

ESG-/Finance Manager

With more than 7 years of experience as a consultant & advisor Mario Ljubas played strong roles as project manager in banking and insurance sector. Mario took his master of science degree at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences with a focus of Big DATA, Business Intelligence & Risk Management themes.

During his project management, Mario worked for leading names like Deutsche Bank.

Mario has a strong experience in engineering an implementation of tools needed for regulatory requirements. One of his major projects has been the development of IT based & BaFin compatible processes during the merger of two huge German banks.

Mario is taking over the responsibility of ESG management & development at Vertevis.

Sadia Wern-Sukhera

Founding Partner

Vertevis Founder and CEO Sadia Wern-Sukhera represents one of the first generations of female immigrants in Germany to reach C-Level in the Finance sector.

In her more than 20 years of professional experience (thereof 16 years in investment sector), Sadia has held several management positions, such as CFO, CRO, Partner and MD, within a broad spectrum of investment industry, gaining huge experience in PE, Real Estate and Venture Capital Funds.

Jannis Roser

Senior Advisor

Jannis Roser is a Founder and Manager in the areas of Venture Capital, Private Equity, and eCommerce. In his most recent projects – as Co-Founder of Surplus Invest and Rivus Capital – he has been focused on the realm of Urban Tech, solutions that seek to enable a future-oriented, smarter and more sustainable life in urban spaces. Prior to that, Jannis built a strong track record in the tech sector, especially in the realm of B2B SaaS businesses. In addition, he serves as a Board Member and advisor to serval companies in the Urban Tech and Real Estate Sector.

Jannis studied International Business at the European Management School (EMS) and holds an MBA from the California International Business University / Haas School of Business (Berkeley).