WAD Capital has reached a €67.5 million first close for its debut fund, including a €25 million investment from the European Investment Fund and European Investment Bank.
The firm is targeting a €130 million final close as it builds an institutional platform focused on the search fund model and entrepreneurship through acquisition across Europe.
WAD Capital plans to use the fund to build a portfolio of approximately 25 companies by the end of 2027.
The firm’s strategy centers on backing entrepreneurs who acquire and operate established small and medium-sized businesses, bringing a more institutional structure to a model historically associated with individual searchers and smaller investor groups.
WAD Capital said the search fund model has generated an average internal rate of return of approximately 35% over the past 30 years, supporting its strategy of scaling the model across European markets.
The firm has already completed eight acquisitions in nine months across Belgium and the Netherlands, demonstrating an active deployment pace ahead of the fund’s planned final close.
WAD Capital is also expanding its pipeline of prospective operators through its CEO-in-Residence program.
Its latest cohort attracted approximately 2,200 applications from Belgium, the Netherlands and France, providing the firm with a broad pool of potential entrepreneurs seeking to acquire and lead businesses.
The €25 million commitment from EIF/EIB adds a major institutional investor to WAD Capital’s first fund and represents a significant portion of the capital secured at first close.
The investment also provides additional validation for WAD Capital’s attempt to institutionalize the search fund model and create a larger European platform dedicated specifically to entrepreneurship through acquisition.
The firm plans to continue raising capital toward its €130 million target while deploying capital into additional businesses across European markets.
KEY QUOTE:
“We’re not creating yet another SME-focused private equity fund. We are industrialising the search fund model, a model that has generated an average IRR of 35% over the past thirty years, to build one of Europe’s largest institutional platforms dedicated to entrepreneurship through acquisition.”
Alain Brossé, Managing Partner of WAD Capital
