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Joachim de Belgique began his career in a family office, which acquired the renewable energy company New Southern Energy in South Africa. While he operated the portfolio company for two years, he discovered the SF model when reading Professors Yudkoff and Ruback’s “HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business“, which led him to apply for an MBA at Harvard. At HBS, he analyzed the European SF landscape alongside Professor Royce Yudkoff. Inspired by this, he partnered with Felipe Corcuera (formerly VP of Relay Investment) to begin investing in SFs using their own capital. Following several years of investment, they established Innesto Partners, a Belgian-based fund. Notably, “Innesto” translates to “grafting” in Italian, symbolizing the fusion of two entities. In this context, searchers act as the scion, infusing fresh energy and growth into established businesses, akin to grafting new growth onto an existing trunk.
Innesto Partners primarily focuses its investments in Europe but also allocates resources to North America, where Felipe is based. Felipe currently manages Beecker, a company he acquired successfully after launching his own search fund in 2021. Innesto has already backed a dozen SFs in Europe, including (i) Anchora Transmission, le Relais du Dirigeant and Mahogany Transmission in France, (ii) Fitex, Octans Capital and Cassandra in Italy, (iii) Salomonte in the Netherlands, (iv) and Cneo Partners in Spain, among others. In Germany, they have invested in Klocke & Brinkmann Unternehmensnachfolge, Weingart Mittelstandspartner, Kripp & Stanjek Unternehmensnachfolge, and Drechsel und Hansen Unternehmensnachfolge. In the UK, Innesto backed Aliya Capital. In the USA, their investments include Harbor Street Capital, Q Capital Group, Moonlight Street, Storybridge Partners, and Bright Roots Capital, while in Canada, they’ve invested in Guddi Growth. Most recently, Innesto has committed to Cedo Capital, one of Poland’s first search funds.
To date, Innesto has participated in two acquisitions: Water Direct in the UK in 2022 and the recent acquisition of Flying Eye in France, completed in the first quarter of 2024. Their goal is to consolidate their portfolio in Europe and North America in the coming years while supporting their searchers in their search and running of companies.
