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Inspired by his father scaling a service company, senior investment professional Toño Alvarez recently left his job to pursue his childhood dream: acquiring a company and growing it through Marina Ventures. He has chosen a self-funded approach and is targeting UAE-based SMEs headquartered in Dubai or Abu Dhabi—cities he describes as fast-growing, entrepreneurial, and full of opportunity.
Toño has over 8 years of experience in M&A and corporate development across the Middle East and Europe. He began his career with internships at Iberdrola, Securitas Direct Verisure Group, and Deloitte’s corporate finance department. He then joined Oliver Wyman as a consultant, where he worked on due diligence, market strategy analysis, and product development. Later, at Citi Investment Banking, he participated in more than 15 transactions. His entrepreneurial journey began in 2021 when he co-founded Fundlo, a marketplace for acquiring SaaS, D2C, and e-commerce businesses. At the end of that year, he moved to Dubai to establish Pic Blanc Advisory, advising sovereign wealth funds, family offices, megaprojects, MBB consulting firms, and corporates on transactions in the GCC region.
He is now looking to acquire a majority stake in a micro-business within the service sector. Ideal targets are profitable, with annual cashflow between AED 0.5–2M and consistent margins above 20%, and are typically valued at 1–3x cashflow, adjusted for financing and growth potential.
