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EKK & Co.
Roman Loch and Moritz Reck lead EKK & Co., a Stuttgart growth-equity investor targeting post-product-market-fit European companies since a 2001 deal with...
EKK & Co.
The firm was founded by Dr. Tobias Engelhardt, Karl-Friedrich Kaupp, and Georg Kiefer. Its record begins with a 2001 investment in ESL, the esports tournament organizer, where Engelhardt publicly backed the founders' ability to fill arenas. This early deal exemplifies a persistent pattern: EKK provides equity to owner-operators who have already validated their business and need capital to scale, not to survive. The wealth origin of the founding partners is not publicly disclosed. EKK deploys equity via direct balance-sheet investments rather than fund structures, targeting what it calls the early-growth stage. The strategy spans growth equity, expansion financing, and complex situations including recapitalizations and spin-offs; the firm explicitly does not limit itself by industry vertical. Confirmed portfolio companies include ESL, the Berlin-based esports company, and Munich-based XPLN, a data analytics software firm. In April 2026, EKK completed a mid-seven-figure growth investment in smartvillage, a profitable B2B event-location operator with double-digit million revenue, to fund expansion into Frankfurt and Hamburg alongside the launch of a new 'smartvillage as a service' hotel-conference outsourcing product. The portfolio remains concentrated in Germany and neighboring European markets. The investment team includes Managing Partners Roman Loch and Moritz Reck, with Harald Matzke joining as CFO in February 2026 following an advisory relationship that began in 2021. Reck was promoted to Managing Partner in February 2026 after six years at the firm, a signal of generational transition as founding partner Stefan Mertel stepped back from operational management to focus on a single exit project. The firm operates a single office in Stuttgart. It does not disclose total AUM or aggregate deployment. EKK's structural difference lies in its cycle-agnostic holding philosophy: the firm measures success not by fund life or IRR alone, but by the proportion of exited founders who remain within its network as co-investors years after sale. The firm describes the resulting community as a 'professional family' and points to the fact that founders frequently reinvest alongside EKK in subsequent deals as evidence of the model's durability — a governance and sourcing feature that replaces the LP-pressure dynamics of a traditional fund structure.
General information
Firm type
Private Equity
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Germany
City
Stuttgart
Corporate office
Stuttgart, Germany
Principals
Dr. Tobias Engelhardt
Founder & Chairman
Karl-Friedrich Kaupp
Founding Partner
Georg Kiefer
Founding Partner
Roman Loch
Managing Partner
Moritz Reck
Managing Partner
Harald Matzke
Chief Financial Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at EKK & Co.?
Day-to-day investment management is shared by Managing Partners Roman Loch and Moritz Reck. Reck was promoted to the role in February 2026 after six years with the firm, and together they oversee deal origination, investment decisions, and portfolio-company support across the full holding cycle. Founder Dr. Tobias Engelhardt remains as Chairman.
How does EKK & Co. differ from a classic venture capital firm?
EKK does not invest in series-labeled rounds or provide capital structured to cover a fixed runway until the next funding event. It targets companies that have already reached product-market fit and require growth equity to scale toward profitability. The firm deploys its own balance-sheet capital rather than managing a fund with a fixed life, which it claims allows for patience with founder-led exits.
Does EKK & Co. participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
The firm's disclosed activity is exclusively direct minority investments in operating companies. It has not publicized any fund-of-funds commitments or LP positions in third-party vehicles. Its network model — where exited founders co-invest in subsequent EKK deals — functions as a proprietary source of deal-by-deal co-investment capital.
What investment stages does EKK & Co. typically target?
EKK self-identifies as an 'early-growth' investor. This means it enters after a company has found product-market fit and generated initial revenue, but before the business has scaled to full maturity. The firm also undertakes recapitalizations, spin-offs, and complex restructurings when the underlying team and business model are proven.
Which sectors does EKK & Co. avoid?
EKK publicly states it does not limit its focus by industry vertical, preferring to evaluate founder teams and scalable business models rather than sector themes. The firm has not disclosed a list of excluded sectors. Its known investments span esports (ESL), data analytics software (XPLN), and B2B event infrastructure (smartvillage).
How is EKK & Co.'s investment capital sourced?
The firm operates as a private equity house deploying its own and closely-held capital rather than external limited-partner funds. The precise ownership structure and ultimate beneficial owners behind the founding partners' vehicle are not publicly disclosed. The firm has not reported raising a blind-pool fund.
Is EKK & Co. structured as a single family office or an independent asset manager?
EKK is structured as an independent asset manager (private equity firm), not a single-family office. The three eponymous founders — Engelhardt, Kaupp, and Kiefer — built the firm as a professional investment partnership. There is no public linkage to a single originating family's wealth, and the firm solicits and manages direct equity stakes on behalf of its partnership.
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