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Lennertz & Co
Lennertz & Co was founded in Hamburg in 2015 by Philipp Lennertz and Oliver Piworus.
Lennertz & Co
Lennertz & Co was founded in Hamburg in 2015 by Philipp Lennertz and Oliver Piworus. The founding capital traces to Philipp Lennertz's father, Horst Lennertz, a former E-Plus executive and Drillisch AG board member. Since inception, the firm has expanded beyond traditional family-office balance-sheet advising into an alternative-investment platform, Lennertz & Co. Capital GmbH, which received a full BaFin capital-management-company license in early 2024. The advisory board includes former Siemens CEO Prof. Dr. Heinrich von Pierer and Project A Ventures Partner Dr. Florian Heinemann. The platform operates five investment verticals: private equity (European small- and mid-cap funds and US growth), venture capital (European and US early-to-late-stage), blockchain venture (global fund-of-funds), impact, and real estate in the DACH region. The firm accesses US venture through a 2020 acquisition of BPE Fund Investors, a Hamburg-based gatekeeper that had invested in top-tier US VC funds since 2002. Lennertz & Co holds exclusive European access to Kleiner Perkins vehicles. In October 2024, the firm launched its third blockchain-focused fund of funds, targeting €150 million across eight to ten underlying blockchain venture managers (per Fortune, October 2024). The real estate arm has run seven mixed-use and residential fund series concentrated in Hamburg and the broader DACH region. The team has grown to roughly 40 professionals, including a dedicated private-markets group of nearly 20. Recent senior hires underscore the platform's institutionalization: Ivan Dyachok joined as Head of European Venture & Private Equity from the Bauer family office, and Neil Steinberg, a former NetJets executive, was appointed Chief Commercial Officer to expand the investor base among UHNWIs and single-family offices. In 2025, the firm launched a Defense & Resilience Fund I, targeting dual-use technology investments with an advisory board that includes former Munich Security Conference chairman Dr. Christoph Heusgen and former Airbus procurement executive Dr. Klaus Richter. The firm's structural differentiator is its hybrid architecture: it retains the confidential, multi-generational advisory function of a multi-family office for entrepreneurial families — including Hamburg property dynasties Mayer-Schierning and Abée — while the BaFin-regulated Lennertz & Co. Capital GmbH operates as an institutional gatekeeper that sources, structures, and administers closed-end alternative funds. This dual posture allows the firm to aggregate family capital into fund commitments and direct co-investments at a scale that competes with mid-market institutional LPs, without sacrificing the discretion and alignment of a family-office core.
General information
Firm type
Multi Family Office
Year founded
2015
AUM
$900M - $1B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Germany
City
Hamburg
Corporate office
Hamburg, Germany
Principals
Philipp Lennertz
Managing Partner and Founder
Oliver Piworus
Managing Partner and Founder
Achim Uebele
Head of Family Office
Christian Piper
Managing Director, Lennertz & Co. Capital GmbH
Ivan Dyachok
Head of European Venture & Private Equity
Hans König
Head of US Venture & Blockchain
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Lennertz & Co?
Philipp Lennertz and Oliver Piworus are the managing partners and founders. Day-to-day investment responsibilities are delegated to a specialized team: Ivan Dyachok heads European Venture & Private Equity, Hans König leads US Venture & Blockchain, and Christian Piper manages risk and regulatory oversight at the BaFin-licensed Lennertz & Co. Capital GmbH. An advisory board including Prof. Dr. Heinrich von Pierer and Dr. Florian Heinemann provides strategic guidance.
How does Lennertz & Co source proprietary deal flow?
The firm acquired BPE Fund Investors in 2020, a Hamburg gatekeeper that had been investing in top US venture capital funds since 2002. This acquisition, combined with a long-standing exclusive partnership with Kleiner Perkins, gives Lennertz & Co's European client base access to US VC fund commitments and direct co-investments that are typically unavailable to non-US family offices.
Is Lennertz & Co structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
It is a multi-family office with a hybrid structure. The parent entity advises entrepreneurial families on governance, succession, and total-balance-sheet construction. The subsidiary, Lennertz & Co. Capital GmbH, holds a full BaFin capital-management-company license and launches closed-end alternative funds that pool capital from the firm's own clients, single-family offices, and institutional investors.
Does Lennertz & Co participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Both. The platform accesses private equity and venture capital primarily through fund commitments — selecting and blending top-tier managers in Europe and the US — and complements this with direct co-investments, SPVs, and pre-IPO placements. The blockchain strategy runs as a fund-of-funds model.
What investment stages does Lennertz & Co typically target?
The firm covers the full venture and growth lifecycle, from seed and Series A through growth equity, buyout, and pre-IPO. The European private-equity practice focuses on small- and mid-cap buyouts, while the US venture strategy ranges from early-stage to late-stage expansion.
Which sectors does Lennertz & Co explicitly avoid?
Altss research tags confirm the firm excludes cannabis and psychedelics investments. The platform also does not pursue activist or hostile strategies, litigation finance, insurance-linked securities, commodities, or collectibles.
How is Lennertz & Co related to the Mayer-Schierning and Abée families?
Both are Hamburg-based property dynasties and are named as founding clients and co-partners alongside the Lennertz family. The firm advises these families on multi-generational wealth structuring and real estate investments, and their capital contributed to building the early alternative-investment platform.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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