WhiteGreyBlack

Jörg Tübinger, André Schwämmlein, and Daniel Märklin form the investment committee. Tübinger and Schwämmlein co-founded FlixBus and bring operating experience to underwriting. Märklin joined from Project A Ventures, where he sourced and executed early-stage B2B software deals across the DACH region.

Tübinger and Schwämmlein seeded the firm with personal liquidity from scaling FlixBus to a multi-billion-euro valuation. They have since opened the vehicle to a small circle of DACH-based LPs, primarily other technology founders and a Munich-based family office that joined as a co-investment partner in 2023.

WhiteGreyBlack does not operate a conventional blind-pool fund. It deploys capital through deal-by-deal syndications and segregated accounts, giving the partnership flexibility on hold periods and avoiding the pressure to deploy on a fixed cycle. This structure mirrors the permanent-capital approach common among European single-family offices more than standard private equity firms.

The firm targets profitable DACH-headquartered B2B software and tech-enabled service companies with €3–30 million in revenue. It seeks majority control, but requires founders to retain a material minority stake and remain in operating roles. Sectors include enterprise software, AI/ML, digital health, and industrial technology.

The founding partners are among very few DACH buyout investors who built and exited a category-defining technology company themselves — FlixBus — before entering private equity. They bring operator credibility into diligence and post-acquisition strategy. That background makes the firm's pitch to founder-sellers different from a traditional financial sponsor: they position as co-entrepreneurs scaling the business, not financial engineers.

No. WhiteGreyBlack invests exclusively in the DACH region, where the partners have deep networks from the FlixBus build-out and Märklin's venture investing career. Portfolio companies are encouraged to expand internationally post-acquisition, but the firm sources and structures only DACH-headquartered deals.

The firm raises capital selectively, not broadly. The LP base consists of the founding partners, a small number of DACH technology founders, and a single family office that entered as a co-investment partner in 2023. WhiteGreyBlack has not publicly marketed a fund to institutional allocators and shows no near-term intent to do so.