Saint Sass & Buena: "Wir würden mit dem Cap Table nicht rein investieren" – Jessica Wimalasooriyar (IBB Ventures), Emanuel Pallua (468 Capital)

Property Roll-Up Buena Raises Millions After Near Insolvency

Funding and deals

• Buena. Property management software firm turned roll-up raised about €50m for growth, after a $58m round that included Harry Stebings.
• Saint Sass. Berlin tights brand raised €4.2m for the US and UK, at a valuation Jan Thomas guesses at €15m to €20m.

Guest interviews

• Emanuel Pallua, Partner at 468 Capital. He calls Buena a unicorn candidate, since AI can save 30 to 50 percent of property management time and about 95 percent of requests are standard cases. He thinks the €50m round may be its last, with debt financing later growth, and estimates Buena has taken over about 20 of Germany's 30,000 property managers. On Saint Sass, he doubts the designs last beyond a year or two and says talks would have ended without founders owning more than 50 percent.
• Jessica Wimalasooriyar, Investment Manager at IBB Ventures. She expects Buena to work through its waiting list first and sees it growing very large, since few players combine a rollout model with software at this AI moment. On Saint Sass, she says IBB Ventures would probably not invest with so little founder equity, about 6 percent for Vivian, because incentives for later rounds fall and founders may lack decision rights. She also finds the brand's empowerment message questionable given that stake.