Team
Jorge Abugaber joined Carlsquare in 2023 as Managing Partner for Poland & CEE. Jorge has more than 15 years of experience in investment banking. He previously worked as Managing Director at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking responsible for the TMT, Consumer, Retail and Healthcare sectors. Prior to that he worked for Trigon Investment Banking in Warsaw and for J.P. Morgan in New York City.
Jorge graduated from Harvard College in 2008 with an A.B. in Economics and a secondary degree in Psychology. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Advisor on the Warsaw Stock Exchange ASO. Jorge is a native speaker of English and Spanish and is fluent in Polish.
Jessica studied English literature and history at the University of Hamburg.
After raising three boys she joined Carlsquare in 2016 with previous experience in office management.
Polina joined Carlsquare in 2015. She has previous M&A experience from Peter Möhrle family office. Polina holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Corporate Finance from the University of Hamburg.
Markus joined Carlsquare, Equity Research in 2015. He has previous experience from equity derivatives trading since 2008. Earlier employers are Nordea Markets och Swedbank. Markus holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Lund University.
Agata joined Carlsquare in 2019 as an Office Manager in London. She holds a Master’s degree in Finance & Accounting and has more than 8 years of experience as an Office Administrator and PA. She is also responsible for accounting in the London office.
Christoph joined Carlsquare in 2022. Previously, he worked in M&A advisory at Rothschild & Co in Frankfurt. Christoph holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Mannheim.
Amelie joined Carlsquare in 2021 as Business Development Manager. She previously worked for Sal. Oppenheim in Corporate Finance and Private Banking, and for Kirch New Media leading their M&A activities. Amelie studied at LMU Munich (BWL) and has a PhD in Finance from Martin Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg on financial communication at Neuer Markt.
Caroline joined Carlsquare in 2018 as a Strategic Business Manager. She previously worked as Director of Client Relationships at Aktiespararna and holds a M.Sc. in Consumer & Business Marketing and a B.Sc. in Economics from Stockholm University School of Business.
Kevin joined Carlsquare through the merger with Capital Clarity and has been with the firm since 2022. He has over 25 years of financial industry experience encompassing M&A and capital raising activities for both private and public companies. Kevin previously worked at D.A. Davidson, Houlihan Lokey, ArchPoint Partners, NASDAQ, UBS and Robertson Stephens. He is a graduate of St. John’s University and the University of Maryland.
Susan Blanco is a successful female founder and recognized leader in technology investment banking. Her extensive experience includes mergers, acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations, public and private capital raising. She has executed numerous transactions for public and private companies with leading private equity sponsors and global corporations including IBM, Hitachi, Intuit, McKesson, Verisk, British Telecom, Sabre and Google.
Susan joined Carlsquare in 2023 through the merger with Capital Clarity, the San Francisco-based technology investment bank she founded with John Cooper. Previously, Susan was Managing Director and Head of West Coast Private Equity at SNH Capital, Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Technology Group, co-founder and Managing Director of ArchPoint Partners and Vice President at J.P. Morgan.
She holds a B.S. in Engineering Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Anders graduated with a M.Sc. in Finance and Accounting from Copenhagen Business School and University of Michigan and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Has successfully closed numerous corporate finance transactions since 1996, within the field of M&A, public tender offers, private placements, rights issues and IPOs.
Has worked with WestLB Panmure Investment Bank, Gudme Raaschou Bankaktieselskab and HSH Corporate Finance before co-founding Dansk Merchant Capital in 2007. In March 2019, the activities of Dansk Merchant Capital were acquired by Carlsquare.
Kai joined Carlsquare in 2019. He has previous M&A experience from IEG – Investment Banking and Cowen. Kai holds a MSc in Finance & Investments from Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University) and a BSc in International Business from Maastricht University with an exchange at Renmin University of China.
Alex Carré de Malberg has 29 years of experience in M&A, fundraising and financing and has advised on more than 200 transactions since 1993. He co-founded Alexander Partners in 2015 and previously worked on the Exec Committee of Commercial Bank Qatar sole in charge of investment banking, asset management and brokerage activities, Head of IB at Abu Dhabi Investment Company and Managing Director at Rothschild in Paris. He started his IB career as an analyst at Lazard Freres (NY), followed by manager at Peregrine (Hong Kong). He holds an MBA from HEC Paris and a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Amherst and ENSIC France.
John Cooper is a respected leader and advisor to technology and healthcare IT companies. He has led the execution of numerous notable mergers, acquisitions, investments and recapitalizations across public and private companies.
Cooper joined Carlsquare in 2023 through the merger with Capital Clarity, the San Francisco-based technology investment bank he founded with Susan Blanco. Previously, Cooper led technology investment banking practices at Houlihan Lokey, ArchPoint Partners and Montgomery & Co, was President of ThinkTank software incubator funded by SoftBank and led Corporate Development for Microsoft, McKesson, First Data and American Express.
He holds a B.S. in Business and Finance from the University of Minnesota and has completed post-graduate work in executive leadership at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Brett joined Carlsquare through the merger with Capital Clarity and has been with the firm since 2020. He was previously with Crosstree Capital Partners and Lightning Partners. Brett holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Finance from the University of Central Florida.
Dr. Manfred Drax has been an associate partner at Carlsquare since 2013. He studied law in Munich and Freiburg im Breisgau and business administration at the FernUniversität Hagen. At the University of Bayreuth he received his doctorate in corporate and group law. Manfred has more than 20 years of experience in the medical technology and life science industry – among others
Anders co-founded Jarl Securities in 2012, which became part of Carlsquare in 2018. He has been in the financial industry since the 1990s; as Corporate Finance advisor, telecom analyst and financial journalist. Anders holds a degree in journalism alongside studies in decision-making theory, risk and argumentation theory.
Niklas joined Carlsquare Equity Research in 2021. Since the late 1990s, Niklas has been working as an equity analyst and fund manager at both major investment banks and smaller fund brokers. Niklas has a special interest in the Life Science sector and holds a master’s degree in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Camille joined Carlsquare in 2022. Previously, she worked for several years in an accounting firm.
Jonatan joined Carlsquare in 2016 and has more than ten years of M&A experience with a focus on the Business Services, Consumer and Software sectors. He has previously worked at SEB, Aspia and HDR Partners. He has a M.Sc. Business Administration, Finance from Stockholm University.
Corina joined Carlsquare through the merger with Capital Clarity and has been with the firm since 2020. She works closely with Susan Blanco and John Cooper overseeing operations. Corina brings more than 12 years of experience in business operations, people operations, and communications. She holds an MBA and BA in English, both from Rollins College, and studied international relations at the University of St Andrews.
Sebastian has been with Carlsquare since 2011. He has more than 10 years of experience in M&A, among others at Cobalt Corporate Finance (London) and goetzpartners (Munich). At Carlsquare, his focus is on software, business services and life sciences transactions. He studied Business Administration with a focus on Corporate Finance and Accounting in Mannheim (Germany) and Lund (Sweden).
Carsten joined Carlsquare in 2022. Previously, he worked in the Investment Banking Division at Crédit Agricole CIB as well as in the Corporate Finance Practices of Houlihan Lokey and Berenberg. Carsten holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
Daniel Garlipp graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Regensburg and the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. He has many years of experience in corporate finance with a focus on company valuation and financial and commercial due diligence. Prior to Carlsquare, Daniel worked for KPMG Corporate Finance (Hamburg), Kuna & Co. (Frankfurt) and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (Munich).
Daniel Gebler is heading the Debt Advisory activities of Carlsquare since 2023. Prior to joining Carlsquare he gained more than 20 years investment banking experience, focussing on the financing of LBO, Project, Infrastructure as well as Corporate and Real Estate financings. Daniel joined from DC Advisory where he was the responsible Managing Director for the non distressed Debt Advisory business for the DACH and CEE region. Until 2013 he gained more than 10 years’ experience on the lender side as a team head within Commerzbank’s LBO team and a Vice President within the LBO and Infrastructure Team of Dresdner Kleinwort. He holds a Diploma in business administration from Humboldt University of Berlin.
Nikolai joined Carlsquare in 2021. He has previously worked at Clairfield International and EY. Nikolai holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Hult International Business School in London.
Hans joined Carlsquare in 2023 with more than 25 years of international business and cross-border M&A experience. He has 6 years advisory experience on acquisitions and joint-venture projects between Europe and China across a wide range of industries from his own company. In addition, he spent 15 years being posted in Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing, for several MNCs and the Danish Trade Council where he acquired skills to negotiate effectively in Mandarin. Besides M&A consulting, Hans is also a seasoned emerging markets business developer in Consumer Product from Nestle, Scandinavian Tobacco, etc.. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Economics and a MBA in International Business, and certificates in Corporate Finance and Management Consulting.
Sven joined Carlsquare in 2022. Before joining our team, he worked in the Corporate Finance department of M.M.Warburg & CO focusing on M&A and ECM transactions. Sven is a CFA charterholder and holds an M.Sc. in Finance from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a Bachelor of Laws from University of Hamburg.
Maurice joined Carlsquare in 2017. He has previously worked at PwC and HSH Nordbank. Maurice holds a M.Sc. in Finance from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a B.Sc. in Management, Mathematics and Economics from the University of Essex including semesters at California State University, Monterey Bay.
Arnold has been an Investment Banker since 1998 and merged his business with Carlsquare in q3 2018. He spent several years each with Goldman Sachs, Boston Consulting, UBS and the World Bank’s IFC. He holds an MBA from Wharton, an MA from Johns Hopkins and a Ph.D. from Goethe University, Frankfurt a.M..
Lars is an industry advisor to Carlsquare in the field of IT&Telecom. He has a M.Sc in engineering physics and +30 years of experience working for large operators and solution suppliers such as Telia, Ericsson, MCI Worldcom and Huawei as well as a range of start-up companies. For the past 8 years Lars has been with Huawei acting as business consultant and leading operators across Europe in legacy network and business transformation.
Anna-Lena joined Carlsquare in 2017 as office manager for the Hamburg office. She previously gained nine years of experience as a personal assistant and in office management positions after living in England for a year. She is also responsible for accounting within Carlsquare.
Morten graduated with a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Copenhagen.
More than 20 years of experience in advisory services on M&A, IPOs, secondaries and private placements.
Morten has worked with Nordea Securities, HSH Corporate Finance, Dansk Merchant Capital and a number of years as adviser, partner and CEO of one of the leading Danish agencies focusing on strategic and financial communication.
Mischa joined Carlsquare in 2011. He has more than ten years M&A experience with main focus on technology and business service companies. He has previously worked at Avocado Store, a Rocket Internet startup, and at Kreissparkasse Verden. Mischa holds a business administration degree (Diplom-Kaufmann) from University of Mannheim and is a trained banker.
Herman joined Carlsquare in 2022. He has previous experience, both as a consultant and inhouse, in business development and M&A within the Med-Tech sector. Herman is focused on the Life Science sector and holds a B.Sc. degree in Business and Economics from Lund University with a major in Corporate finance and exchange studies at St.Gallen University in Switzerland.
David joined Carlsquare through the merger with Capital Clarity and has been with the firm since 2023. He has more than 15 years of technology investment banking experience. Previously, David held senior roles with Citigroup, Stifel, and Piper Jaffray. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Hobart College.
Tanja joined Carlsquare in 2022 and has over 15 years of experience in Human Resources. Previously, she worked as Deputy HR Manager at a globally operating service sector corporation. Prior to that, she held various HR positions in retail and with a project developer (DOUGLAS Group, ECE). She studied Economics and Business at the University of Witten/Herdecke and the University of Stellenbosch. She began her professional career with an apprenticeship at the banking house B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co.
Steffen Leckert joined Carlsquare in 2021 with more than 25 years of experience in investment banking. He previously worked as Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey with a European Corporate Finance responsibility for Industrial Technologies and Packaging. Prior to that he worked for Lincoln International as Head of Industrials as well as the corporate coverage activities in the DACH region and led the German industrial and automotive team of Mediobanca. Steffen also worked for Bank of America Merrill Lynch with responsibilities for private equity clients and automotive supply companies.
Erik joined Carlsquare in 2017. He has more than 15 years M&A experience with main focus on technology companies. He has previously worked at Stella EOC and EY. Erik holds a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology and a B.Sc. in Business Administration and Management from University of Gothenburg.
Travis joined Carlsquare through the merger with Capital Clarity and has been with the firm since 2019. He has extensive experience across sellside and buyside M&A, capital raises, private equity and public equity investing. He was previously with SNH Capital, Graham Partners, and Brandes Investment Partners. Travis holds a Master’s of Business Administration from The Wharton School and is a CFA Charter Holder.
Christoph joined Carlsquare in 2021. He has previous M&A work experience from MP Corporate Finance in Vienna. Christoph holds a B.Sc. in Business Administration – Finance from the University of Florida.
Eva joined Carlsquare in February 2018 as the office manager for the Berlin office. She has previous experience in Office Management and Marketing. Eva holds a B.A. in Art and History from Kassel Art University.
Mandy joined Carlsquare in March 2020. As the former Head of Operations, she has strengthened our HR team as Recruiting Manager since August 2023.
As a qualified industrial clerk and business administrator, she has already gained over ten years of experience in the organisation and professionalisation of administrative and operational company processes. In her role as Recruiting Manager, she represents Carlsquare as an employer and is actively searching for new talents.
Mirja joined Carlsquare in 2020 in the Office Management and Accounting department. She brings many years of experience in various industries. Most recently, she worked as an office manager at medical institutions and an advertising agency, where she deepened her organisational and administrative skills.
Mark Miller is one of the founders of Carlsquare (former CatCap). He studied economics and business at the University of Witten / Herdecke and at the University of Texas at Austin. He worked for the Deutsche Bank in the corporate and asset management business and as an analyst at Bertelsmann AG, where he examined strategic investment opportunities. Overall, he participated in more than 100 successful transactions.
Michael Moritz is one of the founders of Carlsquare (former CatCap). He studied liberal arts at Albion College in Michigan, USA and economics and law in Freiburg, Berlin, Cologne and Bonn. He then worked at the Treuhandanstalt in Berlin on the restructuring and privatization of medium-sized investments. As a corporate finance consultant at Doertenbach & Co. GmbH, Frankfurt, he mainly advised medium-sized companies and their owners on strategic acquisitions or divestitures
Lukas joined Carlsquare in 2020. Previously, he worked at Pareto Securities, GCA Altium and benten capital. Lukas studied business administration at the University of North Georgia and holds a M.Sc. in Management (Finance) from the Durham University including an exchange semester at the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management.
Mathias Möhrpahl joined Carlsquare in 2023. He has more than 15 years of experience in M&A, corporate advisory, business development and renewable energy and has lived and worked in several countries across Europe, North- & South America as well as SE Asia. Before he joined Carlsquare, Mathias was a Partner at Uruguayan-based Ficus Advisory, where he focused mainly on wind, solar and other renewable energy transactions worldwide. Since 2021, he is also a member of the Advisory Panel at New Energy Partners, Greece. He studied Economics at Cologne and Kiel University and earned a MSc in Economics from Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a native German speaker and is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Bertil joined Carlsquare in 2013 and holds over 20 years of expereince from equity research. Previous employers include Consensus Fondkommission, Nordiska Fondkommission, Myrberg Fondkommission/Danske Bank and Glitnir (earlier Fischer Partners). Bertil has also worked as an asset manager (Real Estate) at Aberdeen and is one of the founders of Fastighetsvärlden. Bertil holds an engineering degree from Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Emanuel joined Carlsquare in 2019. He has previous work experience from Cartina as a management consultant focusing on strategy and growth projects. Emanuel holds a MSc in Industrial Engineering and a BSc in Energy Systems and Sustainability from Royal Institute of Technology.
Arielle joined Carlsquare in 2022. She has spent 5 years in M&A Transaction Services, Financial Modeling and M&A, within Deloitte, IKB Deutsche Industriebank and Acetis Finance. Arielle graduated from ESSEC Business School, Grande Ecole program in Paris, France.
Anika joined Carlsquare in 2020 as Office Manager. She previously worked in an international law firm for several years. At Carlsquare she is also responsible for HR.
Kathrin joined Carlsquare in 2022 as Head of Marketing. She previously worked at Berenberg for 12 years and holds a degree in business administration from Christian Albrechts University in Kiel and the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. Prior to that, she did an apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank.
Nico joined Carlsquare in 2016 and is a Partner based in Munich. He has more than ten years M&A experience and worked on numerous transactions in the FMCG, Life Science and Industrial sectors.
Prior to joining Carlsquare, he worked at CMC Consulting Group in Munich and in the small/mid cap M&A team at Groupe BPCE in New York and Frankfurt. Nico holds an LL.M. (M&A) from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and a degree in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Münster.
Finn joined the Carlsquare team in Hamburg in 2021. Previously, he gained professional experience in the corporate finance team of ODDO BHF in Frankfurt a.M. and Paris. Finn holds a Master of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics & Finance from the University of Aberdeen.
Caspar Graf Stauffenberg studied business administration in Reutlingen and London. He then worked as a project manager for Arthur D. Little in the strategy and organization division and as project manager for M&A at the Binding Group (today: Radeberger).
Prior to joining Carlsquare, he was CFO and later CEO of MAP Medizin-Technologie GmbH and CEO and co-founder of Aequos Endoprosthetics GmbH. Both companies were sold under his direction.
Berthold Stauffenberg has a track record of more than 30 years in investment banking. He co-founded Alexander Partners in 2015 and previously worked as Managing Director at Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank and Managing Director at Rothschild in Paris and Frankfurt. He holds an MBA from Insead and BSc (Hons) Economics from University of London.
Griffin joined Carlsquare in 2021 after moving from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Griffin holds a bachelor’s in finance and accounting from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Previously, he worked at Ernst & Young (EY) where he received his Chartered Professional Accountancy (CPA), before joining a regional M&A boutique, Sequiera Partners, in their insurance and professional services practice.
Robert joined Carlsquare in 2020. Previously, he gained professional experience at KPMG Deal Advisory in Hamburg. Robert holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Bond University.
Jon joined Carlsquare in 2020. Most recently he was an Associate at RIG (London) advising technology companies on M&A and fundraising, and prior to that worked in transaction services and corporate finance at KPMG (Vancouver, Canada). He is a Chartered Accountant, and a graduate of Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia.
Anshul joined Carlsquare in 2019. He previously gained experience in credit risk and equity research in India and the UK. Anshul holds a M.Sc. in Finance and Management from Cranfield School of Management (UK) and B.Com. in Banking and Insurance from University of Mumbai (India).
Philip joined Carlsquare in 2022. Prior to Carlsquare, he has already gained more than five years of M&A experience from BDO Corporate Finance and Faqtum M&A. He has successfully closed numerous transactions within Industrials, B2B services and Consumer/Internet. Philip holds a degree in Economics from University of Colorado Boulder, and certified Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst by CFI (Corporate Finance Institute).
Sybille joined Carlsquare in 2020. Following a dual degree in Business Administration at the University of Applied Sciences Bremen and the Ecole Supérieure Commerce Marseille-Provence she worked at Deutsche Bank, initially in Munich followed by Morgan Grenfell in London. There she then joined Mercury Asset Management and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), part of BlackRock since 2006.
Constantin von Wiedersperg started his career at UniCredit Corporate & Investment Banking in 2010. Since then, Constantin focused on structured finance and capital markets and gained extensive transaction experience in commercial real estate and corporate finance on both the advisory and execution side. Prior to joining Carlsquare, he was responsible for sponsor coverage and leveraged finance for the small cap segment with a particular focus on corporates in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Before earning a diploma degree in business administration from the University of Nürtingen-Geislingen (HfWU), he underwent a three-year training to become an infantry officer in the German armed forces.
Tizian joined Carlsquare in 2020. Previously, Tizian gained professional experience at Odewald (private equity), Capcellence (private equity) and HSH Nordbank (investment banking). He holds a B.A. in Business Administration and an M.Sc. in Finance.
Oskar joined Carlsquare in 2021. Before joining Carlsquare he has worked in market surveillance and as Head of Listings managed approximately 200 IPOs at a Swedish stock exchange. Oskar holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Stockholm University.
Frederik joined Carlsquare in 2018. He has previously worked at UniCredit and Berenberg. Frederik holds a joint MSc in Finance from the Nova School of Business and Economics and the Sao Paulo School of Economics and a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Hamburg.
Nils joined Carlsquare from Deloitte in London, where he worked within the M&A advisory team. He has gained M&A experience since 2010, mainly advising technology companies on buy and sell side transactions within the mid-market. Nils holds a degree in Economics from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.
Andreas Zetzsche was Group Head of the RWE AG M&A division for many years and conducted many relevant M&A transactions, including capital market deals, from the headquarters in Essen. Previously, he was Managing Director of the European Chemical Group of Chase Manhattan Bank N.A. In London. Since 2018, Mr. Zetzsche has also supported the head of the Mergers & Acquisitions chair at the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management as Chair Affiliate.
Marta joined Carlsquare in 2021. She has previously worked at Scotiabank (London and Toronto) in both investment and corporate banking. Prior to that, she worked at Deloitte. She has a B.B.A. from Schulich School of Business, York University (Toronto, Canada) and is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (Canada).