Frequently asked questions about fundraising, M&A and fractional CFO
FAQs
Find answers to your most pressing questions about our services and support.
What is Roemer Capital?
Roemer Capital is an independent fundraising and M&A boutique in Düsseldorf. We prepare funding rounds from 1 million euros, typically Series A to Series C, we advise on company sales and we work as fractional CFO.
How can I apply?
Book a strategy call through our contact page and answer a few short questions about your company and your plans. Our team reviews every request and gets back to you promptly.
What services do you offer?
We prepare funding rounds from 1 million euros, advise on company sales and work as a fractional CFO. We see ourselves as a partner at your side, from the first preparation to the closing.
Who can benefit?
Founders and managing directors of technology companies with a product in the market and running revenue: companies planning a funding round from 1 million euros, typically Series A to Series C, a company sale, or the next step with a fractional CFO. If you only want a pitch deck rebuilt, we are not the right partner.
What is your process?
It starts with an intro call. We then work through your numbers and documents, build the financial model, the business plan and the data room, and only then approach suitable investors. We stay at your side through term sheet and due diligence to the closing. A funding round typically takes six to eight months, a company sale six to twelve months.
How do you charge?
A monthly fee plus a success fee that falls due only when the round or the sale closes. Both depend on scope and round size, and both are set out in writing before the mandate starts. We do not bill by the hour and there are no hidden items. We do not offer a pure success fee, because model, plan and data room have to be ready months before the first term sheet.
What stage do you engage at?
We partner with revenue-generating companies that are ready for a growth or expansion round, typically Series A through Series C, with round sizes from 1 million euros upwards. We are a match if you have proven product-market fit and now need institutional capital to scale.
Which sectors qualify?
Our sweet spot is digital-first business models: SaaS, e-commerce, direct-to-consumer brands, online marketplaces, fintech, healthtech, AI and deep tech. Outside these sectors we take on a mandate when the growth potential is clearly visible.
Who are your investor relationships?
Our active network holds more than 1,000 contacts at over 400 firms: top-tier VCs, growth-equity funds, family offices, corporate venture arms and specialised debt providers across Europe, North America and APAC.
How do you address Legal and Confidentiality?
We sign a mutual NDA upfront, store documents on ISO‑27001‑compliant servers, and restrict data‑room access to investors you explicitly approve. Post‑investment, we coordinate information‑rights packages so you stay compliant without over‑sharing.
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Four service lines at Roemer Capital: Business Plan Development, Fractional CFO, Capital Raising, and M&A Advisory for the sale of startups and shareholder stakes. You can book one line or several, one after the other. Who we are not for is just as clear: no revenue yet, a pitch deck to rebuild, or no clear goal behind the financing or the sale.
What is a fractional CFO and what do they actually do?
A fractional CFO is a finance chief who works in your company for part of each month instead of joining full time. German companies search for externer CFO, or for Interim CFO when they want a full seat filled for a few months. Our fractional CFO line covers liquidity planning, the financial model, investor reporting and the preparation of the next round, for a fixed monthly fee in the four-figure range. At 7 O CLOCK GmbH the mandate was building the controlling function.
When should we bring in a fractional CFO instead of hiring a full-time CFO?
When your numbers, not your deck, decide the next step. A fractional CFO mandate starts at Series A, and the usual trigger is the first investor who wants the numbers behind the deck. The second trigger has nothing to do with a raise: you grow, and nobody in your company owns liquidity, margins and pricing. Hire a full-time CFO once finance is a department with people to lead. Before that you pay a full salary for capacity you cannot fill.
Do we need a business plan, or is a pitch deck enough?
The deck opens the meeting. The plan and the model survive due diligence, because investors ask for the numbers behind the slides. Our Business Plan Development line, in German Businessplan erstellen lassen, builds plan and model from one set of numbers, so the two cannot tell different stories. Two documents that contradict each other in due diligence are the fastest way to lose a term sheet.
How does a fundraising process with you run, and how long does it take?
Five steps: initial analysis, strategy and capital roadmap, document preparation, investor outreach, closing phase. That is the Capital Raising mandate, in German Kapitalbeschaffung. A typical process takes six to eight months, from preparation to a closed round. Outreach starts only once model and plan hold up, because starting early burns your investor list, and a burnt list is expensive to rebuild. If a process runs longer than planned, you hear it from us early.
How do you charge?
A fixed monthly fee plus a success fee, set out in a fee agreement that is signed before the investment agreement. Every line runs on that monthly fee, whether it is Business Plan Development, a Fractional CFO mandate, Capital Raising or M&A Advisory. Both numbers are on the table before the mandate starts, and nothing gets added on top later. We publish no price list, because the monthly fee follows scope and round size, and the success fee follows the size of the round or, in a company sale, the price achieved. A fractional CFO mandate without a transaction runs on a fixed monthly fee in the four-figure range.
What happens if the round does not close?
The success fee depends on the transaction actually happening, so a round that does not close costs you the monthly fee and nothing else. The model, the plan and the prepared documents stay with you and stay usable for the next attempt. Some processes run longer than the usual six to eight months. When one stalls, you hear it from us early, with the reason and with what has to change.
At what stage do you engage?
From Series A, with revenue already coming in. Typical clients are digitalised scaleups: we work from Series A through to Series C and stay as far as the exit. Rocket Factory Augsburg is the public reference, more than 40 million euros in total volume, including 30 million from KKR. Earlier than that a boutique adds little, because without revenue there is no model to defend and no investor list worth burning.
How big does the round or the deal have to be?
From 1 million euros upwards, and up to 100 million. We start at Series A, with revenue already coming in, and work through to Series C. Below 1 million a full process costs you more than it brings, and we say that in the first call instead of billing a monthly fee for it. Tell us the round you are planning and you get a yes or a no, not a maybe.
Who are you not the right partner for?
Three cases. You have no revenue yet and are looking for first money on an idea. You want a pitch deck rebuilt and nothing beyond that. Or there is no clear goal behind the financing or the sale, so nobody can say when the mandate has succeeded. We say so before the mandate starts rather than take a monthly fee for a process that cannot close.
How is this different from a bank or a freelance CFO?
Compare on two things. Does the advisor build the numbers, and does the advisor bring the investors. A freelance CFO builds the model and leaves you to find the investors. An advisor with a list but no model sends you into due diligence unprepared. We do both in one mandate, with more than 1,000 investor contacts at over 400 firms in our own database, and the same person stays on the process from initial analysis to closing phase.
When should a founder start talking to an M&A advisor before an exit?
Earlier than most founders expect. Buyers pay a premium for three things: a clean cap table, revenue that is not concentrated in a handful of customers, and a company that runs without its founder. Each of those takes quarters to fix, not weeks. Our M&A Advisory line covers valuation and the sale of startups and shareholder stakes, in German Unternehmensbewertung and Unternehmensverkauf, on the sell side and the buy side.
Can you also advise on the buy side when we acquire a company?
Yes. We ran the buy side for Circular Projects GmbH on the takeover of HydroDyn Recycling in April 2026, a deal that secured 39 jobs. Buy-side mandates run on the same five steps as a raise, with one difference: a target list takes the place of the investor list. Everything else stays the same, from the initial analysis to the closing phase.
Which sectors do you work in?
Eight, each with its own page: AI & Deep Tech, CAPEX-intensive Technologies, E-Commerce/DTC/Marketplaces, FinTech & Embedded Finance, FoodTech & AgTech, HealthTech/MedTech, Platforms & Ecosystems, SaaS & Enterprise Software. Which numbers an investor looks at first changes with the sector, and that is what each page is for. What they share is a digitalised scaleup with revenue already running. Without that, the sector page does not help you.
How large is your investor network, and how do you use it?
More than 1,000 investor contacts at over 400 firms sit in our own database, and it is not a mailing list. We build your shortlist before outreach starts and sequence it, so the best fits do not go out against a half-finished model. The track record behind the network: 200+ financing projects and more than 500 million euros in secured capital. Our clients rate us 5.00 on ProvenExpert, from 22 reviews.
Do you advise our competitors at the same time?
Ask in the first call and you get a straight answer. Eight sector pages mean eight fields we know, not a stack of clients per field, and a direct competitor of yours in the same process is a conflict we raise before the mandate starts, not after. If one comes up later, you hear it from us before the next investor list goes out.
How much of my own time does this take?
Two blocks of your time, and the rest sits with us. In initial analysis and the capital roadmap you and your finance lead answer data requests and decide the assumptions behind the model. From document preparation onward we write the plan and build the model, and you review. In investor outreach your calendar carries the meetings, because no advisor can pitch your company for you, and none should.
How do you handle confidentiality?
Nothing goes out without a signed NDA. In a sale process the first contact sees an anonymous profile without your company name, so the market learns that a company is for sale and not which one. We open the data room in stages and release sensitive files only after a term sheet or a letter of intent, and you decide who moves to the next stage.
Do we have to be in Düsseldorf, or can this run remotely?
No, you do not have to sit in Düsseldorf. Roemer Capital advises on capital raising and M&A from Dreischeibenhaus 1 in Düsseldorf, and mandates run by video, with on-site days when a kickoff or a management presentation calls for one. We work in German and English, so an international investor on your cap table does not change the setup. Where your office sits matters less than whether your numbers hold up.
Who will actually run our mandate?
Lucas E. Roemer, founder and managing director of Roemer Capital GmbH, which he founded in July 2023. He studied in Boston and at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and co-founded the health-tech startup Healthynox in Boston, which was sold in 2020. After that: CoachHub and Forto in Berlin, venture capital at Rheingau Founders, investment banking at Clipperton in Paris and GP Bullhound in London, M&A at KPMG in Berlin including the sale of LucaNet to Hg, private equity at Main Capital Partners, and head of finance and acting CFO at Pacific Healthcare. He is the author of the book Kapital folgt Struktur.
