When Pere Hospital exited Cloudways in September 2022 after eleven years building the cloud-hosting company to $70 million in ARR and 60,000 customers, he didn’t retreat from the entrepreneurial world; he built a family office designed to stay inside it. That office, Secways, is now one of the most active and transparent family offices investing in European venture capital, and its Venture Investment Director, Ana López-Soler, laid out the full playbook on the latest episode of 0100 Impact Talks.
An entrepreneur’s family office, run like a startup
Secways deploys capital across four asset classes: venture capital, search funds, real estate, and more traditional, regulated instruments such as public equities, fixed income, commodities and currencies, alongside a smaller allocation to donations and foundation work. The eight-person team works fully remote, spread across Girona, Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid, a structure López-Soler traces directly to Hospital’s own experience running an internationally distributed team at Cloudways. His OKR-driven, goal-oriented management style now shapes how the firm operates, and how it expects its portfolio companies to operate too.
That entrepreneurial DNA also explains the firm’s risk appetite. Venture capital already represents close to 20% of Secways’ total portfolio, a strikingly high allocation for a Spanish family office, in a market where most peers favor real estate and shy away from alternatives. “We know how to do it,” López-Soler says of the decision to lean into early-stage risk, pointing to Hospital’s own path scaling a company from zero to a nine-figure exit.
Impact without an impact mandate
Secways isn’t structured as an impact fund and doesn’t require portfolio companies to report on impact KPIs, but its direct book tells a different story. Holdings include Hamelin, a second-hand marketplace for books and leisure goods; Doma, a direct-to-consumer platform addressing menopause care; and Smart Lollipop, a sugar-free device that turns a saliva sample into a less invasive diagnostic tool for children. On the fund side, the firm backs a climate-focused vehicle and a life-sciences fund, and directs its philanthropic capital toward land conservation and health research.
Why family offices stay quiet, and why Secways doesn’t
López-Soler is candid about why so few European family offices talk publicly about their strategy: most prioritize independence and want to avoid a flood of unsolicited pitches. But she argues that reticence has a cost. Citing Invest Europe data, she notes that European venture capital has returned roughly 21% annually over the past decade, against about 7% for the regional public market index, a gap she believes more capital owners would chase if the asset class were less opaque and less resource-intensive to access directly.
Resourcing is the real barrier, in her view. Direct venture investing demands a team for deal sourcing, diligence, portfolio management and exits, infrastructure most family offices don’t have and aren’t sure is worth building. Her advice to those on the fence: start as an LP in a fund, build comfort and trust with an experienced manager, and only move into direct co-investing once that relationship is established.
A generalist that found its edge
Secways wasn’t always this focused. Its 28-company direct portfolio still carries the scars of an earlier, broader thesis that touched health, consumer and sport tech. Two years ago, the firm narrowed to enterprise software and AI, the sectors where its own technical bench, including an in-house CTO advisor and software-engineering analyst, can genuinely add value alongside founders. Ticket sizes run in the low six figures, always as a co-investor rather than a lead, deliberately structured so Secways can bring technical due diligence to the table while a specialist lead investor drives the deal.
Funds fill the gaps direct investing can’t: deep-tech sectors like aerospace, defense and health where Secways defers to specialist managers, and geographies where a local fund provides both returns and a bridge for portfolio companies scaling abroad. That thinking drove Secways’ recent LP commitment to Vendep Capital, a Finland-based software fund, its second Nordic bet after a smaller, later-stage fund in Stockholm, chosen partly because it can help Secways’ own portfolio companies expand into the region as they graduate to Series A and B.
On public capital inside the funds she backs, López-Soler is pragmatic rather than dogmatic: it depends on the mandate. Public money makes sense in a deep-tech, defense or aerospace fund where government backing signals strategic alignment; it makes less sense when it comes with geographic constraints that pull a manager away from natural talent pools.
What’s next
Secways is closing out the deployment phase of its original five-year plan and shifting focus toward portfolio management. Macro and geopolitical pressure has already nudged the firm’s allocation away from the US and toward Europe as a currency and risk hedge, and rising competition for the best AI-native deal flow, where lead investors and repeat founders increasingly control access, has López-Soler considering shifting more budget from direct investing into funds, including a possible move into European deep-tech and defense.
Six lessons for family offices considering venture
Start as an LP, not a lead. Direct venture investing requires a team for sourcing, diligence, portfolio management and exits, infrastructure most family offices don’t have. López-Soler’s advice: back a fund first, build trust with an experienced manager, and only move into direct co-investing once that relationship is proven.
Know what you don’t know, and price it into the deal. Secways never leads. It co-invests in tickets in the low six figures alongside specialist lead investors, contributing technical due diligence in exchange for access. The more deep-tech the sector, the more the firm defers to the lead’s expertise rather than stretching its own.
Narrow the thesis once you find your edge. Secways started as a generalist across health, consumer and sport tech. Two years ago it cut direct investing down to enterprise software and AI, the only sectors where its in-house technical bench (a CTO advisor, a software-engineering analyst, and Hospital’s own cybersecurity and cloud background) genuinely moves the needle for founders.
Use fund commitments strategically, not just for returns. Secways’ LP stake in Vendep Capital, a Finland-based software fund, wasn’t only about performance; it gives Secways’ own portfolio companies a bridge into the Nordic market when they raise Series A or B. Every fund relationship is also assessed for how it complements the direct book.
Evaluate public capital case by case. Government-backed capital inside a fund isn’t automatically good or bad. It makes sense in strategically aligned sectors like defense or aerospace, and less sense when it comes with geographic mandates that pull a manager away from where the best talent actually is.
Transparency is a growth strategy, not a liability. Most family offices stay low-profile to protect independence and avoid unsolicited pitches. Secways bets the opposite way: showing up at conferences, sharing its strategy openly, and building a network pays off in better deal flow and better-informed decisions, a big reason López-Soler agreed to go on record for this episode at all.
Her closing message to peers: show up, compare notes, and treat the network as the real edge. “That should be the way to do it,” Iriarte agreed, and hopes more family offices follow Secways’ lead.
