In February, family offices ramped up their dealmaking, doubling the number of direct investments compared to the previous month. According to private wealth intelligence firm Fintrx, at least 48 deals were made, reflecting a growing appetite for bold and unconventional ventures.
Among the most active investors were Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective and Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures, both participating in major funding rounds. Emerson Collective backed a $700 million raise for X-Energy, a nuclear reactor startup supported by Amazon. Meanwhile, Horizons Ventures co-led a $112 million investment in Harrison.ai, an Australian health tech firm, just weeks after supporting another diagnostics startup, Owlstone Medical.
Soros Capital, led by billionaire George Soros’ son, Robert, contributed to a $350.7 million Series D round for Eikon Therapeutics, a biotech firm led by former Merck executive Roger Perlmutter. Eikon is developing drug candidates for cancers such as melanoma and prostate cancer.
One of the few acquisitions by a family office last month was Pritzker Private Capital’s purchase of a majority stake in Americhem, a manufacturer of plastic color additives. The financial details were undisclosed. The firm, founded by Hyatt Hotels heir Tony Pritzker, has expanded its industrial holdings, acquiring another firm, Buckman, in the same period.
Seven Noteworthy Family Office Deals
Several notable investments came from European legacy families with deep industry roots. Famille C, representing the heirs of luxury skincare brand Clarins, invested in Spore.Bio, a French deep-tech company developing rapid bacterial detection tests. First Kind, the investment arm of the Peugeot family, also participated in the company’s $23 million Series C funding round.
Meanwhile, Kirkbi, the Danish family office behind Lego, backed Tidal Vision, a U.S. biotech company that transforms crab and shrimp shells into chitosan, a non-toxic compound used in water purification and fire-resistant materials.
Entrepreneur Mamoun Benkirane, co-founder of e-commerce startup MarketLeap, highlighted family offices as flexible investors open to unconventional business models. His Luxembourg-based firm secured an $8 million Series A round, led by Smedvig Ventures, the family office of the Norwegian offshore oil dynasty. Motier Ventures, tied to the Houzé family behind Galeries Lafayette, also participated.
Benkirane noted that traditional VCs often dismiss hybrid revenue models like MarketLeap’s, which combines monthly fees with a share of profits. In contrast, family offices tend to take a more long-term and hands-on approach.
“If things go wrong, you want an investor who will work through challenges with you, rather than simply writing you off and moving on to the next deal,” he said.
