Arcano Partners Research
Investment Thesis
Arcano Partners is a Madrid-headquartered independent investment management and advisory group founded in 2003 by Álvaro de Remedios. The firm operates across three business lines: investment banking, wealth advisory, and alternative asset management, with venture capital sitting inside the alternative asset management division alongside private equity, credit strategies, real estate, sustainable infrastructure, and aviation finance. Arcano's venture thesis centers on high-quality, scalable European (and selectively U.S.) startups, with a stated emphasis on climate, mobility, and critical infrastructure transformation, plus growing interest in DeepTech and SpaceTech. The firm frames itself as a responsible investor with ESG integration woven through its investment strategies, and it operates regional impact vehicles (e.g., the Andalusia-focused "Impacto Andalucía Innovación y Desarrollo" fund) that back founders in specific Spanish regions as part of public-private fund mandates.
Stage Focus
Arcano's venture capital exposure is structured two ways: (1) as a fund-of-funds/secondary investor and LP into roughly 20 external VC funds (including Accel, Atlantic, Bridgepoint, Core Capital, Dawn Capital, Foresight Group, and InvestIndustrial), and (2) via direct and co-investments into individual companies, typically at Series A/Series B and growth stage, generally alongside other institutional investors rather than as sole lead. Historical direct deals span PLD Space's Series B (2021) through 2026 growth rounds in Atomic One and InsectBiotech.
Check Size
Specific check-size disclosures were not found in public sources. Individual direct rounds Arcano has participated in range roughly from €5.6M to €7.2M in total round size (with Arcano as one of several backers), consistent with a firm that mixes primary fund commitments, secondaries, and selective direct co-investment rather than writing large solo checks.
Lead Tendency
Public reporting consistently describes Arcano as investing "alongside," "backed by," or "in tie-up with" other investors (e.g., PLD Space "in tie-up with Arcano Partners"; Atomic One "backed by Arcano Partners and international investors"). This pattern points to a co-investor/follow profile rather than a firm that typically leads and prices rounds.
Recent Activity
Arcano has been active through 2026: it backed Atomic One's €5.6M two-tranche round (Málaga, AI-native e-commerce operations, closed July 31, 2026) through its Impacto Andalucía Innovación y Desarrollo SICC vehicle, and backed InsectBiotech's €7.2M raise (Jaén, insect-based agri-waste transformation) announced August 2026. On the fund side, Arcano closed Arcano Secondary Fund V (ASF V) at €850M in January 2026 (exceeding its €500M target) and launched a second impact private equity fund, AIPEF II, targeting €300M. These signal an actively deploying platform across both fund-of-funds/secondaries and direct venture/impact investing.
Portfolio Highlights
Direct/co-investment portfolio companies identified: PLD Space (Spanish orbital launch vehicle developer, Series B co-investment 2021, later valued near $792M), Universal Diagnostics (Seville-based cancer diagnostics/liquid biopsy company), InsectBiotech (Jaén-based agri-waste-to-protein biotech), Atomic One (Málaga-based AI e-commerce operations platform), Docline (Málaga-based digital health/telemedicine and e-prescription platform), and Sofitec (Seville-based aerospace composites and metallic-parts manufacturer, supplier to Premium Aerotec/Airbus A350 programs). Arcano's asset management arm has also managed/advised over €10 billion since 2006 and holds LP positions in ~20 external VC and PE funds.
Team
- Álvaro de Remedios — Founder and Executive Chairman
- Manuel Mendívil — Asset Management Managing Partner, CEO and CIO
- Borja Oria — Investment Banking Managing Partner and CEO
- Íñigo Padrones — Venture Capital Associate
- Gonzalo Eguiagaray — Managing Director
Arcano has more than 240 professionals of over 20 nationalities across 7 offices (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Bilbao, Milan, New York, and Los Angeles).
Decision Process
As an institutional multi-asset-class manager with dedicated investment teams by strategy, Arcano's venture/direct co-investments most likely run through an investment committee process typical of institutional alternative asset managers, rather than a solo-GP or small-partnership model. This is inferred from firm structure rather than directly confirmed.
Founder Preferences
Public deal coverage points to a preference for technical, scaling founders in capital-intensive or infrastructure-adjacent categories: aerospace/SpaceTech (PLD Space, Sofitec), health/diagnostics (Universal Diagnostics, Docline), and sustainability/agri-biotech (InsectBiotech), plus one AI-native e-commerce operations company (Atomic One). This spans deep-tech/hardware-adjacent and regulated verticals more than consumer or pure software plays.
Geographic Focus
Predominantly Spain (Madrid, Andalusia region specifically via regional impact vehicles, Seville, Málaga), with broader European coverage and selective U.S. exposure through fund commitments (roughly 80% Europe / 20% North America across the LP fund book). Direct portfolio companies found are overwhelmingly Spain-headquartered.