Lanai Partners

Lanai Partners Research

Investment Thesis

Lanai describes itself as "the entrepreneurs' community VC to back Spain's most ambitious founders." It is a micro venture capital fund and business angel group based in Barcelona, launched in 2017. The pitch is that the partners are founders first and investors second: they say they do not invest in projects, they invest in founders, and they use their own operating knowledge and network to advise portfolio companies.

Stage Focus

Lanai invests at pre-seed. The firm says it wants to be a partner in the first stages of the entrepreneurial journey. Third-party profiles also list seed rounds, usually as follow-ons or small seed tickets alongside other investors.

Check Size

Initial tickets range from EUR 150K to EUR 500K. Lanai can follow on with up to EUR 1.5M across several rounds.

Sector Focus

The firm calls itself industry agnostic and invests across verticals. The portfolio page nonetheless clusters in a few areas:

• Fintech and embedded finance (Hubuc, Payflow, Flanks, Weecover, Embat, Ritmo, Kalipso, Centinel-style finance automation)
• B2B software and AI tooling (Arengu, Gretel, Melow, ShowMe, Kapia, Autentic, Kloutit)
• Consumer, commerce and marketplaces (Reby, Tropicfeel, Frankie, Kriim, Rever, Blok, Wiz Music)
• Edtech (Oposita Test, OpenWebinars, Assembler School, Great Little People)
• Cyber security and insurance (8Layers, Axyom, Temos)
• Energy and logistics (Bihar Batteries, Zenvi, Puntopost)

Lead Tendency

Not stated on the site. The model is small initial checks with reserves for follow-ons, which fits a firm that often co-invests in pre-seed rounds with other angels and micro funds. Lead tendency is recorded as unknown.

Recent Activity

The portfolio page is organised into three funds: Lanai I, Lanai II and Lanai III. The site reports more than 50 companies invested in, with portfolio companies that together generate more than EUR 1 billion in revenue, have raised more than EUR 2 billion, and employ over 15,000 people. The newest portfolio entries added in late 2024 and later include 8Layers, Melow, Anything, ShowMe, Kapia, Axyom, Aurea, Kalipso and Autentic, so the fund is still deploying and leaning toward AI-native software. Third-party trackers list the latest tracked deal as a seed round in Peimi in January 2025.

Portfolio Highlights

• Exits marked on the portfolio page: cobee (employee benefits), OpenWebinars (programming courses), Oposita Test (exam prep), and Blok (10-minute grocery delivery, sold to Getir)
• Partial exit: Flanks (wealth management infrastructure)
• Active companies of note: Reby (shared e-scooters), Payflow (earned wage access), Embat (treasury management), Tropicfeel (travel gear), Weecover (embedded insurance)
• Failed bet flagged openly: Hubuc is labelled "We tried" on the page

Team

• Jeroen Merchiers, General Partner: Co-founder and CEO of Zazume and Lanai, former Managing Director of Airbnb EMEA
• Rubén Ferreiro, General Partner: CEO of VIKO, Chairman of YABA, business angel since 2010
• Guillermo Llibre, General Partner: Founder and CEO of Housell, former founder of GymForLess and Groupalia
• Diego Camilleri, General Partner: Former Competitive Strategy lead at Uber EMEA and Director at KPMG Deal Advisory, syndicate lead of eSeed.vc
• Pau Mallorqui, Investment Associate: Over 3 years in pre-seed VC investing
• Ignacio Garicano, Associate: Over 4 years in VC, led the creation of Impact Angels
• Sandra Castells, Investment Analyst: Manages deal flow and analysis

The team has worked together as founders and operators for about 12 years and has founded six companies (Viko, Groupalia, Gymforless, Housell, Zazume, Yaba). An investor and advisor bench of Spanish founders backs the fund, including founders of Atrapalo, Privalia, Barkibu, Cobee, Signaturit, Amenitiz, Payflow, Woffu, Typeform and iSalud.

Decision Process

A partnership of four general partners with an investment team handling deal flow. Decks come in through a Typeform on the site or [email protected]. Timeline is not published.

Founder Preferences

Winning teams over projects. Lanai favors Spanish and Spain-connected founders and gives weight to operator experience; the angel bench is itself a pool of former founders who help portfolio companies with hiring, distribution and follow-on rounds.

Geographic Focus

Spain first, with Barcelona as home base. Several portfolio companies sell into Latin America (Puntopost in Mexico) and Africa (Baluwo), and a few have expanded across Europe.

Gaps

AUM, fund sizes, lead tendency and decision timeline are not published on the site. Portfolio domains were left null because the portfolio page does not link out to most companies.