Fortino Ventures tops Dealmakerdata.be's Q3 private equity league table with five deals, in a quarter where one of the clearest emerging trends was existing backers, founders and managers putting capital back in.
Private equity is often pictured as an outsider that arrives, takes control and leaves, but in many of the deals covered on MandA.be and Dealmakerdata.be this quarter, existing investors, sellers or managers chose to double down on their commitments – in some cases, in collaboration with new owners.
Fortino Ventures, the quarter’s most active investor on Dealmakerdata.be, is a case in point. In September, it reinvested in Leuven-based recruitment software company Spott, which it has backed since pre-seed, as part of a $21 million Series A. “There is something rather satisfying about watching founders start with a strong conviction about a gap in the market and then execute so quickly that the market has little choice but to agree,” Fortino Ventures’ managing partner, Filip Van Innis, said.
Behind Fortino Ventures, seven investors share second place with three deals each: Belfius, PMV, SFPIM, Strada Partners, Wallonie Entreprendre, Entourage Capital and WAD Capital. CNP and Alychlo complete the top 10 with two deals each.
The Q3 league tables are an overview of the legal firms and professionals most visible on Dealmakerdata.be, ranked by number of deals. They are not a definitive list of top performers.
Second commitments
Several of Q2’s most active names reappear in Q3’s deals as returning backers rather than new buyers: Tilleghem reinvested alongside founder Luc De Kerf when it sold its majority stake in DKM Customs to IceLake Capital.
Conveo's Belgian backers, Entourage Capital and Syndicate One among them, all returned. Every seed investor in Chift, including Entourage Capital and Wallonie Entreprendre, came back for its Series A. Existing investors followed on in Endo Tools Therapeutics' Series C and in Vaderis Therapeutics' Series B, where Brussels-based Droia Ventures returned.
Smartfin also returned to lead Auditstage's seed round after backing its pre-seed. “Our conviction has only grown, and we felt it was essential to double down,” noted managing partner Jürgen Ingels.
When control did change hands, previous owners often kept a stake. Strada Partners sold majority control of AXI to IceLake Capital but remains a significant minority shareholder. Smartfin and Coformaco stayed invested in BrightAnalytics alongside the founders when PSG Equity came in. At Amadeus, the existing shareholders kept a minority stake and continue to run the business after Alychlo's majority investment, and the Abraham family reinvested in Les Carrières de la Pierre Bleue Belge alongside Wallonie Entreprendre.
Medipartner's CEO and executives became shareholders as B3 Partners bought out We Are Jane. Varel Security's CEO joined as a shareholder in Smile Invest's deal, and ADC's six partners became shareholders of PIA Group. Buy-and-build platforms such as Oculus Group also let founders of acquired businesses remain co-shareholders in the group.
Why now and what about Q4?
Part of the explanation is the market. David Theys, head of M&A Advisory at KPMG Belgium, describes activity as “healthy, but it's not the full-throttle market we saw in 2018–2019.”
When buyers and sellers disagree on price, a rollover or reinvestment lets the seller keep some upside and gives the buyer a partner with skin in the game. Loyens & Loeff partner Thomas Lenné calls them “pragmatic tools to bridge the expectation gap”, adding:
“What matters is speed, clarity and collaboration. The winners aren’t necessarily the highest bidders; they’re the parties with the best preparation, realistic structures and a credible plan for creating value.”
In other words, it comes down to conviction. In a selective market, following on is often the lower-risk bet.
If Q3 is any guide, the investors to watch are not only those with fresh funds, but those with deep existing relationships. For founders, that means the first investor they choose may also fund the next stage. For investors, it means the quality of relationships is increasingly part of the deal itself.
Thomas and his colleague Wessel Wijtvliet (AI Solutions Lead at Loyens & Loeff, and research fellow on the law faculty at KU Leuven) private equity creates value today is also on the agenda at the M&A Private Equity Summit 2026 on 22 October, organised in partnership with and hosted at the offices of Loyens & Loeff Belgium (in Brussels).
Find out more about the event here.
Disclaimer
The League Tables are always a snapshot in time, so results published on MandA.be may differ from Dealmakerdata.be at a later date. The online version on Dealmakerdata.be always reflects the most current status. Deal values are not included, as not all values are disclosed and some are estimates. Please keep adding your deals to the database, or send them to [email protected] and we'll ensure it is included.
The deadline for the Q4 League Table submissions is 15 November 2026.
Questions? Contact the Dealmakerdata.be deal team: [email protected].
