Belgium’s private equity landscape is being rewritten from the bottom up – not by institutions, but by investors themselves.
Most fund managers spend months crafting investment strategies, then years convincing investors to buy into their vision. Thomas Guenter did the opposite. He asked his followers what they wanted, built exactly that, and collected 100 million euros from 600 investors without spending a euro on marketing.
The result? Belgium's largest private equity player by investor count; and a fundamental challenge to how private capital gets distributed across Europe. Because when you let the market drive product development instead of the other way around, you stop gatekeeping and start democratising – which is something Thomas has been trying to do since he first started blogging about personal finance.
“In my free time, I was spending a lot of time helping family and friends invest in the stock market, purchase real estate, and more. The blog seemed like a great way to help other people in Belgium do the same”, he shares.
As the market changed the way it consumes content, Thomas started sharing tips and tricks via Instagram and TikTok instead. “That’s when everything changed. I suddenly reached around a million people per month in Flanders, and then one thing led to the other and I was approached to write my first finance book.”
Family businesses started reaching out to him looking for an advisor, which is how he ended up in private equity and venture capital. “I spent a lot of time analysing different PE and VC funds for clients, and then it clicked about a year ago… Why don’t I bundle all these different funds and make them accessible”, Thomas explains.
While traditional managers build funds then hunt for capital, Finhouse reversed the equation entirely. "I put the idea out there", Guenter explains. "What if I launch my own fund with a 100,000 euros minimum ticket for PE and VC at a low cost… would you be interested? More than 600 people said yes."
His journey from BCG consultant to fund manager via social media might sound unconventional, but it's produced a modern textbook case study in demand-driven innovation. More importantly, it's exposed 3 converging forces that are building European wealth management: costs, access and trust…
Although the initial survey was not binding, it provided something most fund launches never have: validated demand before a single legal document was drafted. “Because the reception was so good, we decided to pursue the opportunity”, Thomas says.
This market-first approach hasn't stopped post-launch, either. When investors requested access to listed equities alongside private markets, Finhouse announced that it will also launch a Listed Equities fund... When investors indicated an interest in deeper exposure to specific managers within the portfolio, Finhouse announced that feeder funds will also be set up from 2026 onwards.
And the best part for any business or finance professional? They have only spent 25 euros on marketing to raise their first 100 million euros, namely to pay a student who designed the Finhouse logo.
Access: The new market leverage?
The demand driving Finhouse's growth reflects 3 fundamental shifts that extend far beyond Belgium's borders, each reinforcing the others to create what Thomas calls "the perfect storm”.
"The stock market is at an all-time high, price-earnings ratios are through the roof, the Buffett indicator is through the roof; a lot of indicators are flashing red", he notes. "This supports the idea: I need to invest, but there's more than just the stock market."
For Belgian investors, this creates particular urgency. Concentrated domestic equity markets and limited local alternatives make international private equity attractive if accessible and affordable. The diversification need has become existential for serious wealth preservation.
"You can work very hard and hopefully have an impact and make a living, but if you're only trading your time for money, you don't have leverage", he observes. "A lot of people are waking up to the idea that you need to put your money to work as well."
In 2024, Forbes Belgium included Thomas on the Forbes Belgium 30 Under 30 list for the positive impact he has on financial education in the country. When Thomas's finance book sold over 20,000 copies in Flanders (a region of just 6.6 million people), in addition to his many followers on social media platforms, it signalled a clear appetite for wealth optimisation strategies previously reserved for institutional players.
But appetite without access means nothing. "Up until the launch of Finhouse, it was not possible in Belgium to invest in PE and VC funds with 100,000 euros", Thomas points out. "There are players with a minimum of 1 or 2 million euros. Our 100,000 euros threshold represents the difference between exclusive access and broad accessibility: lowering the minimum ticket size by a factor of 10."
The transparency transformation
"Asset managers have been blindly trusted by investors in the past, which has sometimes led to excessive costs… Now, investors want to trust and verify", Thomas explains. "They want to see what the costs are."
This shift reflects generational change amplified by technology. Younger investors, influenced by low-cost ETFs and digital-first financial products, increasingly question traditional fee structures. When Thomas posts about costs on social media, family officers tell him it has changed industry conversations. "This question about costs is much more on the table today."
The demand for transparency extends beyond fees to terms and conditions. While traditional funds keep institutional discounts for themselves, Finhouse passes them through. "When we negotiate a discount somewhere, we pass it along 100 percent to our investors", Thomas explains. "Typically, feeder funds hold this discount for themselves; they'll give their investors returns as if they didn't negotiate any discount."
Democratisation through design
Finhouse's response to market demand centres on what Thomas calls the "3 out of 3" that he wanted to achieve with the Finhouse Global Fund: lowest minimum ticket size, broadest product range, and lowest costs in the market. But the democratisation runs deeper than marketing positioning: it challenges the fundamental economics of traditional private equity distribution.
"We're a small team, we work remotely. We don't have legacy IT systems or an expensive network of physical offices”, he notes. “Typically, when you start a fund in Belgium, you have 4 or 5 senior people who go door-to-door across Flanders, visiting wealthy families. That's extremely time-consuming, and those people want to make substantial money because they've worked in finance for 30 years."
That kind of approach or setup requires "very heavy fees" to sustain. Finhouse's lean, digital-first approach represents an existential challenge to that model.
And while many senior players have been supportive, recognising that market expansion benefits everyone, others resist openly. There's concern among some incumbents that Finhouse's approach threatens established ways of working, particularly as it raises the bar for lower fees, greater transparency, and more investor-friendly terms.
"We can do this at very low fees and still make a living", Thomas explains. "We save a lot of time and money because we have efficient, remote processes and do not engage in outreach; everyone who has invested so far has contacted us, and because we communicate one-to-many instead of one-to-one. It's somewhat of an unfair advantage."
For established players across Europe, there is a choice: Adapt to investor demands for accessibility, transparency, and fair pricing, or watch market share migrate to those who will.
"I think that's where the market is headed anyway", Thomas concludes.
READ ALSO: Private Equity Summit 2025: PE in 2030 – What will it take?
