CAPITAL
Blueballoon Capital
Advisory built to endure.
M&A · Financing · Investments  ·  10 Place Vendôme, Paris
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Makers
The thesis
We advise founders who are also makers. A maison's founder is an artisan; a gene-therapy founder, a scientist — yet each built something they could not stop caring about. The transaction that defines such a company deserves an advisor who reads both the numbers and the story.
The practice
Three practice areas.
I.
M&A Advisory
Sell-side and buy-side. Whether realising a life's work or acquiring with conviction, the mandate begins long before the process — with what the business is truly worth, and to whom.
II.
Financing
Growth capital, structured with care — convertibles, bridge financing, institutional rounds. Informed by life inside a listed company, not only from across the table.
III.
Investments
Ready-to-go opportunities — originated, structured and managed by Blueballoon, deal by deal. Presented privately, by introduction, to a small circle of investors.
Where we work
Two worlds — Luxury & Premium Brands, and Healthcare & Life Sciences — joined by eyewear, the object that is medical and fashion at once.
“
His strategic vision, deal execution and dedication to securing the right result were decisive. A tremendous asset for any company pursuing transformative M&A.
Ulrich Schmid
Former Owner, Ximantix
Begin a conversation.
contact@blueballoon-capital.com
Practice

Three practice areas. One standard.

A mandate begins long before the process — with understanding what the business is truly worth, and to whom.

Doctrine
Our doctrine
We believe taste is a transferable asset. In luxury and premium brands, the value that matters most — heritage, codes, the discipline of restraint — rarely appears on a balance sheet. Our work is to make it legible to capital: to translate what a house has spent decades composing into terms an acquirer or investor can underwrite.
We have sat on both sides of the table, investor and issuer. It shapes how we price what others call intangible.
Conviction
Selective by conviction
We do not simply run processes. We take mandates we believe in, protect what makes the company worth acquiring, and treat the founder's work with the seriousness it deserves.
M&A Advisory
Sell-side & buy-side

Sell-side: we work with founders and shareholders who have built something valuable and are weighing the right moment and the right partner. We prepare the company, shape its narrative, and run a disciplined process to a signing that protects price, people and legacy. Buy-side: for acquirers who understand that in luxury and heritage the right acquisition is not the cheapest one, we source proprietary opportunities, conduct sector due diligence, and structure approaches that respect the identity of the target.

Financing
Capital, structured with care

We help companies structure and raise growth capital — convertible instruments, bridge financing, institutional rounds. Having operated in both private and listed environments, we bring the investor's perspective to the table: the equity story, the materials and the cadence that let capital understand, and fund, the strategy. The investor-relations discipline is built in, not bolted on.

Investments
Deal by deal

Beyond advising on transactions, Blueballoon originates its own. We find the idea, do the work until it stands — thesis, structure, governance, the numbers stated plainly — and present it, ready to go, to a small circle of investors. We then manage the vehicle through to exit, as deal manager rather than spectator. Each deal stands alone; members join the ones that suit them, and pass on the ones that do not.

How a mandate works
The process belongs to the transaction.
I.
Discovery
Understanding the business and its market — what it is, and what it is truly worth.
II.
Preparation
Positioning, valuation, documentation — the work that decides the outcome before the process begins.
III.
Execution
Process management, negotiation, closing — run by the principal, start to finish.
In confidence

We work on a strictly confidential basis. Mandates are not publicly disclosed without client consent. Selected references available upon request, under NDA.

Sectors

Two worlds, understood deeply.

We choose depth over breadth, operating where we know the economics, the buyers, and the difference between a brand and a business.

Luxury & Premium Brands
Luxe & Marques de prestige

Heritage maisons and family-owned companies. Fashion, home linen, perfume, leather goods, gastronomy, hospitality. We understand the specific economics of heritage brands: the role of founder identity in enterprise value, the challenge of transmitting savoir-faire, the difference between a brand and a business.

Healthcare & Life Sciences
Santé & Sciences du vivant

Biopharmaceuticals, medtech, digital health, gene therapy. Listed and private companies, across European and North American markets. Our healthcare practice is rooted in seven years of senior CFO experience at a Paris-listed gene therapy company. We understand regulatory environments, clinical-development economics, and the dynamics of financing early- and growth-stage businesses.

Eyewear · The hinge

Where the two worlds meet. A corrective lens is a medical object; the frame, a fashion object. Eyewear is the proof that our two worlds were never truly separate.

A transaction in your world?
contact@blueballoon-capital.com
Investments

Ready to go, deal by deal.

We originate an idea, build it into an investable vehicle, present it to a small circle — and manage it through to exit.

Sponsor
The model
An advisor sells counsel. A sponsor does the work first — and stands behind it. Every opportunity we present is already built: the thesis, the structure, the arithmetic stated plainly — ready for an investor to examine, and to join.
How it works
From idea to managed vehicle.
I.
Origination
The idea is found and underwritten before anyone is asked for anything — the market read, the operating model, the honest economics. If a case only works in the optimistic column, it is not presented.
II.
Structure
A dedicated vehicle, documented and ready: governance, tax and legal architecture, the exit path agreed before commitment. Specialist counsel engaged where the subject demands it.
III.
The circle
Opportunities are not published. They are presented privately, by introduction, to a restricted circle of investors. Each deal stands alone — members join the ones that suit them.
IV.
Stewardship
Blueballoon manages the vehicle through its life — operations oversight, reporting, and the exit — as deal manager, with its name inside the deal rather than beside it.
The register
Every case is presented with its risks and its arithmetic in plain sight — an honest case, not a sales pitch.
Join the circle, by introduction.
investments@blueballoon-capital.com

Nothing on this page is an offer of securities or a solicitation of the public. Opportunities are reserved for a restricted circle of investors and presented in accordance with applicable regulation.

The Managing Partner

Someone who understands
both the numbers and the story.

Jan Eryk Umiastowski
Jan Eryk Umiastowski
Managing Partner, Blueballoon Capital

I have spent nearly three decades at the intersection of finance, aesthetics, and sound — not because I could not choose between them, but because I believe the intersection is more interesting than any of the disciplines alone.

As CFO of GenSight Biologics, a Paris-listed gene therapy company, I led financing operations through complex liquidity situations, managed institutional investor relationships, and advised the board on strategic matters. Before that, I built Blueballoon Capital as a boutique advisory practice focused on two sectors I understand deeply: luxury brands and healthcare. That healthcare conviction was earned over fifteen years leading corporate M&A at Cegedim, the listed healthcare-technology group, where I executed acquisitions including Médimust and Ximantix.

I am preparing a quarterly magazine on the business of luxury — the public expression of everything I believe about the relationship between capital and culture — and I compose original music. These are not side projects. They are the same work, in different languages.

I am based in Paris, at 10 Place Vendôme. I work in French and English, and across healthcare and luxury without preferring one to the other. If you are considering a transaction and want a conversation with someone who understands both the numbers and the story behind them — I would be glad to speak.

Selected work
A record, not a portfolio.
Cegedim — acquisition of MédimustHealthcare software · Sell & integration
Cegedim — acquisition of XimantixHealthcare data · Cross-border
Transatlantic mandates — Europe ↔ North AmericaParis · Montréal

Further references available in confidence, by introduction.

Thought leadership

The Vendôme Note.

A personal reflection on the business of luxury. One market moment, one point of view, three hundred words — published on LinkedIn, archived here.

The archive
Earlier issues.
Read it first, in your feed.
Follow The Vendôme Note on LinkedIn
Contact

An invitation, not a form.

Begin a conversation.

We do not have a contact form. We have an email address — and we read every message ourselves. If a time suits you better than a message, reserve one directly.

Write to us
contact@blueballoon-capital.com
For investors
investments@blueballoon-capital.com
Reserve a time
A conversation, in confidence
Blueballoon Capital
10, Place Vendôme · Paris 75001
+33 7 86 25 18 21