CAPITAL
Blueballoon Capital
Advisory built to endure.
M&A & Financing  ·  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
Two 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.
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
Maison
Part of a house
Blueballoon Capital is the capital discipline of Maison Bleu — capital, sound and beauty, approached with equal seriousness. The advisor who understands a creator is, himself, one.
Capital · Blueballoon Sound · Sunblue Studio Beauty · BLUE.
Begin a conversation.
contact@blueballoon-capital.com
Practice

Two practice areas. One standard.

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

Conviction
Selective by conviction
We don't just facilitate deals. We nurture visions, respect artistic integrity, and help translate creative passion into strategic growth.
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.

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. We publish BLUE. — the only advisory firm in this sector with an editorial product of this quality.

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
The Managing Partner

Someone who understands
both the numbers and the story.

Jan Eryk Umiastowski
Managing Partner, Blueballoon Capital  ·  Editor, BLUE.  ·  Composer, Sunblue Studio

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 edit BLUE., a quarterly luxury and fashion magazine that I founded as the public expression of everything I believe about the relationship between capital and culture. I compose original music for its pages under the Sunblue Studio name. 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.

Jan Eryk also directs Sunblue Studio.
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
Reserve a time
A conversation, in confidence
Blueballoon Capital
10, Place Vendôme · Paris 75001
+33 7 86 25 18 21