Spire Capital Partners takes minority stake in BONARD
Spire Capital Partners has taken a minority stake in BONARD, providing strategic growth capital to support the expansion of the company’s data coverage across student housing, build-to-rent, and other living sectors worldwide.
BONARD, a Vienna-headquartered real estate data and research provider, said Spire Capital Partners (SCP), a Poland-based CEE-focused private equity firm, has joined the company as a financial investor, while the founder and management team retain full management control.
The partnership will accelerate geographic expansion, broaden coverage of living asset classes, and support continued investment in product development, technology, and organisational scale.
The investment comes amid rising institutional allocation to living sectors, particularly student housing, where demand continues to significantly exceed supply across much of Europe. The company said industry rankings place purpose-built student accommodation and other living investment classes, including co-living, multifamily, build-to-rent and senior living, among the top asset classes in terms of investment potential and growth.
BONARD said the newly secured capital will enable it to expand into additional geographies and data coverage while augmenting its platform to include further rented residential asset classes. The group also plans to enhance customer experience across its data platform, reports, and advisory services.
Samuel Vetrak, chief executive officer and founder of BONARD, said: “Qualified professional data is increasingly more important in the investment world, more so for growing investment interest in living sectors. We consider it a good moment to become empowered. We were aiming for a minority financial partner with strategic capital to scale up and enhance.”
He added: “We received several offers and chose SCP and their team. We are glad to be joined by such a strong investment group with a great track record of building value.”
The transaction represents SCP’s first international investment and aligns with its scale-up strategy of backing founder-led businesses with strong leadership positions in attractive growth markets.
The firm is backed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a multilateral development bank, the European Investment Fund, a European Union-backed investment fund, and the Polish Development Fund, Poland’s state development fund.
Arkadiusz Podziewski, partner at Spire Capital Partners, said: “BONARD has an exceptional team and leadership position in a growing global sector. The living sector, and PBSA in particular, are poised for accelerated growth, and BONARD has a great product and expertise to serve the growing universe of investors, developers, operators, and lenders in this space. It fits our scale-up investment strategy to support strong teams with exceptional products in attractive markets.”
Łukasz Wierdak, partner at Spire Capital Partners, added: “Sector specialists, such as BONARD, are in sustained investment demand, as their capabilities, proven execution, and depth of sector penetration are increasingly sought after by strategic stakeholders looking to strengthen their market positioning. We are very happy to have added the company to our portfolio.”
BONARD was advised by KPMG on commercial and financial matters, and by Highgate on legal matters. Spire Capital Partners’ advisers included Hillbridges on legal matters and Mazars on financial and tax matters.
