Marko Maschek

Marko Maschek
Nationality	German
Occupation	Business executive, investor
Known for	Managing director of Maschmeyer Group; co-founder and managing partner of Marondo Capital

Marko Maschek is a German business executive and investor who serves as a managing director of the Maschmeyer Group, the family office and investment platform associated with German entrepreneur Carsten Maschmeyer. Maschek is also known as a co-founder and managing partner of Marondo Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) that focuses on investments in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In 2025, Marondo Capital attracted significant attention in the European private equity industry when it launched a fundraise targeting €250 million for its second fund, pivoting toward investments in dual-use defence technology and critical infrastructure — a strategic shift that positioned the firm at the forefront of a broader trend among European investors reassessing opportunities in the defence sector amid rising geopolitical tensions.

Career

Maschmeyer Group

Marko Maschek holds the position of managing director at the Maschmeyer Group, the investment vehicle and family office of Carsten Maschmeyer, a prominent German entrepreneur and investor. In this capacity, Maschek is involved in overseeing investment activities and strategic direction across the group's portfolio, which spans multiple asset classes and sectors.

Marondo Capital

Maschek is a co-founder and managing partner of Marondo Capital, a private equity firm that specialises in investing in SMEs in the DACH region. The firm's investment approach centres on identifying and backing established small and medium-sized businesses, a segment of the German economy that forms the backbone of the country's industrial base.

Second Fund and Defence Pivot

In August 2025, it was reported that Marondo Capital had begun fundraising for its second fund, targeting €250 million in commitments. The new fund marked a notable strategic evolution for the firm, as it was designed to invest specifically in dual-use defence technology and critical infrastructure companies. The term "dual-use" refers to technologies and products that have both civilian and military applications, a category that encompasses a wide range of German industrial capabilities in areas such as sensors, communications equipment, advanced materials, and precision engineering.

The fund's focus on German SMEs as key suppliers of defence components reflected a broader recognition within the European private equity industry that the continent's defence supply chains are heavily dependent on small and medium-sized manufacturers. According to reporting by PE Hub, Marondo Capital identified German SMEs as critical suppliers of components to the defence sector, a positioning that took on heightened importance as European governments moved to increase defence spending in response to geopolitical developments, including the war in Ukraine and shifting transatlantic security dynamics.

The launch of Marondo Capital's second fund coincided with a period of significant transformation in the European investment landscape regarding defence assets. PE Hub noted the fundraise as part of a broader trend in which a growing number of limited partners (LPs) — the institutional investors who commit capital to private equity funds — were easing restrictions around defence-related investments.

Role in the European Defence Investment Landscape

Marondo Capital's fundraise under Maschek's leadership placed the firm within a rapidly evolving sector of the European private equity market. Throughout 2025, the intersection of private equity and defence emerged as one of the most discussed themes in European finance, driven by governments' commitments to increase military spending and modernise armed forces.

Private Equity International reported in October 2025 that the private equity industry was broadly preparing for a strategic pivot toward defence, though the publication noted that reputational risk and a relative lack of established fund opportunities remained significant obstacles for investors. This context is relevant to understanding the environment in which Maschek and Marondo Capital were operating: the firm was among the early movers in establishing a dedicated fund vehicle for dual-use defence investments in the DACH region, a market where many institutional investors had historically maintained restrictive policies on defence-related assets.

The question of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and their compatibility with defence investments was a central issue facing the sector during this period. Private Equity International reported in September 2025 that pension funds, insurers, and general partners (GPs) across Europe were revising their documentation and internal policies to permit investment into defence-related assets that had previously been off-limits under ESG frameworks. Marondo Capital's focus on dual-use technologies — which have legitimate civilian applications alongside military utility — positioned the fund in a space that some investors considered more compatible with evolving ESG standards than investments in pure-play weapons manufacturers.

By the end of 2025, the broader defence investment trend had become well established but not without complications. Private Equity International reported in December 2025 on factors hindering defence deployment in private equity, suggesting that despite strong investor interest, practical challenges remained in translating capital commitments into actual investments in the sector.

Meanwhile, some market participants expressed caution about valuations in the defence technology space. Christian Wiehenkamp, chief investment officer of family office Perpetual, was reported by Venture Capital Journal in November 2025 to have questioned whether the defence sector opportunity matched the high level of investor demand, suggesting that enthusiasm may have outpaced fundamentals in certain segments. Such commentary provided context for the competitive environment in which Marondo Capital's second fund was being raised.

The year 2025 was also described as a record-breaking period for private equity deals in the aerospace and defence sector more broadly. PE Hub reported in November 2025 that major firms including Arlington Capital Partners, Blackstone, Charlesbank Capital Partners, Greenbriar Equity Group, and Warburg Pincus discussed the unprecedented level of deal activity in aerospace and defence during the year. Marondo Capital's focus on the DACH region's SME segment differentiated its approach from these larger, predominantly U.S.-based firms, which tended to pursue larger-scale transactions in the prime contractor and platform-level segments of the defence industry.

Investment Strategy

Under Maschek's leadership, Marondo Capital's investment strategy for its second fund was characterised by a focus on German SMEs that serve as suppliers within defence and critical infrastructure supply chains. This approach reflected an understanding of the structure of European defence procurement, in which large prime contractors such as Rheinmetall, KNDS, and Airbus Defence and Space rely on extensive networks of smaller, specialised suppliers for components, subsystems, and technologies.

The firm's emphasis on dual-use technologies — products and capabilities with both civilian and military applications — was a deliberate strategic choice that addressed multiple market dynamics simultaneously. For portfolio companies, dual-use positioning provided revenue diversification across both commercial and government markets. For the fund's investors, the dual-use framework offered a degree of insulation from some of the reputational and ESG-related concerns that continued to affect pure-play defence investments.

The €250 million target for the second fund represented a significant scale-up relative to the firm's initial activities and indicated growing investor confidence in both Marondo Capital's team and its thesis regarding the DACH SME defence supply chain.

Recognition

As of 2025, Marondo Capital's fundraise for its second fund attracted coverage from leading private equity and financial media outlets, including Private Equity International, PE Hub, and Venture Capital Journal. The firm's positioning at the intersection of DACH-region SME investing and the dual-use defence technology theme placed it among a small number of European private equity firms that were early movers in establishing dedicated fund vehicles for defence-related investments.

The attention received by Marondo Capital reflected the significance of the firm's strategy within the broader context of European security policy and industrial policy, as governments across the continent sought to build more resilient defence supply chains and reduce dependence on non-European suppliers for critical military and infrastructure components.