Laurent Marlière, CEO of DealFox;
Chronicle.lu recently had the opportunity to speak with Laurent Marlière, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DealFox, to learn more about this Luxembourg-based digital investment platform.
This article forms part of a series of interviews with "newcomers" hosted at the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), i.e. startups having joined the LHoFT since 1 January 2022. DealFox has been present at the LHoFT since May 2023.
Chronicle.lu: Please introduce your company and the products/services it offers.
Laurent Marlière: DealFox is the only global deal origination platform for regulated professionals. It provides a unique and confidential way for trusted advisors to source investment opportunities from around the globe. While also enabling professionals active on the sell side to distribute investment opportunities to more than 45,000 investors.
Chronicle.lu: What led to the creation of your company?
Laurent Marlière: After 30 years of working in consultancy, it became clear that many lawyers and accountants and other M&A [mergers and acquisitions] professionals had various tools at their disposal, but no platform for deal origination. Using the latest in AI tech, we wanted to create a way that investment opportunities could be matched to our database of our existing network of 45,000 investors.
Chronicle.lu: Why Luxembourg?
Laurent Marlière: Basing our headquarters in Luxembourg was a key part of our strategy of focusing on trusted advisers. We knew that this would be a an excellent place to identify our initial partners and clients for the platform. In addition, as Luxembourg evolves from a being a back office compliance centre of excellence, our platform will enable it to become more front office, getting involved with deals earlier and thus gaining influence over other competing financial centres.
Chronicle.lu: What makes your company and its offer unique?
Laurent Marlière: We are building new AI tech that will change the way professionals conduct "deal origination", by creating the "Spotify of the Deal". Investors and their clients implement their exact criteria to fill their pipeline with off-market, pre-qualified opportunities.
Chronicle.lu: What is next for your company?
Laurent Marlière: We are searching for pre-launch partners in several key jurisdictions within Europe. As soon as this is achieved, we will be focusing on building the business in the USA and Asia.
