BlackPebble
FPOWhat we look for
One founder-led Italian company that sells to other businesses.
Read more →Facts
From the memorandum
Traditional search fund
Italy
The searcher
Davide Neri
Read more →For owners
A buyer you can meet before you decide.
Read more →Contacts
davide@
What we look for
Black Pebble Capital is a traditional search fund, founded by Davide Neri to acquire one established Italian B2B company and lead it personally for the long term.
Two pools, one logic
Manufacturers of components, equipment, materials and ingredients, and providers of technical services such as maintenance, inspection, testing and certification. Both have a sound operating core that works below the founder and a commercial system that has not kept pace with the product.
The company
- Revenue
- €5-25m
- EBITDA
- €1-4m, margin ≥15%
- Debt
- ≤2x EBITDA, ideally net cash
- Customers
- Businesses that come back, none above 20-25% of revenue
- Team
- A technical lead below the founder
- Where
- Italy, priority North and Centre-North
Three lenses
- The business: a market that grows, pricing power, low capital needs, profits that turn into cash.
- The seller: integrity, a clear reason to sell and a willingness to hand over.
- Room for growth: pricing and key accounts, export, data and AI where the return is measurable.
What we will not buy
Software that AI can replace, retailers, capital-intensive process industries, and businesses that depend on public tenders or incentives.
Why Italy, why now
profitable Italian manufacturers and industrial service providers screened, with revenue up to €25m and EBITDA of at least €1m.Black Pebble Capital screen on AIDA / Bureau van Dijk, October 2026.
of them have a board member aged 55 or over. The median age of the oldest is 64.Same screen. Age signals succession; it is verified company by company.
leaders of Italy's family firms above €20m revenue is over 70, up from about 1 in 6 in 2010.Osservatorio AUB, 17th edition, February 2026.
of the Italian search-fund deals closed so far were sales for generational succession.Osservatorio Search Fund, Politecnico di Milano, H1 2026.
active enterprises: the second-largest business population in the EU, after France.Eurostat, business demography, 2024.
“The company we buy is already good. The job is to improve it, not to fix it.”
Davide Neri
I want to own and lead one company, for the long term.
Path
- Wizards of the Coast, then eBay, where my remit grew from Italy to Denmark and Belgium.
- Nearly eight years at Hasbro, ending as Marketing Director for Italy: 11 people, the brand portfolio, the marketing budget and the net-sales objectives. In 2024 I also took on the 12-person sales team.
- In 2024 I left the corporate track by choice: I invested my own money in an Italian AI integrator, joined its board and became its Commercial Director.
- SWAPPA, a card game I designed and launched in 2024: its 3,000-unit first run sold out.
- Executive MBA, SDA Bocconi, completing in March 2027.
Why
In Italy, old friends greet each other as “vecchia roccia”, old rock. My father and I always have. One morning my eldest son, three years old, greeted me the same way. Since then my children have been my young black pebbles.
Across Italy, thousands of founders who built excellent companies are reaching the age of handing over, and many have no successor ready. I want to be the buyer they can meet before they decide: an entrepreneur who buys one company, keeps what makes it good, and leads it himself. I want this for my children, and for the work I want to do.
What happens to your company
- Customers, suppliers and your technical team see continuity first.
- Key people are kept and given a reason to stay.
- You stay in a defined transition role for a period we agree together.
- Changes come gradually, and they are explained.
- You can keep a stake in the company if you wish.
- I lead the company myself, full-time, with a board of experienced investors.
Every conversation is confidential. Advisers, chartered accountants and lawyers who work with founders are welcome to get in touch.
Contacts
Owners
Tell me about your company and what you want for its future. Every conversation is confidential.
Advisers
If you work with founders who are thinking about succession, I would be glad to talk.
Investors
Request the memorandum by email.
Davide Neri, Founder and Searcher, Black Pebble Capital. This site is for information only. Nothing on it is an offer of securities or a solicitation to invest.