Following his Law Degree in Antwerp and Louvain in Belgium, Christophe gained extensive experience as a lawyer (avocat) in Brussels, Paris, London and Munich.

He made the switch to the industry-side in 1994, being invited to assist a German company with its private placement activities in the United States.

Since, he was appointed Managing Director of select Private Equity funds concentrated along the economic axis between France, US, Israel and Germany; positions he will continue to honour while being active at Avestu.

In parallel, Christophe also managed, advised, restructured and liquidated companies ranging from software to hardware and from real estate to consumer goods.

Currently, he is also President of the Supervisory Board of a German software company and of a digital provider company. Moreover, he serves as Managing Director at Wachstum Deutschland GP GmbH (KfW Capital).

At Avestu, Christophe will focus on bridging the gap between the investment needs of later-stage startups and the operational milestones and benchmarks they have to meet, to be considered suitable candidates for acquisition by PE entities or other industry players.

A true Art Deco and Modern Art enthusiast and a hockey fiend, Christophe brings a mindset of jovial competition, constant evolution and disruption to Avestu.

Christoph Schwager brings over three decades of leadership at the intersection of strategy, risk, and transformation.

A former Chief Risk Officer at Airbus and Senior Partner at EY and PwC, Christoph blends deep operational experience with the foresight of a systems thinker and the agility of a founder. An active Angel Investor and LP, Christoph has a penchant for investing in system-critical infrastructure, such as water.

At Avestu, he helps ventures, institutions, and family offices navigate complexity - from capital strategy to enterprise transformation - with a strong bias for clarity, resilience, and impact.

He is widely recognised for his ability to shape high-performance, opportunity- and risk-aware cultures within large organisations and founder ecosystems alike.

Christoph has led critical transformation initiatives across sectors, and co-founded the global thinktank beyondRM.org to advance thinking on governance, uncertainty, and enterprise value creation.

As Chairman & CEO of Green Vault Holding, Christoph works with mission-driven investors to build lasting capital structures in sectors including water, digital infrastructure, and emerging tech.

In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, skiing, rolling up his sleeves to revamp DIN standards or his garden, dabbles in art and adventure travel, using any excuse to travel to South Africa.

Verena Alice Sturm is a strategist, investor, and ecosystem builder operating at the intersection of capital, innovation, and systemic change.

With a background in Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE), International Relations, Political Risk Analysis and Sustainable Finance, she bridges research-driven insight with entrepreneurial execution.

After completing her IR degree with Hult International Business School in London with Honours, Verena co-developed a methodology to enhance Delphi-based scenario analysis for innovation-intensive environments in collaboration with Professor Hisham Al Saghbini. She went on to found Avestu Institute, a startup-focused strategy think tank with hubs in London, Berlin, and Munich.

At Avestu, she has advised founders, funds, FOs and institutions through complex strategic challenges - combining classic forecasting tools and scenario analysis with semi-quantitative methods tailored to high-growth, high-uncertainty contexts. Her focus has always been on formulating custom solutions to her clients needs. Since 2014, Verena specialises in Investor Relations and fundraising strategy, supporting ventures and funds along deal lifecycle from series seed to IPO or exit. In 2018, she launched Avestu Capital, catalyzing her vision and capital advisory work into a dedicated Family Office meets ThinkTank meets Investor Readiness and Matchmaking platform, supporting companies from early-stage fundraising through to growth, acquisition, and succession.

She is a Founding Partner at Mandatory Ventures, a Fund of Funds investing in emerging venture capital managers, and a Lecturer in Venture Capital & Finance at ISM Munich.

Verena also serves as Chairwoman and Chief Finance & Strategy Officer (CFSO) at Green Vault Holding, a family office focused on water, energy, natural capital, and long-horizon private equity. There, she co-leads investment structuring and ecosystem design for catalytic capital deployment across emerging markets.

Verena is recognised as an ISPI Young Leader and serves as a Non-Resident Fellow at ORF Middle East, where she contributes to innovation policy and climate strategy across emerging economies. She regularly participates in global convenings including COP, the World Economic Forum, Raisina Dialogue, and Atlantic Council roundtables, engaging on issues of capital access, climate justice, and systems-level innovation.

Her work centres on aligning capital with long-term systemic impact & societal value, with a particular focus on ethical technology, water and climate resilience, DeepTech, and social ventures.

Known for her sharp strategic instincts and deep network, Verena is committed to building genuine, reliable, long-term partnerships across the venture and policy ecosystem. She believes in creating long-standing, high impact societal value via entrepreneurship and supporting investors in taking 'value'-based investment decisions, advising multiple HNWIs and FOS. She has a heart for ethical technological innovation, DeepTech and social ventures. She remains an advocate for gender-lense investing.
She has always been drawn to entrepreneurial challenges and creating opportunities by bringing together the right parties to help make catalytic ideas reality.

When she is not scouting ventures or structuring capital vehicles, you’ll likely find her in an art gallery, exploring antiques, sailing or planning her next adventure.