Growth equity is a private capital investment strategy that provides funding for established companies to expand operations. Unlike venture capital that targets startups, growth equity focuses on more mature, profitable businesses looking to scale up. Growth equity investors inject capital to help companies accelerate growth, increase production capacity, develop new products, or fund acquisitions. The capital may be used as an alternative to taking on additional debt. A company may partner with a growth equity firm to receive funding as well as strategic and operational guidance without giving up control. Growth equity typically takes a minority stake in companies and aims to generate returns through the increased value of that stake as the company grows. Ideal targets for growth equity are high-potential businesses with proven products in need of capital to fulfill their next stage of expansion.
he third edition of 0100 International — organized by Zero One Hundred Conferences in partnership with the Milan City Council’s Department of Economic Development and Milano&Partners — brought together the global private markets community for a high-signal, execution-focused gathering held from October 27–29.
François Candelon, Partner for Value Creation & Portfolio Monitoring at Seven2, shares how the firm aligns every investment around a clear “exit animal”—a vision of the company at exit—and uses disciplined execution, AI-driven transformation, and sustainability as levers for resilience and premium valuations. From reengineering core processes with AI to embedding decarbonization into business strategy, Candelon explains how Seven2 builds companies that are not just exit-ready, but future-proof.
Private markets are entering a new era where trust, compliance, and technology converge. While public markets enjoy automation and transparency, private assets still depend on paper-based, fragmented systems. Antonio Chiarello, CEO of Weltix, argues that the next leap forward is not just digitization, but the creation of digital infrastructures that redefine ownership. In this conversation, he discusses why friction is structural rather than technological, how regulation enables innovation, and how programmable liquidity and transparency can channel more private capital into real economic growth.
