Nicole Junkermann is a European based investor and entrepreneur in the international areas of real estate, technology, sports, and media. She is the founder of United in Sports, a private equity firm that invests in sports related businesses, and an advisor at Trilantic Capital Partners.
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Business Activities
Nicole Junkermann is the majority investor in various companies and has participated in numerous investment opportunities. Her holdings and activities have included experiences with Songza, Infront, United in Sports, Shanghai Really Sports, and Ziggurat.
Songza
Songza is an application developed to provide playlists to subscribers that match different contexts depending on mood, time of day, and activities. In 2013, Nicole Junkermann was part of a group of investors that allowed Songza to raise $3.8 million, giving it the leverage needed to grow to 5.5 million subscribers. In July 2014, Google announced its acquisition of Songza, for which it paid an estimated $39 million. The sale came on the heels of a similar purchase on the part of Apple, who acquired a company known as Beats for $3 billion. with Junkermann serving as an investor and executive partner in the fund. One of the assets of United in Sports was Infront Sports & Media. Junkermann exited from United in Sports in 2011 with the sale of Infront
Infront
Nicole Junkermann was a one of the shareholder of Infront Sports & Media, a firm that provided sports and media rights management with an emphasis on areas such as motor sports, winter sports, and football. Infront was established through acquiring the FIFA world cup out of the bankruptcy from KirchSport. Junkermann served as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Infront, which ultimately sold to Bridgepoint, a private equity firm based in Europe, in 2011.
United in Sports
In 2005, Nicole Junkermann founded the first investment fund fully dedicated to sports retail networks, sports apparel producers, undervalued sports brands and media rights management in the European and Asian markets. The fund, United in Sports, focused on three specific sectors, being television rights, retail, and sports apparel. United in Sports went on to raise €242.2 million with Junkermann serving as an investor and executive partner in the fund. One of the assets of United in Sports was Infront Sports & Media. Junkermann exited from United in Sports in 2011 with the sale of Infront.
Ziggurat
Real estate became another part of Nicole Junkermann’s business and investment portfolio in 2014, through her involvement with Ziggurat. At that time, it was revealed that she was backing a project being developed by the family of Sean Reilly, a property developer. The scheme is to include about 150 family homes in west Dublin, located at Hansfield and Barnwell. In addition, Junkermann is involved in various student resident projects in Ireland and Scotland.
In Edinburgh, Junkermann is developing a project in the Leith area, which will result in two new student residences providing about 530 beds. The Newcastle development is smaller, and is converting 8 buildings that were formerly owned by Newcastle University into housing for up to 89 students. The Montrose project will yield about 200 new student residences, and will also include space for a bank, a convenience store, and a coffee shop on the premises.