David Keech

David Keech spent roughly 15 years at Oakley Capital, a mid-market European private equity firm known for its entrepreneurial approach and focus on businesses owned by founders or entrepreneurial managers, as well as complex carve-outs. He joined Oakley in 2010 and focused primarily on deal execution and investment advice, working across the firm's funds from its first fund through to the successful fundraising of Fund VI. During his tenure he carried the title of Investment Director and later Managing Director / Portfolio Managing Director.

At Oakley, David worked extensively with the firm's online and digital-marketplace assets, including Emesa, Verivox (energy/insurance price comparison, Germany), Facile.it (price comparison, Italy) and the Casa.it / atHome online real-estate portfolios (Italy and Luxembourg). He also worked on ACE Education in the higher-education sector. He held board and non-executive director roles at several of these portfolio companies, including a Non-Executive Director seat at atHome Group (Luxembourg online real estate) held since January 2017, plus positions connected to Casa.it and Facile.it.

Before Oakley, David spent four years at KPMG Corporate Finance, advising on mid-market M&A transactions in the Consumer and Healthcare markets across the UK and Western Europe. On the academic and professional side, he holds the ICAEW's Advanced Diploma in Corporate Finance and an MA (Oxon) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from Magdalen College, Oxford.

According to his own LinkedIn profile, David has recently stepped back from Oakley — his current headline describes a "Non-Executive Director and Advisory Portfolio," indicating he is taking a break and weighing his next challenge rather than actively deploying capital as an Oakley principal. Founders should treat the "Oakley Investment Director" designation as recent-but-transitioning and confirm his current mandate directly.

• Invests through Oakley Capital's private equity funds, not as an individual angel — the "Angel Investors / Seed Round" label in the source stub does not match his actual profile.
• Backs founder- and entrepreneur-owned businesses and complex carve-outs, aligning with Oakley's stated model of partnering with "ambitious entrepreneurs."
• Deep specialization in online marketplaces and price-comparison / consumer-internet platforms (Verivox, Facile.it, Casa.it, atHome, Emesa), plus education (ACE Education).
• Value creation comes from deal execution and hands-on investment advice, frequently taking board / non-executive director seats in portfolio companies to steward growth.
• Sector center of gravity: Technology, Consumer, Business Services and Education across Western Europe, with strong DACH, Italian and Benelux exposure.