The single-family office is driven purely by the needs and preferences of the Gastauer Family. Its purpose is to manage the substantial asset structure through global hedge strategies. Assets are managed via a broad mandate to trade and invest in a variety of global markets and financial instruments.
Michael Gastauer founded his first company by the age of 24. In less than three years his business reached a mid 8-digit valuation based on over US$ 1bn AUM, and was sold to a Swiss Investment firm.
In the early 2000s, Michael Gastauer`s second business venture demonstrated his ability to be highly innovative. As one of the first in Europe, he created an online payment system to offer global card acceptance and payment processing solutions for eCommerce industries. Michael led the business to consistent growth and profitability, reaching a US$ 480m valuation, before it was sold in 2008.
Seven years later Michael become an investor and founder of a digital banking group. The banking group is the fastest growing FinTech company in Asia, reaching a US$ 2.2bn valuation in less than ten months (Forbes, September 2016). In 2018 the banking group was estimated to be worth US$ 9.8bn. The Gastauer Family Office has a venture capital arm investing in FinTech companies.
In January 2024, Michael Gastauer decided to allocate $1.5 of his $11.4 billion family fortune to establish the Gastauer Nature Fund. The aim of the Gastauer Nature Fund is to combat the mass extinction of endangered animal species, to protect important ecosystems and to protect at least 30% of land and ocean areas by 2030. Currently, only 8% of our oceans and 15% of our global land areas are protected.
The Gastauer Nature Fund supports the goals of 30x30 in areas critical to carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection. As part of these efforts, the Gastauer Nature Fund financially supports local partners to secure land ownership in protected areas and strengthen the management of protected areas. In addition, the fund supports the establishment of administration units to monitor the development of protected areas.