OctoFox was founded in Miami in February 2026 to do in the United States what its founder spent the previous decade doing in Europe: buy established companies that have lost their way, take the chair, and rebuild them. We invest our own capital, bring co-investors into each transaction, and are not measured against a fund's clock.
Operator · Investor · Heritage brand restructurer
Edouard Burrus is a Swiss-French entrepreneur and operator who has spent more than fifteen years buying companies most people had given up on and putting them back on their feet. His path runs through corporate finance, cross-border M&A advisory, and the kind of operating work that only happens when your own capital is in the deal.
He bought into Borsalino, the Italian hat house founded in 1857, when it was losing money and drifting. As Vice Chairman he redesigned the company from the inside: balance sheet, organisation, brand, U.S. business. The company returned to profit and more than doubled its revenue.
He then acquired the assets of Fogal of Switzerland, the century-old Swiss hosiery house, out of bankruptcy. As Executive Chairman he rebuilt it from the ground up, product, retail network, brand, management, and a deliberate return to the United States, through the most difficult years modern retail has lived through. Revenue reached roughly three times the pre-bankruptcy level.
Both investments were originated and held through La Praly SAS, the Paris vehicle he chaired from 2013 to 2026. OctoFox is the next chapter: the same operator-led approach, brought to the United States, and focused on brand-led product companies at the lower end of the middle market. Alongside its acquisitions, the firm invests proprietary capital in public markets with the same owner's mindset.
He holds a Master's degree in Strategy and International Business Engineering from ESSEC Business School and a Bachelor's degree from Northeastern University in Boston. He is a native French speaker, fluent in English, with working Italian and Spanish.
OctoFox is not a blind-pool fund and does not manage third-party money. It is an independent investment firm that commits its own capital to each transaction and brings aligned co-investors into the operating company, deal by deal, with OctoFox as the control party and operator.
Equity of up to $2M per transaction from OctoFox's balance sheet, private co-investors on larger deals. We are never the party waiting on someone else's approval.
The person you negotiate with is the person who signs and the person who will be in the building on Monday. That removes a layer of risk sellers rarely see until it is too late.
We have made payroll, renegotiated with distributors, closed stores, hired and replaced management, and lived with the consequences. Our judgment carries the weight of having done it.
No fund life, no forced exit. We sell when the company is materially better than the one we bought and a better owner exists. Otherwise we keep it.
Fluent in the U.S. and European commercial, legal and cultural environments. Several of our best moves at Borsalino and Fogal were bringing a European brand properly into the United States.
The important conversations happen privately. We protect counterparties, advisors and their clients. What we say publicly is a fraction of what we do.
The same three levers every time: rebuild the cost structure from manufacturing cost to selling price, restructure distribution, review and replace management where needed. Financials are then owned by a CFO who is measured against objectives set by the chairman.
Loss-making and drifting when we came in. Rebuilt the organisation, the cost base and the distribution model, repositioned the brand toward luxury and rebuilt the U.S. business. The company returned to profit and more than doubled its revenue during his tenure. He remains a shareholder today.
Acquired the assets out of bankruptcy and rebuilt the company from zero: product, retail network, cost structure, management, and a return to the United States, through the hardest years modern retail has seen. Revenue reached roughly three times the pre-bankruptcy level. The company was sold in 2023.
The European vehicle through which Borsalino and Fogal were originated, financed and held. Closed in 2026 to make way for OctoFox, its continuation in the United States. Same playbook, same person, now on this side of the Atlantic.
Director, cross-border M&A advisory, 2013 to 2019. Buy-side and sell-side mandates for private equity clients before moving to the operator's seat.
Send the deal, or start with a conversation. The founder replies personally within 48 hours.
Notes
No. OctoFox is an independent investment firm. It invests from its own balance sheet and brings co-investors into each operating company on a deal-by-deal basis, with OctoFox as control party and operator. There is no fund life and no third-party mandate.
Equity of up to $2M from OctoFox's own balance sheet, with proof of funds under NDA at the letter-of-intent stage. Larger transactions are structured with private co-investors, seller financing, the company's own assets and senior, mezzanine or bank debt where the cash flows support it.
Edouard Burrus, founder and CEO. There is no investment committee.
Miami, Florida. Florida first, then the rest of the United States. France, Switzerland and Italy are considered when a cross-border angle exists.
February 2026, in Miami, consolidating the activity of La Praly SAS (Paris, 2013 to 2026).
