AR Capital is a Geneva-based family office started by Benjamin Nuchowicz, who built his wealth through one of Europe’s early fund of hedge funds.

This week we spoke with second generation family member Lara Nuchowicz, who was introduced to the business from an early age, and shares some insights on their setup and approach.

“My father came from a modest background and built his career from scratch as a futures and options broker before discovering hedge funds. He brought top managers to European institutional investors, and that business became our family office, set up in Switzerland in 2002. I grew up around the business and eventually started working alongside my father on it.”

While AR Capital is based in Switzerland and has entities in Luxembourg and Guernsey, they are primarily invested in the US, Israel, and Asia. 

“We've historically had less exposure to Europe, simply because we've found it less exciting, though that's not a permanent stance.”

Nuchowicz herself is based in Amsterdam, which is “more of a personal preference than a business decision”, and means a good amount of travel. 

“I travel at least a week a month between Europe, the US, Israel, and Asia, and spend the rest of my time on fund calls, family office meetings, and diligence.”

Investment strategy

Nuchowicz says their mission is to back the best emerging managers and companies in private markets as early as possible, investing consistently across vintage years in sectors like AI, deep tech, and biotech.

As far as asset allocation goes, they’re diversified across asset class, geography, stage, liquidity profile, currency, and sector. 

“Hedge funds make up around 30% of the portfolio; private markets—primarily early-stage VC funds and direct investments into early to pre-IPO companies—is another major bucket; fixed income is around 10% and managed fully in-house; real estate is roughly 10-15%; we hold a steady 10% in cash via money market funds; and the remainder sits in commodities and collectibles.” 

She notes they don't run much of a direct public equity book, with that exposure mostly from hedge fund allocations.

“My father and husband run the hedge fund side — portfolio monitoring, manager relationships, and three core strategies (Global, Quant, Asia). We still manage some outside capital there, but the majority is our own.” 

Nuchowicz runs the private markets side, sourcing new funds, assessing co-investment opportunities, and monitoring a portfolio of more than 80 funds. 

“I also work with a handful of other families to help them allocate into funds, something we've effectively been doing for 20 years. We're a very lean team, with a dedicated fund director on the hedge fund side, but no large staff beyond that.”

Building their own tech 

Interestingly, alongside using Notion, Quill, and Attio for deal tracking, notes, and communications. AR Capital developed their own portfolio monitoring system.

“For the past four years we've used a proprietary system, built in-house, to monitor our portfolio — cash balances, exposures, diversification, and forecasting capital calls.”

They built the tool in-house around 2022, with the main driver being economics. Nuchowicz says there was “no off-the-shelf platform that made sense at that volume and price point, so building custom was the more sensible route”.

“We track an enormous number of lines: hundreds across our venture portfolio, around 150 direct investments, more than 30 hedge fund lines, more than 70 in fixed income, plus everything else across collectibles and other family entities.” 

Challenges and learnings 

Unsurprisingly, Nuchowicz highlights that the hardest part of running a family office is the family dynamic itself. 

“Working with your own father means navigating guidance that can sometimes feel more like control, and carrying a real sense of responsibility as the next generation, since if something goes wrong, it falls on you. I've been working with my father since I was 15, and we've gone through different phases to get to a good rhythm — when we disagree, we take space and come back with better solutions.” 

She also says that being a small team means they’re nimble and can move fast, but sometimes miss a more formal process, though it’s a tradeoff they've generally been fine with.

There have been some valuable lessons along the way, the first around emotional discipline.

“Early on I'd get FOMO on certain deals and let personal feelings about people cloud the actual investment decision. I've learned to separate the two, and to recognize that when my father says no to something, it's about the deal, not about me.” 

A second she says, is realizing that any real sourcing edge doesn't come from chasing opportunities, but from long-term relationships.

And lastly she notes the importance of getting comfortable with ambiguity: “At the early stage there's rarely enough data to feel fully certain, so you have to get comfortable making conviction-based calls with incomplete information.”

Succession started early

Her father Benjamin started including her in meetings from when she was just 15: “Point72, Tiger, Renaissance, Millennium, and venture funds like 8VC and Lux Capital. I'd take notes, and afterward we'd compare impressions.” 

“Eventually he gave me a small pocket of capital to invest on my own, starting in 2017 in consumer and female health, before I moved into deep tech, climate, and impact. I went to business school, which felt right at the time, though I sometimes wonder what a more creative path might have looked like.”

Nuchowicz says the hardest part was figuring out when to move on from other work and fully commit to working with her father.

“I tried working with him for a year in 2019, but at the time there wasn't much structure, process, or investment thesis in place, which was frustrating. There were also more personal tensions, like decisions tied to our tax and legal structure influencing where and how I lived. Eventually I had to be direct with him that those choices — where I live, how I live, with whom — were mine to make.”

Unlike a typical business partnership where parting ways is an option, she says the difference is that a family has to make it work.

“Succession gets harder with more heirs; in our case it's simpler since it's just two daughters. Fairness matters — rewarding the time and effort people actually put in, not just bloodline. Giving everyone a voice and building real governance matters too.”

As for the future 

The family office has worked with outside capital on the hedge fund side for decades, but are also exploring this further with venture. 

“We launched a pilot platform for partner families in the summer of 2024, and we're now launching a second vehicle. We're deliberately keeping the group small to keep the experience high quality. 

Longer term, the plan is to keep growing this as a real pillar of the family office, with more co-investment alongside partner families.

Beyond that, Nuchowicz is also keen to grow the team, and to tap into more direct deals, while maintaining an emphasis on capital preservation rather than aggressive growth.  

“My focus for now is on what I do best, the emerging manager space, and being patient about expanding from there. My father will be around for a long time yet, and eventually I expect to take on more, possibly new areas, but I'm not in a rush. Right now, I'm focused on what's in front of me.”