& Digital Infrastructure

BESS and Data Center projects are technically complex, capital-intensive and often far from investor-ready. HardtRock screens, structures and translates them into propositions that meet institutional standards: Bankable revenue logic, verified grid access stress-tested returns.
We call it Investment Readiness.

Data Center

The Team

Andreas Hardt - Founder & Principal

Andreas is the founder and principal of HardtRock Capital Partners.

Before HardtRock, he served as Head of Germany for Blackstone, world's largest alternative asset manager and also as Head of Germany for Oxford Properties, Canada's largest pension fund.
Prior to that, he was Director Central Region at Goldman Sachs.

His 25 years of experience in the real estate industry include transactions of over €13 bn, and €16 bn of assets under management in infrastructure, office, retail, logistics, light industrial, and residential real estate.

Andreas is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and was part of the 'Artificial Intelligence Program' and 'Data Science in Real Estate' at Saïd Business School at Oxford University and at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning in Cambridge.
He holds a Master of Science in Real Estate and a Diploma in Real Estate Economics.

Ole von Beust - Strategy Advisor

Ole brings decades of leadership at the highest levels of German politics and urban development to the table.

As First Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg from 2001 to 2010, he led the city-state through a major transformation, oversaw complex public-private infrastructure partnerships, and formed Germany's first CDU-Green coalition government, demonstrating a rare ability to build consensus across ideological and institutional divides.

A lawyer by training, his experience spans regulatory environments, infrastructure development, and the navigation of complex decision-making processes where business meets public policy.

At HardtRock, Ole serves as Strategic Advisor, providing access to political networks, regulatory insight, and institutional relationships essential for navigating permitting, public-sector alignment, and stakeholder engagement.

He helps open doors, build bridges across sectors, and add judgment where it matters most.

Peyman Pouryekta - Investment Readiness

Peyman works at the intersection of technology, product strategy, and governance, supporting companies and investors in structuring scalable, investment-ready technology and infrastructure opportunities.

He focuses on turning complex setups into clear, investable cases by sharpening the investment story, structuring key risks, and aligning technical and commercial logic with investor expectations.

With a background as Interim CTO, Strategic Advisor, and Supervisory Board Member, Peyman has led technology due diligence processes and tech health checks, helping identify critical risks, validate assumptions, and strengthen decision-making at investor level.

At HardtRock, he supports the development of high-quality infrastructure cases by ensuring clarity, coherence, and credibility across story, risk structure, and overall investment logic.

Chris Effah - Business Development

Chris is a lawyer by training who transitioned into real estate and technology in 2013.

Since then, he helped building and scaling numerous start-ups in Berlin, Frankfurt and London.

His contributions were essential for the succsessful exit of numerous software companies.

In his roles, Chris has supported the introduction and implementation of technological and process innovations within organisations such as Blackstone Real Estate (where he and Andreas met in 2012), BayernLB, and Union Investment.

At HardtRock, Chris is Head of Business Development & Investor Relations, driving deal origination and investor relations for Data Center, and BESS JV projects.

We work

for a developer

We think

Like an Investor

Why HardtRock?

1. Our Financial Architecture

Our Equity waterfalls, IRR scenarios and downside cases are stress-tested against grid-delay, merchant-revenue and execution assumptions.

2. Our Pre-Diligence

Grid, permitting, ownership, contractual and CAPEX risks are distilled into an IC dashboard and red-flag register before any investor is introduced.

3. Our Market Intelligence

Investor positioning, regulatory shifts and grid-connection timelines are tracked and converted into usable intelligence, not noise.

4. Our Operational Backbone

Every asset, investor and process status is tracked and automated, so principals spend their time where it matters: with investors and developers at the deal table.

BESS Origination

Grid-led. Pre-screened. Built for institutional capital.

BESS opportunities across Germany with grid access, land control and defined permitting path

Development and JV structures prepared for institutional equity, utilities and infrastructure investors

Early-stage screening before capital introduction: grid, zoning, counterparty, revenue logic and execution risk

Investment Readiness

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

JUNE 2026

The Investment Readiness Gap

Why institutional capital needs a shared screening standard for battery energy storage.

Abstract: BESS projects do not fail because capital is absent. They fail because investor readiness is undefined. This brief sets out the logic of a weighted gate and quality framework that separates binary investability from qualitative project strength - and what it takes to bring a project to institutional capital.

Institutional Capital Advisory

Institutional Capital. Infrastructured.

Equity and JV structuring for BESS platforms, portfolios and single assets

Investor targeting based on mandate fit, grid-risk appetite and revenue-model tolerance

Transaction coordination from teaser, NDA and data room to IC-ready execution

More: Read the Brief (GER)

More: Read the Brief (ENG)

Full Framework / For Calibration Members

HardtRock

Institutional Capital for Battery Energy Storage Systems

BESS