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How 22-year-old PE investor Aurelius Gastauer made over $200 million

"Like father, like son" is an old saying. Sometimes, we read stories that help us understand why this old saying still makes sense today. The tale of Aurelius Gastauer, son of German billionaire Michael Gastauer, is the perfect example. Gastauer grew up in Switzerland, enjoying the German familial ties mixed with Swiss everyday life.

Aurelius has been fascinated by technology since he was a child, an interest he gained from watching his father excel in the industry. With a keen interest and skill set in IT networks and server technology, Aurelius was running an online hosting business by the age of 14. He rented dedicated server space from large cloud providers such as AWS and sold cloud computing power to his friends, an effort that allowed them to host their online gaming community.

Besides providing cloud storage space for his friends, Aurelius offered to set up and manage the same friends' servers if they didn't know how. This gave him an insight into what it feels like to be a manager at 14. Many deemed his knowledge and understanding beyond his years.

By 15, Aurelius had taught himself four major programming languages, which led him to write software to manage his server via smartphone while attending school.

In early 2015, when one Bitcoin had an approximate value of US$ 200, Aurelius invested his earnings from his cloud hosting business into BTC. When asked by family members what his ideal birthday and Christmas gift would be, Bitcoin was repeatedly his top answer. Not understanding the ins and outs of Bitcoin nor how to purchase it, his grandparents visited a local department store in Switzerland and asked if the salesperson could sell them some Bitcoin. With cryptocurrency in the early days, this question went unanswered.

When the price for BTC surpassed $19,000 in December 2017, Aurelius had collected 180 BTC, reflecting a value of more than $3.4 million. Earning such a sum by the age of 16 through smart investments gave him a hint of what can be achieved with passion and determination.

By 19, Aurelius decided to leave his family home, relocating his residency from Switzerland to the UAE and forming his first company, a private equity investment firm in Dubai. When, in November 2021, BTC pricing reached the $68,000 mark, 20-year-old Aurelius had amassed a personal wealth of more than $12 million, providing him a comfortable level to make the next move by investing his own money into private equity deals.

By age 21, Aurelius invested $2 million of his funds in a European fintech firm that a Financial Institution in Ireland 20 months later took over. Through the takeover and merger, the company he had invested in reached a $1.4 billion valuation, and his shares soared to a $200 million valuation.

Today, Aurelius is a 22-year-old self-made multi-millionaire, one of the heirs of the $11.5 billion Gastauer Family fortune. With his father, Michael Gastauer, at the centre of several profitable business ventures, it's clear that Aurelius is set for the same success.

Namrata Thakkar is a freelancer content writer.