Speedinvest raises new €190M fund to continue backing early-stage European tech startups
Speedinvest, the European seed-stage VC that was started from Vienna but has since added offices in London, Berlin, Munich and San Francisco, has raised a new a190 million fund. It brings the firm's total assets under management to more than a400 million.
Describing its third fund as "oversubscribed" and ahead of schedule, SpeedInvest's remit remains largely the same. The VC writes first cheques of between a50,000 and a1.5 million, but has also set aside a100 million of the fund for follow-on investments in its most promising portfolio companies.
Sector-wise, Speedinvest says it is targeting fintech, "deep tech," marketplaces, industrial tech, digital health and consumer tech startups - so a pretty wide brief. To make this possible, the firm has what it describes as 40 investment professionals divided into teams working across these five sectors.
In addition, the VC claims 20 "operational experts" providing portfolio companies with "full-service HR, growth marketing, business development, and U.S. expansion support."
Cue statement from Speedinvest CEO Oliver Holle: "Having been a founder myself, I have a clear view on value creation by investors. You need to deliver sector-specific, operationally relevant input that goes far beyond boardroom advice and cash. In our experience, the best way to do that is to be face-to-face with our founders".
Meanwhile, Speedinvest's portfolio includes a number of Europe's fast-growing tech companies, such as insurtech Wefox (a235 million Series B), e-scooter rentals company Tier Mobility (a55 million Series B), and fintech Curve (a50 million Series B). Other notable investments include Coachhub, TWAICE, Billie, Tourradar, Inkitt and Luko.
In fact, Speedinvest says it has already invested in over ten startups from this new fund.
Separately, it says it will be increasing its on the ground presence in France this Spring, where it has already invested in companies such as Luko, Lemon Way, Actiondesk and FairMoney.