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Startups might be in a funding midwinter, but the ray of sun shining on some VCs speaks of a different trend.
FREMONT, CA
Startups may be in the middle of a funding midwinter, but the sun shining on some VCs indicates a different trend. Job-Fishing and the New Threats Facing Tech Recruiters The venture fund division of the Swedish investment behemoth EQT, which focuses on early-stage investments in entrepreneurs in Europe, has completed its most recent fund and raked in Euro 1 billion USD 1.1 billion in pledges overall.
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Since the beginning of EQT Ventures in 2016, the company has raised a total of Euro 2.3 billion. The company has backed almost 100 businesses, with nine unicorns, including Wolt, Small Giant Games, Einride, Handshake, Netlify, and Instabox/Instabee, and 18 exits. This third fund was quickly raised and closed between February and June of this year final paperwork has since arrived, and so far, 13 investments have been made out, including Juni, Nothing, Knoetic, and Candela, among them.
As larger privately owned companies have been looking for capital and/or exit prospects, the larger EQT has emerged as one of the primary deal makers. These have included the recent USD 1.7 billion purchase of Billtrust, a company based in New Jersey, and steering an investment round for Kinetic. A USD 2.4 billion fund was announced earlier this year by sibling company EQT Growth, primarily to expand firms outside Europe. Growth has supported artists like Mambu, Pandemic Sound, and Vinted.
It is intended to employ the most recent EQT Venture fund for similar regional purposes: The company plans to utilise it to make investments ranging from USD 1 million to USD 50 million, with roughly two-thirds of all investments taking place in Europe and the remaining portions spread out among the U.K. and the U.S.
While remaining generalist in terms of categories, EQT Ventures is ideally looking for firms that address where society has difficulties. It includes investments in green technology, travel, and the nature of work in the future (specific areas like tools and platforms for freelancers.
The firm's decision to close the fund reflects what seems to be a split in the world of technology investing. While funds and businesses that concentrate on much larger and later-stage companies may be experiencing significant losses in their portfolios, the limited partners who support the funds continue to believe that investors who concentrate on earlier and smaller stages still have a lot of opportunity ahead of them.
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