Speedinvest Raises €190m to Invest in Early-Stage European Tech Startups

The new fund increases Speedinvest’s total AUM to more than €400m.

• New fund to invest in European early-stage startups across Fintech, Deep Tech, Marketplaces, Industrial Tech, Digital Health and Consumer Tech.
  

• Speedinvest doubling down on its vertical investment strategy, 40+ member investment team, 20 in-house operational experts, and unique local presence across Europe.
  

• 100% of cornerstone investors, including US-based NEA, return based on strong historic fund results and portfolio company performances, including wefox Group and TIER Mobility.

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25 February 2020 — Speedinvest, a European venture capital fund with offices in London, Berlin, Vienna, Munich and San Francisco, has raised €190 million for its third flagship fund, surpassing its original target ahead of schedule due to high investor demand. The oversubscribed round increases Speedinvest’s total AUM to more than €400m.

Unlike typical European venture capital funds managed by small partnerships or teams, Speedinvest has 40 investment professionals working across five, sector-focused investment teams, along with 20 operational experts providing portfolio companies with full-service HR, growth marketing, business development, and U.S. expansion support.

Working from cities across Europe, and writing initial tickets from €50k up to €1.5m, the sector-focused investment teams will invest in Fintech, Deep Tech, Marketplaces, Industrial Tech, Digital Health and Consumer Tech startups, supplying the early-stage businesses with the time, sector expertise and value-adding operational resources they need to scale.

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. That is our mission and our promise to founding teams across Europe. And we invest heavily in the resources required to back it up.

- Oliver Holle, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Speedinvest

The €190M fund sets aside €100M in follow-on funding to enable Speedinvest to double-down on its most promising companies while continuing to draw on its global network of Tier 1 lead investors for follow-on rounds.

Speedinvest’s portfolio now includes some of Europe’s fastest growing tech companies, such as wefox (€235M Series B), TIER Mobility (€55M Series B) and Curve (€50M Series B), along with rising stars CoachHub, TWAICE, Billie, TourRadar, Inkitt and Luko.

Julian Teicke, Founder and CEO of wefox Group, says, “Speedinvest has been a value-add partner from the very beginning. They not only helped us establish a successful framework for testing and optimizing our growth and marketing strategy, but have also been instrumental in our international expansion efforts.”

Lawrence Leuschner, Co-Founder & CEO of TIER Mobility, said, “Speedinvest has been instrumental in getting us in front of the right investors and helping us to secure significant follow-on funding quickly.”

Its two previous flagship funds have also recorded impressive performances, with the first returning more than five times gross, and an overall historic fund performance in the top 25 percent of global VC/PE funds. As a result, 100 percent of cornerstone investors have returned. Scheduled to be finalized in Q2 2020, major commitments include EIF (InnovFin Equity)*, Erste Group, and U.S. based NEA, one of the world’s largest venture capital firms.

Rick Yang, General Partner and Head of NEA’s Consumer Investments, said, “As US-based investors, it can be challenging to navigate the fragmented European market, particularly at the seed stage. We want to ensure we’re partnering with the best companies, and Speedinvest enables this with a successful formula comprised of specialist teams for key verticals in prime locations throughout Europe.”

Speedinvest has already invested in 10+ companies from the new fund, and will increase its on the ground presence in France this Spring, where it has invested in companies such as Luko, Lemon Way, Actiondesk and FairMoney.

*Speedinvest is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing.