Earlybird IV holds final close on EUR127m

01 October 2008

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Fund

Earlybird has closed its latest fund generation Earlybird IV at more than EUR127m. The fund has a 10-year lifespan with the usual extensions. P+P Pollath + Partner and Proskauer Rose acted as legal councils.

Investors

The investor base was drawn from Germany, the US, Asia and the Middle East. Earlybird also managed to win new institutional investors. International investors like Osaka Gas, Procific and the European Investment Fund (EIF) committed to the fund as well as German investors such as VCM and KfW.

Investments

The fund will invest in the technology sector, which includes software, semi-conductor technology, information and communications technology, internet-based services, cleantech and medtech sectors. It seeks to invest in companies led by outstanding people who are building technology-enabled scalable companies for fast growing international markets.

Earlybird invests primarily in early-stage technology companies with a large business perspective, sourced from German-speaking countries as well as the Nordics, France, Benelux and selectively the UK. Earlybird will also add financing in later growth phases. The typical investment size will range from EUR1-15m. The fund aims to make five to seven investments each year. Earlybird will continue to invest as lead investor.

Earlybird IV has already invested in the following companies: Clean Mobile (Germany), Light Blue Optics (UK), Miracor (Austria), Purple Labs (France), Sidec (Sweden), smava (Germany) and smoodoos (Germany). The pipeline for further deals has been described by Earlybird as very healthy.

People

Dr Hendrik Brandis, Roland Manger, Rolf Mathies and Dr Christian Nagel are the founders and managing directors at Earlybird, Thom Rasche and Wolfgang Seibold are partners. Dr Andreas Rodin provided legal advice on behalf of P+P Pollath + Partner. Robin Painter and Michael Wharmond provided legal advice on behalf of Proskauer Rose.

Name: Earlybird IV

Closed on: EUR127m

Focus: Early Stage, expansion, technology

Contact: Daniela von Wedel

Address: Earlybird Venture Capital

Van-der-Smissen Str 3

22767 Hamburg

Germany

Tel: +49 40 432941-0

Fax: +49 40 432941-29

Advisers: P+P Pollath + Partner (Legal)

Proskauer Rose (Legal).