Speedinvest launches third venture fund

Fundraising is expected to start immediately and to be completed by the end of 2019. The fund will have a hard-cap of €200m and will be registered in Austria.

A spokseperson from the firm told Unquote that this fund has a higher target than previous vehicles because Speedinvest wants to keep more capacity for follow-on funding rounds for successful portfolio companies. The firm also "sees more exciting opportunities across Europe and a massive increase in Speedinvest's dealflow." The spokesperson referenced Speedinvest's focus funds on industry 4.0, marketplaces and fintech.

Speedinvest has previously invested primarily in the technology sector in the DACH region and the UK. The firm's first fund, which sought to invest up to €500,000, had its final close on €10m in 2011. Speedinvest II, an early-stage vehicle, held its final close on $100m in 2015. Its initial target was $63.25m. The fund now has 71 portflio companies and a spokespoerson from the firm said the anticipates some exits in the near future.

Investors
Previous investors in Speedinvest funds were mainly entrepreneurs and private investors from the DACH region and the US, such as Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz and Herman Hauser, who is behind startups including Runtastic, Shpock and Busuu. The firm expects interest from companies, family offices, pension funds and funds-of-funds globally for Speedinvest III.

Investments
The fund will focus on the DACH region, CEE and Western Europe with a focus on technology. Possible areas of interest include companies specialising in digital transformation, IT infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data security and blockchain, particularly in the financial sector.

The firm will evaluate potential investments based primarily on the target's team, product and total addressable market.

The investment phase of the fund will be four years starting from 2020 and the total duration of the fund will be 10 to 12 years. It will allocate €65m for initial investment rounds with €110m reserved for further financing alongside other VCs.

For seed investments, the firm expects to write equity tickets between €500,000 and €700,000 and make approximately 120 investments from the fund. It will typically expect to see a product or prototype and some early traction from targets.

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