Acton Capital Partners closes fifth fund on $215m

The vehicle is based in Germany, with Acton partner Sebastian Wossagk citing corporate responsibility as the reason behind the decision to domicile the fund onshore.

P+P Pöllath + Partners provided legal advice during the fundraise.

The fund's predecessor, Acton IV, was closed on $190m in 2014. The previous fund's investments include participation in rounds for Mambu and Cluno.

Investors
The fund saw re-ups from KfW, European Investment Fund (EIF) and a number of entrepreneurs and family businesses, including Hubert Burda Media.

Commitments from institutional investors make up the largest proportion of the fund in terms of capital, with investments from KfW and EIF contributing around 30-35% of the fund total each. EIF is the fund's cornerstone investor.

Wossagk told Unquote that around 60% of the fund's investors are family offices and entrepreneurs, including individuals who have been part of companies in which Acton has previously invested. The remaining 40% of the LP base is made up of institutional investors, including KfW and EIF.

The LP base is largely made up of German investors, but also includes a small portion from the US and Canada.

Investments
Wossagk explained that Acton Capital takes a sector-agnostic approach to investments, but focuses on tech-enabled businesses. The firm does have certain areas of interest, Wossagk told Unquote: "One is, of course, digital health, such as Maple Health, and we are looking at another one in this sector at the moment. We are also looking at 'future of work' companies; for example, Expertlead. We are also looking at the direct-to-consumer area, such as Knix from this fund, and platforms or marketplace business models, such as Momox and MPB in the UK. We are investing in more and more e-service businesses."

The fund has made six investments so far, with two more in the pipeline. The vehicle plans to make four or five investments per year, investing $5-20m per transaction, with a sweet spot of $7-10m. Wossagk confirmed that the fund will generally take a share of 15-20% and would usually act as the lead investor, taking at least half of the round.

Asked about the fund's deployment, Wossagk said: "Very roughly, we have probably invested €30-40m so far, so we have already deployed about 25% of the fund. We keep some reserves, too, as we follow the companies over their lifetime: we usually keep a third of the fund for follow-on investments in future rounds. For a $215m fund, we might only invest $150m and keep the rest for follow-on."

People
Acton Capital Partners – Sebastian Wossagk (partner).

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