Earlybird closes fourth fund on €150m

According to Earlybird, the fund was oversubscribed. While Earlybird's previous vehicles have typically focused on targeting early-stage technology companies, the firm's fourth fund will also make later-stage investments.

The fund has a ten-year lifespan, with two one-year extensions, and an investment period of three years.

The Earlybird 2012 fund held its first close in April last year, on its halfway point of $100m.

Investors
The fund received commitments from "all key institutional limited partners" from Earlybird's previous fund, according to the GP, as well as a small number of new backers. Around 80% of the LPs were returning investors.

A total of approximately 15 LPs committed to the fund, three of whom contributed more than €20m each. According to Earlybird, most of the vehicle's LPs are based outside of Germany, namely in Japan, the Middle East and the rest of Europe.

The vehicle's cornerstone investor is the European Investment Fund, which committed to Earlybird 2012 via its European Recovery Program (ERP) and the LFA-Gesellschaft für Vermögensverwaltung (Lfa). The ERP is a €1bn fund-of-funds focused mainly on Germany-based, high-tech early-stage companies. The LFA is a €100m fund-of-funds that invests in venture capital funds that are focused on backing technology companies in the Bavarian region of Germany.

Investments
The fund will target companies operating in the consumer internet and enterprise technology sectors across Europe. The vehicle, which will make investments in stages ranging from seed to later-stage, will have a particular focus on companies operating in German-speaking countries.

The fund will make initial investments ranging from anywhere between €300,000-10m. So far, Earlybird 2012 has backed ten companies since its first close last April, including product comparison platform Versus.io, which received $2.8m from a consortium of backers in May.

People
Earlybird co-founder and partner Christian Nagel, managing partner Hendrik Brandis and partner Jason Whitmire will manage the fund.

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