Newfund 2 holds final close on €130m

Francesca Veronesi
25 September 2018

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Newfund Management has held a final close for its second fund, Newfund 2, with €130m in commitments – short of its €150m target.

Newfund 2 was launched in July 2016 and held a first close on €100m in May 2017. At the time of the first close, Unquote reported that the vehicle was expected to reach a final close by year-end.

The fund had a target set at €150m and a hard-cap of €180m. It is a significant step-up from Newfund 1, which closed on €72m in 2009, short of its €80m target.

Newfund currently has a total of €230m in assets under management.

Investors
Like Newfund 1, around 95% of Newfund 2's funding comes from entrepreneurs, high-net-worth individuals and family offices, while the remainder comes from institutional investors. The firm claims to have the largest subscription base of entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals of any French VC fund.

Up to 65% of backers for the vehicle had already subscribed to Newfund 1 and the Newfund team is also heavily invested in the fund.

Investments
Newfund 2 will focus on early-stage and first rounds of funding exclusively for businesses based in France and the US.

Investment tickets will vary according to the region: in the US, the GP will invest between €200,000-300,000 for seed rounds (as part of larger rounds amounting to €500,000-1m), and around €4-5m for first rounds, aiming to take 5-10% stakes in businesses overall.

In France, equity tickets should vary between €500,000-2m in companies with a turnover of between €100,000-2m.

Unquote previously reported that in the US, Newfund generally invests alongside other GPs due to the larger size of the market and of target companies, while in France, it is able to structure funding rounds by itself.

The fund does not target any specific sector, but focuses on groups that already generate a turnover.

Newfund Management's latest investments include the injection of equity alongside Serena in Paris-based hair and beauty professional software company FlexyBeauty in April this year, and the €1.2m round for LoginChinese, a Chinese-teaching app developer, in December last year.

People
Newfund – François Véron, Patrick Malka (co-founder).