
Open Ocean Capital closes €100m software-focused fund
Finnish VC Open Ocean Capital has held a final close on €100m for its fourth fund, which will make early-stage investments in European software companies.
Along with the new fund, entrepreneur Richard Muirhead joined the VC as general partner to open, recruit for and run the firm's new London office.
Muirhead is an investor in several London startups, including Citymapper and Pusher, and also co-founded seed investment platform Firestartr. Additionally, he founded data centre automation business Tideway Systems and worked as an executive at EQT-owned Automic Software.
The fund follows four years on from the VC's last fund, a 2011-vintage €40m vehicle.
Investments
Open Ocean's fourth fund will predominantly focus on making series-A investments in Nordic and European startups in data-led sectors such as enterprise software-as-a-service, market networks, cloud infrastructure, big data and machine learning, as well as mobile products.
The fund will also have a remit to invest in some series-B investment rounds.
Investors
The vehicle is backed by institutional and private investors, including European Investment Fund and Finnish Industry Investment's Fund-of-Funds Growth II.
People
Michael Widenius is the founding partner of Open Ocean. Patrick Backman is the VC's managing partner and Richard Muirhead joined the firm as a general partner.
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