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Eureka Venture launches maiden €50m VC fund

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Italian venture capital house Eureka Venture has launched its first fund, Eureka Fund I – Technology Transfer, with a €50m target.

The fund is managed by a team led by CEO Stefano Peroncini and composed of directors Anna Amati, Salvatore Majorana and Massimo Gentili.

Bird & Bird, Oxygy Consulting and Mj Hudson-Alma advised Eureka on the fund structuring.

Investors
The European Investment Fund and Italian State-owned CDP (via its Itatech platform) are the anchor investors in the fund. In addition, Eureka expects to attract several European institutional investors and corporate investors in the coming months.

Investments
Eureka Fund I – Technology Transfer will invest in seed and series-A rounds, targeting companies operating in the "deeptech" industry (companies founded upon substantial scientific advances and high-tech engineering innovation), primarily focused on the discovery and production of advanced materials.

It will sign several partnerships with science and technology-focused universities, including 21Università, Centri di Ricerca Scientifica del Paese, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and Politecnico di Torino.

People
Eureka Venture – Stefano Peroncini (CEO).

Southern Europe VC fundraising update

Activity in the VC industry across southern Europe has been strong in the last year, especially in the seed and series-A segment.

Italian VC house Primomiglio closed Barcamper Ventures, a vehicle dedicated to digital, financial technology, big data and software companies on €45m in June 2019. Subsequently, it launched Astra Venture, an €80m fund to target space technology, in September 2019.

Innogest launched two new VC funds focused on specific segments of the healthcare industry – Innogest Cardiovascular Fund and Innogest Oncology Fund – and a third vehicle, Innogest Digital Technology Fund, to target startups operating across the Italian digital sector.

Meanwhile, this year the sector is expected to benefit from the launch of Fondo Nazionale per l'Innovazione, a state-backed vehicle managed by Invitalia. It will invest in Italian VC funds, startups and SMEs operating in a wide range of sectors across the technology industry, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, agritech, fintech and automation.

Activity has also been fervent in Spain. Among others, Kibo launched its Kibo Ventures Iberian Fund with a €100m target and a €120m hard-cap; private equity specialist GED Capital launched its maiden venture capital fund, Conexo Ventures I, with a €40m target; and Nauta Capital held a €55m final close for its Sidecar Fund, dedicated to European software companies, deploying equity tickets of €1-7m.

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