Vertis to launch €120m fifth VC scaleup fund

Alessia Argentieri
14 February 2020

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Italian venture capital house Vertis is launching its fifth fund, Vertis Venture 5 Scaleup, with a €100m target and a €120m hard-cap, the GP told Unquote.

The fundraise will start in March and the first close is expected by July 2020.

The vehicle has a 10-year life span, with a five-year investment phase and a five-year divestment phase.

Vertis is currently managing Vertis Venture 2 Scaleup, a €30.9m vehicle launched in July 2017 that has completed seven deals so far and plans to close one last investment in the coming months. The fund deploys equity tickets of up to €5m.

In addition, the VC house is investing Vertis Venture 4 Scaleup Lazio, an €8.1m vehicle raised in 2019 dedicated to companies based in the Lazio region, and will co-invest with Vertis Venture 2 Scaleup. It made its first investment in Rome-based BagBnB in December 2019 and expects to close its second deal by June 2020.

Vertis also manages Vertis Venture 3 Technology Transfer, a €40.4m vehicle launched in August 2017 that invests in companies with revenues of at least €1m. The fund has inked six deals so far.

Investors
Vertis Venture 5 Scaleup expects to attract numerous institutional investors, primarily pension funds, insurance companies and banks, as well as family offices and high-net-worth individuals. In addition, the management will also invest in the fund's capital.

Investments
Vertis Venture 5 Scaleup will deploy equity tickets of up to €10m, with a sweet spot of €5-10m. It is also open to co-investments with financial and industrial partners for larger deals and follow-on rounds.

It will target companies with revenues of at least €5m, operating in a wide range of innovative sectors, such as industrial technologies, fintech, software, agricultural technology, big data and AI.

The fund will only invest in series-A and series-B rounds, while avoiding early-stage and seed capital investments. It plans to make 10-12 deals in total. The target companies will be primarily based in Italy but the fund can deploy up to 25% of its capital in other European countries and in the US.

People
Vertis – Amedeo Giurazza (CEO).