Dawn Capital holds £165m first and final close for third fund

The VC firm's latest vehicle is nearly three times the size of its predecessor, Dawn II, which held a final close on £63m in January 2012. Fundraising was oversubscribed, and the hard-cap was raised twice during the process, according to the VC.

Fundraising began late last year and was completed within four to five months. The first hard-cap was set at £120m, with the second moved to £150m, and the final hard-cap settled at £165m, Dawn Capital general partner Haakon Overli told Unquote.

A large increase of institutional investors have started eyeing European venture opportunities in the last 18 months and were keen to invest in the fund, Overli said. The fund's US LPs include family offices, endowment funds and pension funds.

Investors
Around 80% of existing investors re-upped in the fund. A key repeat LP is the European Investment Fund (EIF), which is committing £52m despite previously freezing investments in UK venture capital due to Brexit.

Additionally, existing investor British Business Bank is investing in Dawn III through its commercial arm, British Business Investments, alongside other new institutional and strategic investors from the US and Europe.

Dawn Capital's second fund was backed by 40 LPs, and its third is backed by slightly fewer, the VC firm said.

Investments
Dawn III will continue to focus on series-A investments in early-stage European B2B technology-driven businesses. The firm targets predominantly consumer internet and financial technology services, and cloud computing, including software- and platform-as-a-service products.

The fund will typically provide an equity ticket of £5m per transaction, although this amount may fluctuate slightly from deal to deal.

Dawn's previous investments include Mimecast, iZettle, Collibra, Gelato Group, Sonovate, Neo Technology and Showpad. 

People
Dawn Capital – Josh Bell, Haakon Overli (general partners).

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