MMC Ventures holds final close for Scale Up Fund on £100m

Domiciled in the Cayman Islands, the fund was launched in November 2018, with a target of £100m. Managing partner Bruce Macfarlane told Unquote that the fund's management fees, hurdle and carry are in line with market standards.

Macfarlane said: "While Brexit complicated the process for some institutions, LPs have shown huge interest in UK venture capital. The quality of dealflow is very high currently."

The firm most recently closed its £52m Greater London MMC vehicle in May 2019, which makes pre-seed and seed investments.

Bluetower Associates acted as an adviser and placement agent, and Osborne Clarke provided legal advice for the Scale Up fundraise.

Investors
Macfarlane told Unquote that the fund has a small number of LPs, with most investing at least £20m. Its investors are mainly European.

Investments
The fund will offer equity tickets in excess of £10m to companies in the MMC portfolio, the capital demands of which have grown beyond the mandate of the firm's early-stage funds. Secondaries can also be performed by the fund, buying out LPs in MMC's early-stage funds.

Said Macfarlane: "We are investing in companies that are profitable or close to profitability and that are heading towards exit within four years." The company prefers to realise assets through trade sales, though some portfolio companies are considering flotations.

Investments already made by the fund include Safeguard Global, Masabi and Interactive Investor, with a total of £50m deployed across four investments.

Macfarlane expects the fund to be fully deployed within a year, though it will not make any more investments before the end of 2019.

People
MMC Ventures – Bruce Macfarlane (managing partner).

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