Unquote

Active Partners closes third fund on £100m

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Active Partners has closed Active Partners III on £100m.

The fund was registered in February 2018 as a UK LP.

The firm closed its predecessor fund, Active ECF, on $40m in September 2016; the vehicle typically injects £1-15m into early-stage, founder-led companies.

Macfarlanes provided legal advice.

Investors
As of July 2019, the fund had 15 LPs, including Blue Blood EmeraldCo, Sotogrande Investments, Nuclear Liabilities Fund, Lesing Connect and Martin's Family Investment. Other LPs include private individuals Murray Hennessy, the chairman of the board of directors for Abcam; Stuart Roden, the chairman at Lansdowne Partners; and several investors from Morgan Stanley's Counterpoint Global.

British Business Investments also invested in the fund, according to Unquote Data.

Investments
The fund will invest in companies in the consumer sector that are not yet producing profits. The firm's 2019 investments include clothing and accessories producer Taylor & Hart, travel company TravelLocal and brewer Northern Monk.

The firm aims to invest £5-25m over the holding period of an investment and takes minority and majority positions depending on the company size and stage.

People
Active Partners – Spencer Skinner (managing partner).

Venture adventure

Venture in 2019 proved resilient to political uncertainty, particularly in the late-stage venture sector. Other UK-based venture funds that held successful closes in the past year include 83 North V – which held its final close on $300m – GP Bullhound Fund IV and IQ Capital III. Funds currently raising include Amadeus IV Early Stage, Atomico V and Index Seed Fund.

Venture firms have also made a strong start to 2020 with several firms holding closes across Europe. To date, Felix Capital has closed its third-generation fund on $300m, while France-base debut venture fund Jeito held a first close on €200m. Blossom Capital II also held a final close on $185m in January 2020. 

The venture secondaries market has also seen some activity in 2020, with the close of Greenspring Associates' VC secondaries fund on $800m. The transacted value of venture secondaries amounted to $5.67bn in 2018, compared with the $47.4bn in buyout secondaries, according to Campbell Lutyens.

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