Amadeus IV Early Stage holds first close on £33m

Ellie Pullen
16 January 2014

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Amadeus Capital Partners has held the first close of its new fund, Amadeus IV Early Stage, on ТЃ33.2m.

The fund comprises two legal entities, one of which is structured as an enterprise capital fund (ECF).

Amadeus IV Early Stage has a hard-cap of £50m and a lifespan of 10 years. Terms and conditions for the fund are described as European standard by managing partner Alex van Someren. The firm did not use a placing agent for the vehicle.

Amadeus IV Early Stage is the second ECF raised by Amadeus. Its first was the Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund, according to unquote" data, which closed in October 2006 on £10m.

Technology-focused Amadeus is currently raising another fund: the Amadeus IV Digital Prosperity Fund, which hit its first close in July last year on $75m after receiving a commitment of the same amount from South African telco business MTN Group. The fund is targeting $150m, which the GP hopes to raise at some point this year.

The firm also announced last week that it has promoted investment managers Jason Pinto and Pat Burtis to partners.

Investors
Amadeus IV Early Stage received commitments from a total of 30 LPs, namely corporates, trust funds, foundations and high-net-worth individuals. There is also a GP contribution.

The fund is also supported by the British Business Bank, a programme run by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that invests in ECFs. The programme committed £15m to the vehicle, which was then matched by private investors.

Investments
The fund will make early-stage investments in UK technology companies, particularly focusing on sectors such as big data analytics, cloud computing, cyber security, medical technology, digital healthcare and the internet of things.

The vehicle will focus its efforts on companies that adopt the "lean start-up" method of commercialisation. Lean start-ups typically focus their efforts solely on developing a minimum viable product and rolling it out onto the market, for the product to then be improved and updated to meet market needs.

Amadeus IV Early Stage will make investments of between £250,000-750,000 in a first round, investing up to a total of £3m in follow-on funding. The fund plans to back 12-15 companies.

People
Alex van Someren is the managing partner of Amadeus's early-stage funds.