GP Bullhound holds €113m final close for Fund IV

The fundraising was oversubscribed, with the vehicle having an initial target of €100m, the firm's executive director and head of investor relations Ben Prade told Unquote. The fund had no formal hard-cap.

Fund IV will have a shorter lifespan than the typical 10-12-year term, in line with previous GP Bullhound vehicles. Prade said the vehicle's predecessor had returned commitments within four or five years, in large part due to the manager's preference for later-stage funding rounds.

The firm did not use an external placement agent for the fundraising process.

Investors
The fund raised commitments from new and existing investors including entrepreneurs and family offices. It is also the firm's first to include commitments from institutional investors, Prade said.

The majority of the commitments raised at the time of the first close came from entrepreneurs, particularly those from previous GP Bullhound portfolio companies, Prade told Unquote. At final close, around 50% of commitments were accounted for by entrepreneurs, with the remainder coming from family offices and institutional investors.

The European Investment Fund made a €30m commitment to Fund IV. The remainder of family office and institutional investor commitments came from Asia.

GP Bullhound and its team members account for 10% of commitments to the fund.

Investments
Fund IV will focus on growth-stage businesses in the software, entertainment, digital services, marketplace and fintech sectors, and will look to invest in around 20 companies in total.

It has an equity ticket range of €500,000-10m, though the majority of its cheques will be towards the larger end of the spectrum. Of its capital, 90% is reserved for European-based companies. It has a particular focus on the UK, Nordic and Spanish markets, where it has a physical presence, though the firm has also backed businesses in France and Germany.

The remaining 10% is earmarked for US investments, though Prade said this had been "mainly deployed" by the time of the final close. The vehicle as a whole is around 50% invested at final close and has backed 17 companies to date, including Slack, Unity, Tradeshift, Glovo and LendInvest.

Around 20% of its available capital is reserved for series-A investments, Prade said, with the remainder dedicated to growth, late-stage and pre-IPO rounds. Around 30% of the vehicle is earmarked for follow-on funding rounds for existing portfolio companies.

People
GP Bullhound – Per Roman (co-founder, head of asset management); Joakim Dal (partner); Ben Prade (executive director, head of investor relations).

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