
Skylake Capital launches $150m early-stage fund
Newly established venture capital house Skylake Capital has launched an early-stage fund with a $100m target and a $150m hard-cap, to invest in "deep tech" opportunities across Europe and Israel.
According to founding partner Marcos Battisti, the fundraising has been "smooth and fast" so far; the fund expects to attract European, American and Asian institutional investors and family offices. The vehicle plans to hold a first close on around $35m by Q4 2019 and a final close by the end of 2020.
Battisti was previously managing director for western Europe and Israel at Intel Capital, where he served as a member of the firm's investment committee. Subsequently, he was appointed as managing partner at venture capital firm C5 Capital in 2016.
Investors
The fund has already received commitments and expects to raise capital from several European institutional investors – including the European Investment Fund and Fondo Italiano d'Investimento – as well as from Asian, Brazilian and US-based family offices.
Investments
Skylake Capital Fund I will invest two thirds of its capital in European companies – primarily based in the UK, France, Spain and Italy – and the remainder in Israeli-based businesses. It will focus on early-stage rounds, primarily series-A but also seed rounds.
It plans to deploy an average of $10m per company and target businesses operating in the "deep tech" sector (companies based on substantial scientific advances and high-tech engineering innovation), including robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics.
The firm will also pursue an active approach by appointing one of its partners to its target companies' boards in order to support the management and actively contribute to the business's growth and development.
People
Skylake Capital – Marcos Battisti (founding partner).
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