Weekly round-up: online dating

French GP Siparex held a final close on its latest fund, MidMarket III, on €200m last week, comfortably exceeding its €150m target. unquote" highlighted key milestones in the GP's fundraising efforts and its success rate with existing investors: 77% of funds raised were contributed by re-upping investors. But convincing new backers to part with their cash was more of a challenge: "Selling the 'France brand' has not always been easy, despite an improvement towards the end of 2013," said Siparex president Bertrand Rambaud. The new vehicle will target French SMEs valued at more than €40m. The GP also hopes to diversify its offering to include mezzanine and will deploy a €50m fund in Italy.

After a brief flirtation with online dating platforms from 2008-2011, European venture capital firms have remained aloof, though the sector's growing remit could boost its chances of attracting investment. "The market will continue to grow and new ideas and concepts will emerge like targeted dating sites and even those promoting casual encounters – like cheating – have in the past," said Shirin Gandhi, partner at Encore Capital. unquote" explored the changing nature of the sector and the success of smartphone apps. "What will be the winning model in the future?" asked Pavel Bogdanov, partner at Almaz Capital. "We believe it is now getting clear that the winner will be freemium and mobile."

Improved confidence from corporates and private equity investors saw lower-mid-cap valuations creep up in Q4 2013. unquote" reviewed the latest Argos Mid-Market Index, revealing that corporate buyers paid a media entry multiple of 7.6x EBITDA in the €15-150m range – a healthy rebound on the 6.1x figure witnessed in the previous quarter. Said Argos investment manager Jérémie Falzone: "We can see a noticeable uptick in US corporates targeting Europe. The general feeling is that the risks surrounding the eurozone have dissipated to some extent, which has boosted these buyers' appetites – although France still remains something of a question mark."

That's all from me this week but if you have any comments on this week's analysis, please send your thoughts to amy.king@incisivemedia.com.

You can continue to follow me and the rest of the unquote" team via @unquotenews for all the latest private equity and venture capital updates, and of course on unquote.com.

Amy King
Senior Reporter, unquote"

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