Eight Roads Ventures
Eight Roads Ventures
- Eight Roads Ventures has raised $375 million to fund late-stage startups, an underserved area in Europe.
- Eight Roads was an early backer in Alibaba in 1999, and has also invested in furniture company Made.com and Notonthehighstreet.
- The venture firm wants to build more $10 billion companies out of Europe, where startups often exit to US tech giants for millions, rather than billions, of dollars.
- Eight Roads' European arm has mostly invested in the UK, and managing partner Davor Hebel said Brexit has had no impact on its investment decisions.
Venture capital firm Eight Roads Ventures has raised $375 million (£267 million) to fund late-stage startups in Europe.
The fund is Eight Roads' biggest to date, and the idea is to help fill a major gap in Europe start-up funding.
Where fast-growing firms have better access to early-stage capital thanks to government incentives, it's much harder for later stage startups to find the millions they need to keep growing.
Eight Roads, an arm of Fidelity Growth Partners, will invest in teams of between 15 and 20 people in Europe and Israel, with cheque sizes ranging from $10 million (£7.1 million) to $20 million (£14.3 million).
The firm was an early backer of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba in 1999, and has also invested in furniture firm Made.com, Notonthehighstreet, and database startup Neo4j. Its European arm has mostly invested in the UK, and managing partner Davor Hebel said this is likely to continue, even with Brexit jitters.
He said in a statement: "Brexit has had no impact on us thus far. Companies based here like Made.com continue to do well and in fact our last four investments: Decibel Insight, Rimilia, Duco and OTA Insight came out of the UK."
He added: "We are confident that with the right help the European ecosystem can systematically create $10 billion-plus global tech businesses."
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