Europe-focused VCs are on something of a fundraising spree right now
Silicon Valley venture capital company Accel, a prominent investor in companies like Slack, Spotify, Dropbox, Etsy and Squarespace, has raised a $500m ( €438m) venture fund to focus exclusively on European and Israel-based tech start-ups.
The new Accel fund comes less than a month after Accel launched two US-based funds, including a $500m fund for early-stage companies and $1.5bn for later-stage companies.
The latest $500m round will be focused on early-stage and growth-stage companies, with a particular interest in software-as-a-service, fintech, marketplaces and next-generation infrastructure.
Accel has invested in start-ups across 19 countries, including big name brands like Facebook, Spotify, Braintree, Vox Media, Slack, Atlassian and Qualtrics, to name a few.
The new $500m fund will be targeting the next generation of entrepreneurs in Europe and Israel and will invest typically $15m on average in the lifespan of companies, equating to more than 30 such investments.
Accel’s European offices have been based in London since 2000 when it established there during the last dot-com bubble, and the total size of its funds under management in Europe and Israel stands at $2.5bn.
European-focused VCs are on a fundraising spree
Accel’s is the latest in a series of high-profile fundraisings by venture capital firms. Last week we reported how Atlantic Bridge Capital has closed a new $140m fund to invest in up to 20 European companies.
Other fundraisings that have closed include Index Ventures closing a $550m fund for US, European and Israel firms.
Lakestar last year announced a $400m fund for European and US start-ups.
Earlier this year, Cocoon Networks, a spin-off from China Equity Group, launched a new $715m investment fund specifically for European start-ups.
