Tel Aviv street scene. Image: Fotokon/Shutterstock
New 83North fund is hunting for the best and brightest consumer and enterprise tech companies to back.
Venture capital firm 83North has closed a new $250m fund to invest in European and Israeli start-ups.
This is the fourth such fund raised in 11 years, bringing total capital under management to $800m.
‘As we look to the future, the UK’s exit from the EU will accelerate activity in European tech hubs outside the UK’
– LAUREL BOWDEN
The company’s five-strong investing team – consisting of Laurel Bowden, Arnon Dinur, Gil Goren, Erez Ofer and Yoram Snir –has backed more than 40 companies including Just Eat, Telit, Hybris (acquired by SAP), ScaleIO (acquired by EMC), Social Point (acquired by Take-Two), Supersonic (merged with IronSource), Celonis, Mirakl, Via, Wandera, Workable and Zerto.
Brexit sparks opportunities for non-UK tech hubs
“It’s very encouraging for the European market to see such huge ambition to build global, category-leading companies. There have been fifteen exits valued at more than $1bn that originated from Europe in the past five years, compared to only a handful prior,” said Bowden, a London-based partner.
“Since we started investing in Europe in 2008, we have expanded our focus from primarily UK-headquartered start-ups to invest across the region, and have now backed companies from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
“As we look to the future, the UK’s exit from the EU will accelerate activity in European tech hubs outside the UK. We believe this presents a big opportunity for venture funds, like 83North, that are already well established in the wider European region.”
83North started life as Greylock IL, an affiliate fund of Greylock Partners, but it is now an independent firm focused on European and Israeli entrepreneurs.
The new 83North IV fund is the firm’s largest to date.
“We continue to invest in all stages, with an emphasis on early investments, where we work side by side with founding teams to build companies from the ground up,” said Snir, Tel Aviv partner. “Our model gives us access to some of the best talent in the world, meaning that we can add real value by exposing entrepreneurs to the best practices in each domain.
“Our fintech portfolio is testament to this model; for example, Ebury was founded in London, iZettle in Sweden, Marqeta in California, and Payoneer started in Israel and is now headquartered in New York,” he added.
