From left: VentureWave chair Alan Foy, managing partner Brian Martin, Funderbeam CEO Kaidi Ruusalepp and CFO Thomas Davies. Image: Funderbeam
VentureWave’s Alan Foy said the deal will be a ‘game-changer’ for the industry, with plans to take on the entire VC life cycle with Funderbeam’s platform.
Dublin-based VC company VentureWave Capital has gained a majority stake in angel investing and trading platform Funderbeam, by leading a $40m funding round.
Co-investors of the round include Mistletoe, Draper Associates and Funderbeam founder and CEO Kaidi Ruusalepp.
Funderbeam has created a platform to help companies run private fundraises and trade secondaries on a private, secure space.
VentureWave and Funderbeam plan to create a “leading global entity” to serve institutional and angel investors in venture deals and secondaries. As part of the investment, VentureWave will take an active leadership role in scaling Funderbeam’s technology across venture assets.
The Dublin-based venture company plan to use Funderbeam to target the entire life cycle of venture investments. The transaction is pending approval by regulators in the UK, Singapore and Estonia.
VentureWave chair Alan Foy said the investment is a “game-changer for the industry” that will shape the future of venture markets.
“Together, we have the necessary assets, technology and capital to take on the entire venture investment life cycle,” Foy said. “This represents a transformative moment to put impact at the centre of the investment industry.”
Funderbeam COE Ruusalepp said the timing of the transaction “couldn’t be better” as the platform is strong at a time when “the market is ready for our solution”.
“This transaction creates a powerful platform to fast forward Funderbeam’s vision which is to serve venture investments across borders and create a unique secondary market for private assets,” Ruusalepp said.
VentureWave said it primarily focuses on companies that have high impact potential. In 2020, the VC company launched its Impact Ireland Fund to help build global ‘technology for good’ companies.
This fund was used to lead a €3m investment round into workplace wellness software start-up PepTalk at the end of 2022. This company said it would use the fresh funding to scale its business in the US and grow its team by 12.
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