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A bunch of buyers has launched a brand new European enterprise capital agency looking for to lift a minimum of €600mn to again native start-ups, as a restoration in funding for expertise firms picks up after a two-year drought.
The brand new fund, Noteus, is led by a group that break up off from French funding agency Eurazeo, and has already invested greater than €300mn into tech teams since its founding earlier this yr, based on an individual aware of the group.
Noteus ultimately plans to lift a minimum of double that quantity for its debut fund, which is able to again European start-ups in additional superior phases of improvement.
“There’s a lack of skilled progress buyers native to Europe,” mentioned the individual aware of the hassle. “They’re not doing this slowly.”
The launch of Noteus comes after a pandemic-era surge in expertise funding got here to a halt as rising rates of interest and geopolitical tensions hit the market, forcing European start-ups to chop prices as VC funding dried up.
Nearly €29bn price of enterprise capital offers had been struck in Europe within the first half of this yr, based on information compiled by researcher PitchBook.
Dealmaking has accelerated in current months, pushed by a brand new craze for synthetic intelligence start-ups, and the European enterprise capital trade is now on observe for its most energetic yr because the increase interval throughout the pandemic. Balderton Capital final month raised $1.3bn in Europe’s largest enterprise funding centered on start-ups within the area.
Some Silicon Valley buyers have additionally expanded to Europe, with Andreessen Horowitz and IVP opening workplaces in London final yr.
Noteus is led by chief govt Yann du Rusquec, who beforehand headed a group centered on later-stage start-up offers at Eurazeo that invested in a few of Europe’s most extremely valued start-ups, together with electronics refurbisher Again Market and cloud information specialist Aiven.
The brand new fund is concentrating on a niche out there for European funds that present financing to superior start-ups, as a lot of the funding for extra mature European tech teams comes from overseas buyers.
Noteus has constructed up a group of 14 together with 10 buyers. The group consists of three different common companions who additionally labored at Eurazeo — Nathalie Kornhoff Brüls, Guillaume d’Audiffret and Zoé Fabian-Frey.
The buyers departed Eurazeo throughout a turbulent time for the agency. Virginie Morgon, one of many uncommon feminine leaders of a non-public fairness group, was ousted final yr as chief govt after dropping the help of Eurazeo’s two largest shareholders.
Noteus has invested in six firms since its founding, together with Goldman Sachs-backed stay leisure group Fever and French well being app Doctolib, based on the individual aware of Noteus.
The fund has already established workplaces in London, Paris and Berlin, and plans to open an outpost in Madrid. Noteus has additionally tapped Sabine Bendiek, a former govt at Microsoft and SAP, as a senior adviser.
A consultant for Noteus declined to remark.