After 18 years of European focus, early stage investor Seedcamp said Monday that it has raised $320 million for its latest fund, which will expand its presence in the United States.
Fund VII is the investment firm’s largest so far, double the $180 million it had raised for Fund VI in 2023. However, Seedcamp is splitting that amount to focus more on growth-stage investments: $220 million is earmarked for Seedcamp VII, its early-stage investment vehicle, while the rest is called a new investment of 100 million. Select.
Seedcamp already has offices in New York and Miami, but the company now plans to grow its team Stateside in an effort to connect more of its European portfolio with customers and investors in the US, especially with San Francisco and Silicon Valley regaining their place as a center of gravity in recent years.
“We need to connect founders to nodes that connect to each other,” Reshma Sohoni, co-founder and CEO of Seedcamp, told TechCrunch.
Sohoni said the company will continue its thesis of being one of the first investors in upcoming startups, be it pre-product, pre-revenue or even pre-traction. The firm leverages its extensive network of portfolio startups and LPs to flow deals.
This thesis has served Seedcamp well. The company was an early investor in many successful technology companies, including Fluidstack, Hopin, Pleo, Revolut, Synthesia, UiPath and Wise. It has 12 unicorns in its portfolio of more than 550 companies and $1 billion in assets under management.
Seedcamp VII wants to invest about $1 million as an initial check in about 100 to 120 startups and continue in subsequent rounds, per Sohoni. The growth fund will invest approximately $3 million to $5 million per check, following Series B rounds and beyond.
Sohoni said limited partners in Fund VII include British Business Bank, HarborVest, Schroders and Sofina, as well as 80 of its portfolio company founders who have joined as angel investors.
Seedcamp will continue to invest in a variety of areas, Sohoni said, though she noted that the company will continue to stay away from capital-intensive businesses such as mobility or shopping.
“We tend to shy away from capital-intensive startups because venture capital funding is not a good model on day one […] We are definitely a commercially minded investor,” said Sohoni.
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