Balderton Capital, one of the top early stage VC firms in Europe has closed a new $400m fund to back European tech startups at the Series A round. This is their seventh early stage European fund bringing total funds under management to over $3bn.
We believe Europe has the potential to build the next generation of technology giants, and we are focused on helping brilliant founders fulfil that ambition. We are seeing more and more exceptional founders raising Series A in Europe. With today’s new fund we want to build on that momentum.
We know from our firm’s 20 years of European investment experience that Series A is a critical point in a startup’s journey — it’s a magical moment when they are reaching product-market fit, are poised to scale and have to make decisions that can affect their growth trajectory for years to come. Our whole team is dedicated to helping our founders tackle those decisions as they embark on their journey
Bernard Liautaud, Managing Partner, Balderton
As with previous funds, we’ll be looking to invest in leading-edge technologies, as well as strong brands with demonstrable momentum.
The new fund will be managed by an investment team of 15 working as a single team across Europe. We also now have permanent staff members based in both Paris and Berlin to help build even closer relationships with entrepreneurs, seed funds and accelerators and support portfolio companies on the ground.
Since the start of 2018, Balderton’s portfolio has raised over $2bn in follow-on funding, and now employs 18,000+ people in 50+ countries.
Balderton now has active investments in more than 90 companies, founded across 15 European countries. This is the seventh early-stage fund since its formation in 2000, and eighth including Liquidity I, bringing the total funds to over $3bn.
