EQT has closed its third venture capital fund with a focus on founder led tech-startups in Europe with €1.1 billion ($1.1 billion) in total investment commitments.
EQT Ventures III brings the total assets raised for the Stockholm-based firm’s venture fund division to €2.3 billion since launching in 2016. To date, the EQT Ventures Funds have completed over 100 investments of which nine have reached a valuation above €1 billion and 18 have been exited.
The new fund has already invested in 13 companies, including Juni, Nothing, Knoetic and Candela.
“EQT Ventures was founded to give entrepreneurs the investor that we would have wanted on our company board,” said Lars Jornow, partner at EQT Ventures in a statement. He added, “EQT Ventures is here to continue the journey as half startup, half VC, investing holistically in early-stage tech startups, giving founders a fast track to scale.”
Officials also say that the latest fundraise further cements EQT’s position as one of the world’s leading tech investors. EQT Ventures III and EQT Growth together bring €3.5 billion of new commitments to invest in early- and growth-stage technology companies. The units are distinct business divisions with separate funds and advisory teams. EQT Ventures makes investments ranting €1 million to €50 million, while EQT Growth makes initial investments of €50 million to €200 million at later stages of a company’s growth cycle.
The tech-focused fund will in turn depend on technology to put money to work. The firm’s AI market intelligence tool EQT Motherbrain is used to source investment opportunities. So far it has assisted the venture capital team in sourcing 15 investments to date totaling €200 million of capital.
The same AI technology will be made available to founders as well.
“Now is the time to back category leaders, those driving innovation to change the world for the better,” said Alastair Mitchell, partner at EQT Ventures, in a statement. “EQT Ventures was set up to give founders the best chance of reaching scale, irrespective of the macroeconomic climate. We’re an advisory team of founders and operators that have weathered cycles and have experience creating global businesses.”
The EQT Ventures funds are advised by over 40 founders and operators across offices in Stockholm, London, San Francisco, Berlin and Paris with a 50/50 gender split. With the new fund, the advisory team will be able to grow further by hiring in Europe and the U.S., officials added.
