Claret Capital has closed a new fund of €297 million – Fund III – to back European tech startups.
The London-based firm says the commitments come from a broad range of leading institutional investors who continue to support it within the debt financing market.
Repeat investors include EIF, British Business Investments, RAG-Stiftung, Certior Capital and KfW Capital.
In addition to the final close of Fund III, a number of co-investment agreements have been finalised which provide substantial additional firepower to offer loan facilities of up to €50m.
Since the first investment from the fund in March 2021, Claret has welcomed 29 businesses into the portfolio. It will continue to invest in innovative growth stage technology and life science businesses throughout Europe – primarily to support organic growth and M&A.
Taken together, the final close of the fund and co-invest vehicles enable Claret to support businesses with over €500m of capital in the next three years with which we expect to support an additional 50-60 new companies.
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Claret was formed through the MBO of Harbert European Growth Capital in 2020. Over the past nine years, the team says it has become one of the preeminent providers of growth debt to SMEs in Europe, backing over 150 companies and investing more than half a billion euros.
Recent exits include UK-based tech firms Miss Group and SuperAwesome.
“From enterprise software to FinTech startups to marketplaces, we look forward to partnering with leadership teams disrupting the industries they work in,” said Johan Kampe, managing partner.
“In a market where uncertainty is impacting venture capital funding, the outlook remains positive in growth financing and we’re excited to grow our portfolio business and founders.”