Speedinvest raises €500m fund to support tech start-ups

By Gloria Methri

Speedinvest, a pan-European venture capital fund has raised €500 million to help start-ups scale to global success. Nearly two-thirds (€300 million) of the new fund will be invested into innovative new pre-Seed and Seed tech start-ups through its fourth flagship fund, Speedinvest 4, while the remaining is reserved for select follow-on co-investments in existing Speedinvest portfolio companies.

The fund invests across six vertical teams Deep Tech, FinTech, Health, Marketplaces & Consumer, Industrial Tech, and SaaS.

The partners stumping up the capital include Erste Bank, Raiffeisenbank, New Enterprise Associates, and the European Investment Fund. Many of Speedinvest’s founders have also committed funds, including founders from Bitpanda, GoStudent, Billie, Planetly, TWAICE, and Yokoy. The new capital brings its total assets under management to over €1 billion.

Oliver Holle, CEO and Managing Partner at Speedinvest, said, “In just 10 years, Speedinvest has grown from a small €10 million Austrian funds to one of Europe’s largest Seed investors. This new capital proves there is still room to innovate in European VC. As more and more capital and talent flood the ecosystem, further professionalization of our industry is required.”

Launched in 2011 as a microfund, the VC has six unicorns in its portfolio including Bitpanda, GoStudent, Open, TIER Mobility, Wayflyer, and Wefox.

With 40-plus investors across the continent, Speedinvest claims to have built the largest Seed stage investment team in Europe. It sees more than 60% of all European start-ups that reach Series A at the pre-Seed and Seed stages.

Scott Sandell, Managing General Partner, NEA, said, “Speedinvest is a sought-after partner for growing companies across Europe’s start-up ecosystem, with an approach to company building for the long-term that is very much aligned with NEA’s. As we deepen our firm’s commitment to the region, our long-term partnership with Speedinvest continues to be among our most valuable in Europe.”