Main Highlights:
- Claret’s ‘Fund III’ will invest in cutting-edge companies in the technology and life sciences sectors.
- Over €500 million in funding will be spent over the next three years to assist an additional 50-60 companies.
- Fund III’s ultimate closure, which exceeded its original objective
While economic uncertainty and suffering continue to dominate the news, there are reasons to be cautiously hopeful, and there are still exciting innovations underway that will encourage innovation and corporate growth.
Claret Capital, a Pan-European growth capital provider located in London, has completed the final closure of Claret European Growth Capital Fund III. With total pledges of €297 million, the business has exceeded its original objective of €250 million, cementing Claret’s position as a leader in the European growth financing industry. The firm has reached its initial goal of €250 million.
Fund III’s ultimate closure, which exceeded its original objective of €250 million, comprises pledges from a diverse group of prominent institutional investors who continue to back Claret in the debt financing market.
EIF, British Business Investments, RAG-Stiftung, Certior Capital, and KfW Capital are returning investors, while five new institutional investors – Allied Irish Banks, Aozora Bank, Banca March, HNA, and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) – as well as entrepreneurs and industry experts – also participated.
In addition to Fund III’s ultimate close, a number of co-investment agreements have been finalised, providing significant extra firepower to offer credit facilities of up to €50 million.
Claret has welcomed 29 enterprises into the Fund III portfolio since its initial investment in March 2021. Fund III will continue to invest in creative growth stage technology and life science enterprises across Europe, particularly to support organic expansion and mergers and acquisitions.
Taken together, the final close of Fund III and the co-invest vehicles enable Claret to assist businesses with over €500M of cash over the next three years, with which we hope to support 50-60 new enterprises.
150 SMEs were backed
Claret was founded in 2020 as a result of the MBO of Harbert European Growth Capital (“Harbert”). Since then, it has supported over 150 European SMEs from a variety of locations around Europe.
Packlink (acquired by Auctane), Aava (acquired by Pepperl & Fuchs), Bright Computing (acquired by NVIDIA), Miss Group (bought out by Perwyn & management), SuperAwesome (acquired by EPIC Group), Synthesio (acquired by IPSOS), AdaptiveMobile (acquired by Enea), Longboat Clinical (acquired by
Claret Capital invests in high-growth companies with loans ranging from €1 million to €50 million.
Claret III European Growth Capital Fund
Fund III made its initial investment in March 2021 and has since added 29 more companies to its portfolio. Claret will continue to provide low dilution growth funding to creative European firms with this closing.
Claret’s Managing Partner, Johan Kampe, stated, “We are happy to have completed our third Fund ahead of schedule and will continue to assist existing portfolio firms in the Fund as well as prospective European development organisations.” From corporate software to finance companies to marketplaces, we look forward to working with leaders who are changing their sectors. In a market where uncertainty is affecting venture capital investment, the prognosis for growth financing remains good, and we are thrilled to develop our portfolio businesses and founders.”
Claret Capital Partners
Claret has been investing in early-stage companies from around Europe since 2013. The firm offers creative loan solutions to assist entrepreneurs and private equity investors in growing their businesses while minimising dilution.
The team offers customizable three-to-five-year facilities starting at €2 million and scaling up to €50 million, with each loan examined independently.
To date, the business has invested more than half a billion euros in over 150 firms, making it a key contributor to Europe’s present booming innovation ecosystem.
Several acquisitions have occurred recently, including Packlink (acquired by Auctane), Aava (acquired by Pepperl & Fuchs), Bright Computing (acquired by NVIDIA), Miss Group (bought out by Perwyn & management), SuperAwesome (acquired by EPIC Group), Synthesio (acquired by IPSOS), AdaptiveMobile (acquired by Enea), Longboat Clinical.
Fund III will continue to invest in creative growth stage technology and life science enterprises across Europe, particularly to support organic expansion and mergers and acquisitions. Claret will be able to help businesses with almost €500 million in cash over the next three years thanks to the full completion of Fund III and the co-invest vehicles. This is projected to support an extra 50-60 new businesses.
David Bateman, the Managing Partner of Claret, added: “We have been delighted by the response to our third fund. Closing the above target underlines the tremendous opportunity that we have within the wider European tech & life sciences sector. We are seeing strong demand for our capital from Europe’s best entrepreneurs and equity investors. We look forward to supporting the companies in the Fund and our new investments as they work to deliver their ground-breaking innovations to market.”
