Octopus Investments has launched the GBP90 million Octopus Zenith Opportunities II aimed at providing growth capital to successful fast-growing later-stage companies across Europe.
The fund, which is now closed for investment, is dedicated to follow on investments into some of the most successful companies within the Octopus Titan Venture Capital Trust (VCT) and Octopus Eureka Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) portfolios beyond the legislative limits of these funds, as well as having the opportunity to back later stage high growth businesses new to Octopus.
Octopus has a proven track record of helping build exceptional global businesses, including Zoopla Property Group, Secret Escapes, SwiftKey and graze.com. With the latest Finance Bill imposing a new lifetime investment cap for VCT and EIS funding in addition to pre-existing VCT and EIS limits, the Octopus Opportunities fund will see Octopus backing companies further into the later stages of development while continuing to optimise value in those companies for existing VCT and EIS shareholders. The first investment from the Octopus Opportunities fund has already been made, with Octopus leading the recent GBP38 million round with Google Ventures into Secret Escapes, the London-based members only luxury travel site.
Alex Macpherson (pictured), head of Octopus Ventures and fund manager of Octopus Titan VCT, says: “At Octopus we seek unusually talented entrepreneurs, and we want to be there supporting them from the beginning of their business journey to the later stages of company growth and maturity. The Octopus Opportunities fund is a really exciting development that enables us to keep travelling with some of our existing entrepreneurs for longer, while also providing additional funding to find new investment opportunities.
“We are often one of the first investors into a startup, through our VCT and EIS funds, and have long felt comfortable investing at the early stages of a company’s life. It’s a long term partnership and we want to be there supporting the management team as they continue to realise the full potential of their businesses during the course of its lifetime, working to achieve growth for the team, the company and our own investors.”
The fund launch comes on the back of the latest new fundraise for Octopus Titan VCT, the largest VCT on the market. Since it was first launched in 2007 it has focused on investing into high growth early stage companies, backing talented management teams that have the potential to develop the successful businesses of tomorrow. The fundraise is targeting GBP50 million and offers investors the opportunity to invest in a well-established and diverse portfolio of companies, ranging from young firms such online furniture retailer Swoon Editions to mature businesses such as SwiftKey, the predictive language app for mobiles now on over 250 million devices worldwide.
