Northzone is to closed its latest fund Northzone IX with capital commitments of around YSD500 million.
Oversubscribed fund attracted existing and new Limited Partners, and was raised at record speed, demonstrating strong global interest in the European early-stage venture capital market. The fund is one of the largest early stage venture capital funds raised in Europe this year.
Northzone IX will double down on investing in early-stage innovative consumer and enterprise companies across Europe and the US East Coast, focusing primarily on Series A and B rounds. Selective seed stage investments will continue to be a part of the investment strategy.
The new fund will pursue opportunities that address large and established industries saddled with legacy technology, such as financial services, healthcare, education, mobility and construction, in B2B as well as in consumer applications. The fund has already made three investments, in Pollen (London), Spacemaker (Oslo) and Livepeer (NYC).
The majority of Northzone’s investment team have previously founded companies, compared to an average of under 10 per cent of Venture Capital funds based in the UK. With the launch of NZ IX, Hello Fresh co- founder Jessica Schultz and Dots co-founder Paul Murphy have been promoted to General Partners, alongside Pär-Jörgen Pärson, Jeppe Zink, and Michiel Kotting.
Partner Jessica Schultz, says: “We have always stood behind strong-minded founders with the ambition to think big and the conviction to build transformative businesses. This latest fund puts us in a strong position, together with our collective experience as investors, founders and operators, to back early-stage founders with the greatest potential.”
Partner Paul Murphy adds: “The start-up ecosystems beyond Silicon Valley have seen a step change in recent years in quality, scale and an abundance of experienced founder and operator talent, along with deeper pockets of capital. There has never been a better time for tech entrepreneurs in Europe.”
Northzone is also announcing the promotion to Principal of Wendy Xiao Schadeck who founded CoHatchery, a co-working space with onsite childcare, based in NYC, and Chris Steinau, co-founder of restaurant bookings platform Uncover, based in London, as well as the promotion of Henrik Grim, based in Stockholm, to Investment Manager, further strengthening the investment team.
