Oxx, a B2B software investor, has raised USD133 million to back Europe’s most promising SaaS companies from series A and beyond.Oxx invests broadly across software applications and infrastructure, with a particular interest in five key themes: data convergence & refinery, future of work, financial services infrastructure, user empowerment, and sustainable business.
Headquartered in London and Stockholm, the firm has already invested in the likes of Funnel, which automates marketing performance reporting and intelligence for businesses; Apica, a performance monitoring platform for large enterprises; and Codility, a comprehensive tech recruiting platform for hiring at scale.
Oxx wants to change the ‘growth at all costs’ mindset of B2B software investment. That’s why it encourages portfolio companies to build sustainable businesses that can retain market dominance, rather than push for an oversimplified, one-size-fits-all ‘growth at all costs’ model.
The team believes that Europe presents a unique opportunity: an increasing number of founders starting their second, third or even fourth B2B software business, and an abundance of highly skilled and relatively affordable tech talent, yet far lower levels of VC investment per capita.
Richard Anton and Mikael Johnsson have been partners for seven years and have deep knowledge and experience of Europe, and of expanding companies into the US – the world’s largest addressable software market.
The fund is backed by leading investors, including British Patient Capital and a number of institutions, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Oxx is also proud to be backed by entrepreneurs that the team has worked with before.
Richard Anton, co-founder and General Partner of Oxx, says: “Cloud architecture and applications continue to evolve rapidly and create amazing entrepreneurial opportunities, but the way some companies are funded is unsustainable: unicorn or bust. We believe the next phase has to be different. Not all SaaS companies fit the traditional VC mould, and while we absolutely support companies to grow well, we don’t push them for growth at all costs.
“Oxx’s raison d’être is to make sure that companies that already have strong commercial traction are primed and ready to drive continued sustainable growth towards market dominance. In a climate of ‘growth at all costs’, this makes us contrarians; we are seeking out our founder counterparts.
“And Europe is the market to be operating in: a unique combination of entrepreneurial zeal, more and cheaper tech talent than the US, and generations of success are fast creating a world-beating software hub.”
Mikael Johnsson, co-founder and General Partner of Oxx, adds: “As software eats the world, there can be thousands of winners. These future winners can be identified now: They have an A-grade founding team with deep understanding of the customer problem they are solving. They have a fantastic defensible product that is loved by users, and have spent time fine-tuning a unique market position and a scalable go-to-market strategy. Having been able to establish market leadership within a niche or certain geography, they are now ready to prove themselves at scale.
“This is where Oxx comes in. As a firm, our approach is to play producer, rolling up our sleeves to keep the show on the road. We help out and add value in whatever way we can, ensuring that the entrepreneurs building these businesses are the stars of the show.”
Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO, British Patient Capital, says: “Our mission is to enable long-term investment in innovative companies across the UK, led by ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build successful world-class businesses. The UK and Europe provide a fertile ground for innovation to thrive, but a lack of access to patient capital has held back too many companies from scaling up and fulfilling their commercial potential. Growth-stage funding is vital – and that’s where Oxx focuses its investment, making it well aligned with British Patient Capital’s mandate. This growth-stage focus, combined with the Oxx team’s specialist knowledge of the B2B software sector, make this an important addition to our portfolio.”
Fredrik Skantze, co-founder and CEO, Funnel, says: “The Oxx team has what every founding team needs: a strong network, specialist SaaS knowhow and, most importantly, empathy and appreciation for the journey that team is on. Mikael Johnsson has been our chairman since the early stages of building Funnel. He has been a great resource to lean on for everything from thinking through strategic questions and fundraising and to handling difficult operational issues.”
