Partech continues its strong growth with close to one billion euros raised for tech entrepreneurs

Partech announces today the final closing of its seventh venture fund at the €400M hard cap, thus completing a unique investment program spanning from pre-seed, seed, venture to growth stages over the past eighteen months.

The Partech International Ventures VII fund reached its hard cap of €400M in June 2017. It has been oversubscribed, bringing together thirty major European and U.S. investors along with business angels, entrepreneurs and tech executives. All previous investors renewed their support, and new leading international players joined them, accounting for half of the investors of the round.

The fund is positioned for series A or B financing rounds. It has already made nearly ten investments in Europe and the United States, including Chronext (Cologne), Qapa (Paris), Akeneo (Boston/Nantes), A/B Tasty (New York/Paris), Rinse (San Francisco), and Toss (South Korea).

With the closing of this seventh venture fund, Partech Ventures confirms its position as the European go-to platform for tech financing, with an active investment program of close to one billion euros completed over the past eighteen months across four funds. In this same period, Partech Ventures executed:
- 110 investments in ten countries, from pre-seed to growth;
- 12 exits, including AlephD (acquired by AOL), TouchCommerce (acquired by Nuance Communications), Teads (acquired by Altice) and Compte Nickel (acquired by BNP Paribas).

Investments across the Partech platform range from €200K in seed to €40M in growth and meet all financing needs of the best innovative startups, regardless of their development stage. The investments cover the entire scope of emerging technologies which are shaping the future of major industries, such as applications, software and cloud computing, artificial intelligence, consumer electronics, robots and components, industry of the future, virtual reality, blockchain, drones, mobility, cybersecurity, networks and infrastructure, etc.

The operations are driven by 12 General Partners in the San Francisco, Paris and Berlin offices, which are staffed by a total of 45 professionals. Partech's long-term presence in the United States, dating back to 1982, has since been strengthened, today numbering 5 investors including 3 General Partners and a Venture Partner.

Partech Ventures' accelerated growth and the considerable trust shown by international investors reflect the maturity of the European venture ecosystem.

From 2012 to 2016 the number of venture investments in Europe grew by more than 20% annually (source: tech.eu). Apart from the UK, which remained stable over this period (+0.5% annually), continental Europe saw the number of investments increase by more than 40% per year. In 2016, France became the most active European country in tech investments, followed by the UK, Germany, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland – countries in which Partech Ventures was particularly active.

With this strong growth in investments, made possible by several generations of extraordinary entrepreneurs, dozens of tech and digital champions are emerging in Europe. The promising new tech companies are financed by venture funds which now have both the critical size and the means to support these entrepreneurs on a very operational level. Another key element of the ecosystem is the fact that several major European corporations are beginning to reap the rewards of their digital transformation, and are making ambitious acquisitions up to hundreds of millions of euros.

Partech Ventures' resources are unequalled in Europe and are entirely built for the entrepeneurs’ benefits. The aim is to support and challenge these entrepreneurs in order to accelerate their international growth, giving them access to:
- dedicated Partech teams for business development, legal and financial structuring, M&A, marketing and recruitment;
- close to thirty strategic partnerships developed since 2012 with the executive committees of U.S. and European multinationals in all the major industries for business development;
- the qualified network of experts, service providers and business partners across three continents, supported by almost one hundred individual investors (business angels, entrepreneurs, tech executives);
- their 150 peers within the portfolio, for sharing best practices;
- close ties developed with universities and prestigious institutions;
- facilitated access to numerous top-tier investors and co-investors to increase growth capacity;
- more than thirty years of experience in initial public offerings and trade sales.

Key Figures of Partech Ventures

Since January 1st, 2016:
- 4 funds closed;
- 110 investments in ten countries;
- 12 exits;
- A team of 45 people including 12 Partners in 3 offices;
- Investment tickets ranging from €200K in seed to €40M in growth;
- A community of 100 business angels, entrepreneurs, and executives of tech companies;
- €1.2B in assets under management for tech and digital investments, of which close to €1B of investment capacity;