Mayor-backed London venture capital fund has helped create 700 jobs across the capital

Five years on from when MMC Ventures established its London-focused fund, the venture capital firm has revealed it has pumped more than £100m into businesses and helped create over 700 jobs.

The MMC London Fund has invested money into 19 London startups, including short-term retail let marketplace Appear Here, home ingredient delivery service Gousto, and mobile transport ticketing service Masabi.

Read more: Recipe box startup Gousto gobbles up millions more in funding

The fund itself totalled £14m, £9m of which was provided by the Mayor of London’s office. This was designed to be matched by private co-investors, ensuring at least £28m was available for the capital’s businesses, but to date the fund has beaten this target by 700 per cent and attracted £100m from private investors.

“Five years ago, we were challenged by the Mayor of London to create a new kind of co-investment fund to back London’s most promising early-stage technology companies,” said Simon Menashy, Partner at MMC Ventures.

Read more: London is the tech capital of Europe – let’s keep it that way

“So it’s a real pleasure to report on a successful and thriving portfolio, attracting more than £100m of capital and creating hundreds of high-quality jobs in the capital.”

To date, the fund itself has invested £12.5m of its £14m total. Private investors who have contributed alongside the MMC fund include Mayor-backed Funding London, Unilever, MasterCard, global investment firm Mitsui, and venture capital firms Accel, Index Ventures and Balderton Capital.

Already the fund has sold two businesses — holiday house exchange business Love Home Swap and online knitting retailer Wool and the Gang.

Returns from the fund’s investments will be cycled back into funding for future companies.

Read more: Flower delivery startup Bloom & Wild is set to blossom with millions in fresh funding