US venture capital firms struggle to find European talent industry sources reveal TALENT WAR Insiders suggest that top American venture capital firms are struggling to find European talent as they expand across the Atlantic.
British biotech payday: Syncona sells portfolio startup Gyroscope to Novartis for £1.1bn Life sciences Shares in life sciences investor Syncona closed 5.5 per cent higher today after it announced the sale of its London-based gene therapy portfolio company Gyroscope Therapeutics to Novartis for up to £1.1bn. In one of the UK biotech industry’s biggest cash exits to date, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis will pay £604m now for Gyroscope, and [...]
Molten Ventures’ tech bets pay off as portfolio value leaps almost 30 per cent to £1.35bn Venture capital Molten Ventures, formerly Draper Esprit, has seen a 27 per cent jump in its portfolio value to £1.35bn in the last six months, the London-listed tech venture capital firm said this morning. In its first interim results since floating on London’s main market in July, the firm said the value of its tech investments had [...]
UK VC fund performance spiked this year – and so did competition for deals November 26, 2021 UK venture capital performance increased sharply in the last year, as the value of funds’ investment picks appreciated almost in line with those of the US, according to research by British Business Bank (BBB) published today. VC funds have seen their total value to paid-in (TVPI) multiple – the metric used to track the value [...]
Edge Investments raises £85m to fuel UK creative industries November 22, 2021 Leading investor in creativity Edge Investments has raised £85m in its second venture fund, nearing its final close target of £100m. Edge backs companies in the creative economy, and those that are pushing the boundaries of creativity in sectors such as edtech, virtual or augmented reality (AR / VR), adtech and content creation. The British Business Bank, the cornerstone investor [...]
British Patient Capital enjoys VC bumper year and boosts startup portfolio by almost a third November 18, 2021 British Patient Capital (BPC), the venture capital subsidiary of UK government-owned British Business Bank (BBB), today announced it committed almost £300m to investing in the growth of British startups in the year to March 2021. During the pandemic-defined year, its underlying portfolio of companies increased by almost a third from 503 to 676, with three [...]
Darktrace backer Balderton unveils new early-stage $600m fund November 17, 2021 Balderton Capital, one of Europe’s most active venture capital firms, this morning announced it has raised its eighth fund focused on early-stage startups in Europe. At $600m, it’s the largest fund for investing in early-stage startups that the Kings Cross-headquartered firm has raised since it began placing its bets on Europe’s fledgling businesses in 2000. [...]
Revolut backing venture capital firm Draper Espirit portfolio value jumps to £1.3bn November 4, 2021 UK venture capital firm Draper Esprit, which backed fintech star Revolut, expects its gross portfolio value to exceed £1.3bn. The results, predicted for its interim results for the period ended 30 September, would mark a jump of over half a billion pounds compared to the same period last year when the venture capital firm recorded [...]
Form Ventures closes £30m new fund to support startups navigating regulated sectors October 21, 2021 Venture capital firm Form Ventures, which aims to help startups navigate regulatory and policy issues as they scale, has today closed its second fund at its target size of £30m. British Business Bank was the fund’s cornerstone investor and was joined by several notable backers including Isomer Capital and Draper Espirit. Form plans to invest [...]
Venture capital firms circle London tech scale-ups as financial injections hit record £20bn October 21, 2021 A record high of over £6.5bn was invested by venture capital firms in UK scaleups over the summer, taking the total amount to £20bn so far this year, according to new research shared with City A.M. this morning. After two extraordinarily high quarters in 2021, UK scaleups continued to attract funding from across the globe [...]