The U.K. is the top destination in Europe for venture funding. The country accounted for 29% of total VC investment in the continent for the second quarter of this year, according to research from Dow Jones VentureSource. But which companies are making the investments? CB Insights recently compiled data from the last five years and used it to rank the U.K.’s top 10 most prolific Mid-Stage VC firms.
In the financial epicenter of London, venture capital has carved out a nice niche, but it has not been without help. Three of the U.K.’s top ten VC firms are in fact satellite offices of Silicon Valley funds (Accel, DFJ, and Greylock), while a fourth, Balderton, emerged out of Benchmark’s earlier efforts to build a presence in Europe.
1. Index Ventures
Fund size: $550 million
Deal type: All stages
Founded: 1996
Location: London (additional offices in Geneva, San Francisco)
Notable investments: Lookout ($150 million Series F), SoundCloud ($10 million Series B in 2011)
Notable exits: Skype (acquired by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion), MySQL (acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008 for $1 billion)
2. Accel Partners
Fund size: $475 million (Fund IV, raised in 2013)
Deal type: All stages
Founded: 2000 (firm founded in 1983)
Location: London
Notable investments: Hailo ($17 million Series A), Spotify ($100 million Series D, 2011)
Notable exits: Ubiquisys (acquired by Cisco in 2013 for $315 million), SuperCell (51% stake sold to SoftBank for $1.5B in 2013)
3. Balderton Capital
Fund size: $305 million
Deal type: All sizes
Founded: 2000 (formerly Benchmark Capital Europe)
Location: London
Notable investments: Kobalt Music Group ($140 million Venture, 2014), Nutmeg ($32 million Series B, 2014)
Notable exits: Bebo (acquired by Reachd in 2010 for $10 million), MySQL (acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008 for $1 billion)
4. Eden Ventures
Fund size: n/a
Deal type: Up to $2 million in seed, up to $7 million in Series A
Founded: 2002
Location: London
Notable investments: NewVoiceMedia ($50 million Series E), Brightpearl ($10 million Series C)
Notable exits: blinkBox (Eden’s stake acquired by Tesco in 2011), Secerno (acquired by Oracle in 2010), Apertio (acquired for $210 million in 2008 by Nokia Siemens)
5. DFJ Espirit
Fund size: “Around $1 billion in assets under management”
Founded: 2006
Location: London
Notable investments: Bright Computing ($14.5 million Series B), Lyst ($14 million Series B)
Notable exits: EVE (acquired by Synopsys in 2012), Zeus (acquired for $140M by Riverbed in 2011), LoveFilm.com (acquired by Amazon in 2011)
6. Nauta Capital
Fund size: $150 million (raised in 2009)
Deal type: Seed, Series A
Founded: 2004
Location: London (additional offices in Barcelona, Boston)
Notable investments: Brandwatch ($22 million Series B), SocialPoint ($7.4 million Series B)
Notable Exits: Fizzback (acquired for around $80 million in 2011 by NICE Systems)
6. Greylock IL
Fund size: $360 million under management
Founded: 2006
Location: London (additional office in Herzliya, Israel)
Notable investments: Actifio ($100 million Series E, 2014) CoolaData ($7.4 million Series A),
Notable exits: Hybris Software (acquired in 2013 by SAP), Newvem (acquired in 2013 by Datapipe)
6. Dawn Capital
Fund size: $180 million
Founded: 2006
Location: London
Notable investments: iZettle ($62.1 million Series C), EVRYTHNG ($7 million Series A)
Notable exits: Cognitive Match (acquired by Magnetic in 2014)
9. Amadeus Capital Partners
Fund size: $75 million
Founded: 1997
Location: London
Notable investments: VocalIQ (Seed), XMOS ($14 million Series C)
Notable exits: Aepona (acquired for around $125 million by Intel in 2013), oneDrum (acquired by Yammer in 2012), Icera (acquired for around $400 million by NVIDIA in 2011)
9. Notion Capital
Fund size: $100 million (Fund II, raised in 2012)
Deal type: Seed, Series A ($1-3 million)
Founded: 2009
Location: London (additional office in New York)
Notable investments: Duedil ($17 million Series B), NewVoiceMedia ($50 million Series E)
Notable exits: Shutl (acquired by eBay in 2013)